Ivo Skoric on Fri, 7 Sep 2001 00:01:16 +0200 (CEST) |
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
<nettime> ivogram [x2: SFOR<->karadzic+mladic, macedonian abuses] |
[digested @ nettime] "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net> Re: SFOR 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic (Fwd) HRW: Macedonian Troops Commit Grave Abuses - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net> To: Andras Riedlmayer <riedlmay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU>, International Justice Watch Discussion List <JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 15:13:58 -0400 Subject: Re: SFOR 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic Karadzic and Mladic might tried to use Macedonia as well, I believe. Macedonia is sparsely populated and its government currently has other worries, so there are probably parts in the Eastern Macedonia that would be at risk for being targeted by suspected Serb war criminals as potential safe havens (buy local officials, build a bunker, etc.). ivo date sent: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 15:47:11 -0400 send reply to: International Justice Watch Discussion List <JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> from: Andras Riedlmayer <riedlmay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU> subject: SFOR 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic to: JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 15:29:36 -0400 from: Eric Witte <EWitte@abaceeli.org> I can't imagine that they really mean Macedonia. I bet they meant Montenegro, and either the spokesman or CNN got confused... ========================================================================= http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/04/ponte.belgrade/index.html CNN | September 4, 2001 Posted: 2:47 PM EDT (1847 GMT) NATO 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The head of the NATO stabilisation force in Bosnia has said he knows where top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are located. The spokesman of SFOR, Captain Daryl Morrell, quoting Lieutenant General Michael Dodson who is the outgoing head of the force, added that it was "only a matter of time" before they were arrested. Karadzic and Mladic are "moving in and out of Bosnia," although he would not reveal their exact whereabouts, he added. Karadzic, the ex-political leader, and Mladic, the ex-military chief, have been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for their role in the Bosnian war between 1991 and 1995, most notably for the massacre of an estimated 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in 1995. Morrell said he expected arrests to be made sometime soon by authorities in Macedonia, Yugoslavia or Bosnia-Herzegovina. "General Dodson said that it was only a matter of time before they are arrested by officials in Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or agencies inside of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once detained, these people will be brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia," Morrell said. Morrell emphasised that while SFOR's mandate is to maintain a safe and stable environment for Bosnia, having war criminals on the loose is not "compatible" with that goal. It is the first time SFOR has acknowledged knowing the whereabouts of the two Bosnian Serb leaders. The announcement was made as Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's lead prosecutor, was expected to visit Bosnia. Earlier, Del Ponte said Albanian leaders in Kosovo may be indicted for crimes against ethnic Serbs. Del Ponte was in the Yugoslav capital with a "shopping list" of 15 key Serb war crimes suspects. Following talks with Yugoslav government officials, however, she said the Hague tribunal was also considering charging ethnic Albanians with crimes committed against minority Serbs in Kosovo after it came under international control in 1999. "We are investigating crimes committed after June 1999 in Kosovo," she said in a statement reported by Reuters. She said that she was concentrating on crimes with Serb victims. It is Del Ponte's first visit to Belgrade since the extradition of former President Slobodan Milosevic in June. Chief on her list is Serbian figurehead president Milan Milutinovic, who with Milosevic and three other leaders of the former Belgrade regime was indicted by U.N. prosecutors for their role in the 1998-99 conflict with ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo. As well as Milutinovic, former army chief of staff Col. Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic and former Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic were also indicted. All four live openly in Belgrade despite the indictments. After Milosevic was ousted, Milutinovic was allowed to remain president of Serbia as long as he refrained from appearing in public or exerting influence. Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic told independent B-92 radio: "Del Ponte can demand whatever she wants, but the Serbian government doesn't have to discuss it." Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann responded by saying: "The obligation of the state of Yugoslavia is for Mr. Milutinovic and all the indictees living on the territory of Yugoslavia to be transferred to The Hague. "There is no immunity before the international tribunal and it does not protect him." It seems likely Del Ponte's decision to investigate Albanian war crimes will help soften the stance of the Serbia's rulers. They have often accused leaders of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) of committing atrocities against Serbs following the withdrawal of the Serb Army in 1999. Albanian leaders dismissed Del Ponte's accusations. Former KLA leader Ramush Haradinaj told Reuters his troops had merely been fighting against Serbian "terror, genocide and repression." Ivo Skoric 1773 Lexington Ave New York NY 10029 212.369.9197 ivo@balkansnet.org http://balkansnet.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net> To: Ed Agro <edagro@bellatlantic.net> Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 15:15:19 -0400 Subject: (Fwd) HRW: Macedonian Troops Commit Grave Abuses Macedonian interior minister Boskovski immediately reacted to this report calling HRW "international mercenary organization" and argued that the report equalizes the victim with the aggressor - a tired argument we heard gazillion times over the past decade from various Croat, Bosnian, Serb and Albanian commanders. I guess, Boskovski is on his way to join them playing poker in Scheveningen. ICTY is already investigating what happened in Ljuboten. ivo ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Human Rights Watch For Immediate Release Macedonian Troops Commit Grave Abuses Role of Interior Minister in Ljuboten Abuses Must be Investigated (New York, September 5, 2001)-Macedonian government troops committed grave abuses during an August offensive that claimed ten civilian lives in the ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. The report, titled Crimes Against Civilians: Abuses by Macedonian Forces in Ljuboten, August 10-12, 2001, charges that Macedonian police troops shot dead six civilians and burned at least twenty-two homes, sheds, and stores in the course of their August 12 house-to-house attack on the village. The rights group pressed for an immediate investigation, including an inquiry into the role of Macedonian Minister of Interior Ljube Boskovski, who was present in the village on August 12, the day the worst violations occurred. "The Macedonian government must answer to the people of Ljuboten," said Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "It is deeply disturbing that the Minister of Interior appears to have been so intimately involved in one of the worst abuses of the war. We demand an immediate and impartial investigation." Human Rights Watch called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to make public the results of its investigation into the events in Ljuboten. Human Rights Watch pressed for a separate investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Macedonia conflict. Based on a two-week in-depth investigation, including a visit to Ljuboten, interviews with victims and witnesses, and examination of photographic evidence, the report also documented indiscriminate shelling that claimed another three lives in Ljuboten. Contrary to the government's account of the offensive, researchers found no evidence that the ethnic Albanian rebel National Liberation Army was present in the village. Hundreds of ethnic Albanian civilians who tried to flee Ljuboten faced further abuse. Ethnic Macedonian vigilantes beat three men unconscious in full view of the Macedonian police on August 12. One of the men was shot in the head by the Macedonian police as he attempted to flee the beating. Police separated over one hundred men and boys from their wives and children and took them to police stations in Skopje, where they were subjected to severe beatings. Atulah Qaini, aged thirty-five, was taken away alive from the village by police officers, and his badly beaten and mutilated corpse was later recovered by family members from the city morgue. According to their relatives, at least twenty-four men from Ljuboten, including a thirteen-year-old boy, remain in police custody after suffering serious beatings from the police. The police abuse suffered by ethnic Albanians fleeing Ljuboten is consistent with patterns of systematic abuse Human Rights Watch has documented in Macedonia over the past six months. Human Rights Watch urged international monitors to make a priority of monitoring and reporting on the conduct of Macedonian police. "Endemic police abuse is a potential spark that could re-ignite the conflict in Macedonia," Andersen said. "We can't wait for a gradual restructuring of the police over the next three years. Immediate steps -- including monitoring and accountability -- are needed to curb abuse." The complete report is available on the Human Rights Watch website at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/macedonia/ To access the photo gallery accompanying the report, please see: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/macedonia/photos/ ================================================================== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----- End forwarded message ----- # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net