Blaming the victim

[Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What do you think about these, Milan? How realistic is it to blame Milo
for what had happened in Yugoslavia?

Xxxx

Jonathan Steele
Wednesday June 7, 2000

British troops yesterday fired into a crowd of Serb civilians, injuring
three, after they surrounded Brigadier Richard Shireff, the commander of
the British sector of Kosovo. The incident, which is one of the worst
since Nato-led troops entered Kosovo
exactly a year ago, occurred as Serbs gathered to protest against a
drive-by grenade attack at a crowded market in the monastery town of
Gracanica, close to Pristina.

The grenade attack, which wounded five shoppers, touched off a melee.
Serbs began stopping Albanian cars on the road through the town, setting
five vehicles alight and injuring two drivers.

Hearing of the incident, Brig Shireff rushed to the scene but was almost
set upon. The Nato spokesman, Captain Jo Butterfill, said his bodyguards
had felt threatened and fired into the crowd. Brig Shireff later met
Father Sava Janjic, a leader of the moderate Serb faction, to try to
ease tensions. Serbs said they began stopping vehicles after Swedish
troops stationed in the town failed to block the car which carried out
the grenade attack.

"It was thrown right in front of K-For [Nato peacekeepers]," said Dragan
Stojanovic. "How come they weren't able to stop that car? Aren't they
ashamed?"

The Serb national council said the grenade attack was only the latest
"wave of organised Albanian terrorist groups seeking to expel Serbs from
Kosovo".

"We have repeatedly told K-For that the market in Gracanica is a
dangerous site ... but Nato has found no solutions for the problem," Fr
Janjic told the private news agency, Beta.

Unlike most Serb communi ties in Kosovo which have been reduced to
isolated enclaves, Gracanica straddles a key main road connecting the
capital with the southeastern city of Gnjilane.

K-For maintains roadblocks for spot-checks on traffic, but the
peacekeepers usually wave vehicles through without searching them. Serbs
often set up their own roadblocks to deter Albanians from driving
through the town.

The incident comes two days after the Serb national council walked out
of the UN-led government of the province in protest at a spate of
attacks on Serbs in the last fortnight. Eight Serbs, including a
four-year-old boy, have been killed.

The increase in violence against Serbs comes as two Serbs have gone on
trial in the town of Mitrovice, in northern Kosovo, accused of
committing war crimes during the conflict last year. The men, one of
whom is being tried in his absence, are accused of expelling Albanians
from the province and burning their homes.

The international community agreed to speed up the trials of suspected
war criminals after Serb prisoners staged a hunger strike to protest
against their detention for weeks without trial.

At the height of the hunger strike as many as 1,000 local Serbs gathered
outside the jail every day.

The top international official in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, was only
able to break the deadlock over the hunger strike by giving in to almost
all the prisoners' demands. He persuaded them to give up their protest
in return for prompt trials before an international judge.

An international judge is presiding over the hearing, assisted by a
panel of lay judges made up of two Serbs and two Albanians.



The Guardian 07-06-00
Mark Jones
http://www.egroups.com/group/CrashList




--

Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222


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