Terrorism in Kosovo - Metohija

In Kosovo-Metohija classic terrorism pursued by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army is at work. Terrorist activities are carried out in the style of Europe's and the world's well-known terrorist organizations - attacks are carried out regularly, escalating when a peaceful political solution is near at hand, the terrorists openly take responsibility for destructive actions and killings, calls are made for mass resistance and terrorist activities carried out in neighboring countries as well.
The final aim of the terrorists is secession of Kosovo-Metohija from Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and joining it to Albania so creating a Greater Albania at the expense of the territories of Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Greece. The pre-condition for the realization of this goal is transformation of Kosovo-Metohija into an ethnically pure territory. The data that serve to illustrate this is that of a total of 1,413 villages in Kosovo-Metohija, 700 villages have been ethnically cleansed in terrorist attacks and under pressure to date.

Only during 1998, when terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija escalated, all Serbs and Montenegrins were expelled from another 87 villages. Persecution, intimidation and murders of the non-Albanian population as well as reprisals against members of their own nationality who are loyal to the state where they live and work, and against all those who show the slightest wish for talks with the Serb side, are characteristic of the activities of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The measures of the authorities against the terrorists represent legal reaction to increasingly arrogant attacks and acts of provocation and are strictly within the framework of the law and the powers invested in the responsible bodies and are aimed at protecting all citizens, their property, public peace and order, freedom of movement, circulation of traffic and operation of public offices.

Apart from activities in Kosovo-Metohija, armed border violations and provocative actions from the territory of Albania have also increased abreast with intensification of efforts to promote a peaceful solution through dialogue.

Included in the arming, recruiting and training of terrorists are officers of the Albanian armed forces, while their instructors are also terrorists drawn from certain Middle East countries.

The official authorities in Albania not only are not taking any measures to prevent serious violations of the Yugoslav border, endangering of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which is their international obligation under UN Security Council resolutions, but they are openly encouraging separatism and terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija aimed at creating a so-called Greater Albania using the territories of neighboring countries.

Most arms used by the Albanian terrorists in Kosovo-Metohija originate from Albania. The smuggling of weapons for terrorists into Kosovo-Metohija is directly linked to drug trafficking and organized international crime in general which also includes money laundering, white slavery, prostitution, especially juvenile, etc. Attesting to the links between international crime and terrorism in Kosovo are also statements by government officials of many European countries, Interpol, Europol and world media reports.

Ever since Albania has existed as a state, the situation on the Yugoslav-Albanian border has been almost always tense, attesting to which is a large number of border incidents, unscrupulous provocations and armed clashes with serious consequences.We carry excerpts from the article.

After World War II, during the years-long rule of Enver Hoxha and Ramic Alija in Albania, up to three thousand illegal immigrants would be caught on the territory of Yugoslavia, and the number of border incidents and various kinds of provocation ranged between 50 and 70 annually.

When Sali Berisha came to power in May 1992, the situation on the state border became increasingly tense, and border incidents acquired the form of an open aggression. Under Berisha's influence, the Albanian Parliament passed a decision on recognizing the self-proclaimed so-called Republic of Kosovo in 1992, proclaiming the state border between the FR Yugoslavia and Albania a "Berlin Wall", which, as he put it, had to be pulled down at any cost. "The liberation of Kosovo", as it is referred to in Albania, is the goal put before all Albanians, whereas Albania becomes a base for arms smuggling and the training of terrorists which are then illegally sent to Kosovo. In the first year of Sali Berisha's rule, 142 border incidents were registered.
In March 1997 came the break-down of Albania as a state and the complete collapse of the army and police. Storages of arms, ammunition, mines and explosive devices, as well as other military equipment came into the hands of the people, while border lookout posts were demolished, plundered and burnt down. From Albanian territory, fire was opened on facilities and the territory of Yugoslavia 27 times, and the number of prevented illegal border crossings from Albania into Yugoslavia rose to 1,500 people.
In the previous year of 1998, there were 125 armed incidents on the state border, and, on several occasions, over 800 persons in offensive formations attacked the territory of Yugoslavia.

The arrival of the OSCE Verification Mission in Kosovo-Metohija, seems to have had a negative impact on the situation in the southern Serbian province and the Yugoslav-Albanian border. Attesting to this are constant attempts at infiltrating armed groups from Albania into Yugoslav territory, daily attacks on the police, as well as the killing and abduction of civilians throughout Kosovo-Metohija.
On the Yugoslav-Albanian border in January this year, there were some thirty attacks on the territory of Yugoslavia and armed attacks on Yugoslav border guards. The latest clash our border guards had in the district of a border unit of Prizren, while preventing a group of armed terrorists from entering deeper into the territory of Yugoslavia. Three terrorists were liquidated on the occasion, and further field search discovered a large number of rockets for hand-held rocket launchers, mines, mortars, rifles, camouflage uniforms and other military equipment.

Members of the OSCE Verification Mission in Kosovo-Metohija participate, in all cases of armed clashes, in on-site investigations, regularly assessing that in question are serious border incidents. However, no one from international institutions has so far either condemned or threatened Albania for having turned its territory into a centre for training, organizing and arming terrorists, and for the fact that Yugoslavia is openly attacked from its territory almost every day.

TERRORISM AND THE NARCO MAFIA IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA

Two greatest evils of the century that is coming to a close - terrorism and drugs, gain full swing in crisis periods and in regions characterized by conflict situations. Organized terrorism coupled with the narco mafia are currently searching for space in Kosovo-Metohija.

The financing of the terrorist organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army has largely been enabled by the Albanian narco mafia which is considered to be one the largest in the world. The fight against the Albanian narco mafia has been made difficult due to the fact that at issue are members of a patriarchal society whose ranks are hard to penetrate. Apart from this, it has strong religious ties with famous narco centers in Turkey and the Near East. The Albanian narco mafia has strengthened to such an extent that certain facts indicate that it supplies even the Sicilian mafia with drugs and weapons.
According to information published by the Viennese Die Presse, the Albanian mafia is merciless. Whoever stands in its way is liquidated, and its most dangerous members are precisely those coming from Kosovo-Metohija. Members of the Italian narco mafia also include people from those Kosmet Albanian parties who see a solution to the Kosovo-Metohija question in terrorism, and from whose ranks these terrorists are largely recruited. Thus, for instance, recently arrested in Italy was criminal Reshepi Ritvan, member of a militant Kosovo Albanian party, who had on him a diplomatic passport whereby he avoided being held responsible for his involvement in drug trafficking.
The intensification of terrorist actions in Kosovo-Metohija, arms purchase and smuggling, the equipping of camps for the training of terrorists which are located in Albania, are financed by the lobbies that advocate in the world the stands of the Kosovo-Metohija Albanians, and a lot more is enabled precisely with this money which is obtained from drug trafficking.
The Albanian terrorist organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army has not been placed on Interpole's list, despite insistence by the Yugoslav authorities and evidence which is accumulated day after day before the eyes of the whole world.
The governments of precisely those countries that finance the most the fight against the narco mafia and terrorism in the world are turning a blind eye to the fact that at issue in Kosovo-Metohija is terrorism in conjunction with the narco mafia. Today, it is Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that are suffering the consequences of this, while tomorrow it could be the neighboring countries.