Troops battle for control of Kosovo roads
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.FIERCE FIGHTING erupted yesterday in Serbia's war-torn Kosovo province, as Albanian separatists and Serbs troops battled for control of the two main roads leading west and south of the capital, Pristina.
Serb tanks were also spotted rumbling south out of Pristina. This is more confirmation, if any was needed, that Belgrade's so-called police operation against Albanian "terrorists" has failed to subdue the revolt against Serbian rule and is inevitably drawing in the Yugoslav army.
The worst fighting was centred on the town of Klina, 30 miles west of Pristina and the centre of the Albanian insurrection which erupted earlier this year.
Last night the Albanian Prime Minister, Fatos Nano, claimed that his country was "on the eve of war" with Yugoslavia over Kosovo. He pledged co-operation with Nato but said that the best solution for Kosovo was not independence but to be a full republic within Yugoslavia.
Military analysts said the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was most likely to be attempting to create a corridor across the road, linking belts of territory that they hold north and south of this key communication artery. Albanian sources reported that army tanks were blasting at houses and farms in villages near Klina. North of Pristina, exchanges of fire were reported between Serbs and Albanians in an ethnically-mixed village.
With every sign that the fighting is set to continue and perhaps intensify over the summer, Serbia's ally, Russia, yesterday urged the West not to put pressure on Belgrade to withdraw its police and troops from the province, which is one of the West's key demands.
In an interview on Russian television, Yevgeny Primakov, the Foreign Minister, said if Serbia was to withdraw its 40-50,000-strong security force, it might prompt an exodus of the entire Serbian population. "It will result in a flow of Serbian refugees, who will regard the move as a signal to leave," he said.
The Contact Group of major powers on former Yugoslavia, which comprises Russia, the United States, Britain, France and Germany, was due to meet to discuss the crisis in Kosovo tomorrow.
In Vienna, the secretary-general of Nato, Javier Solana, said the organisation had still not ruled out military intervention to halt the alleged Serbian "ethnic cleansing" that has sent tens of thousands of Albanians from western Kosovo flooding into neighbouring Albania.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments