Orahovac -Kosovo

Bericht aus der Deutsch/Niederländisch besetzten Zone

The Global Reflexion Foundation send you this first report on the situation in Orahovac, Kosovo, which is under German/Dutch control. The report is based on interviews of Jared Israel of Emperors Cloths. Jared Israel spoke about this, October 23th, at a meeting of the Balkan Peace Coalition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this meeting - around 200 persons participated - also spoke Cedomir Prlincevic, President of the Jewish Community in Kosovo. Both gave a shocking image of what is happening in Kosovo since the arrival of KFOR. We urge you to read this with great attention.

Interview with 3 heroines and a call to action [Note from Emperors-clothes.com: Our Website has been down for a week. It should be up and running soon. In the meantime all articles can be read, thanks to Dimitris in California, by going to:

http://www.europa.com/~shinos/emperors-clothes

"Vast numbers all over the world have protested the bombing of Yugoslavia. But now, after the cessation of bombing, we in Yugoslavia have entered the worst hell. Some Serbs, Roma, Jews and others are driven out of Kosovo, some disappear, some are murdered and their murders attributed to forces beyond NATO's control. Some, like the Serbs and Roma of Orahovac, are imprisoned in a new Warsaw Ghetto." (Statement by Cedomir Prlincevic, President, Jewish Community of Pristina, driven out of Kosovo by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and NATO)

"The whole scene was one of horror, the children crying, us women trying to convince KFOR [i.e., NATO officers]. The Dutch Commander shouted: "ENOUGH! Just those who came should go back on the truck and the children must go back where they came." So there was more crying and the women were crying and shouting, and he screamed: "ENOUGH!" So we left, but the children were forced to return to Orahovac." (Natasha, interviewed below.)

Following are excertps from three interviews with members of the Womens Humanitarian Committee on Orahovac. These women have been fighting against all odds to free their relatives from a nightmare that defies summary description: you must read the itnterviews to grasp the horror of what NATO (KFOR) has done.

On Oct. 23, I [Jared Israel] described these interviews to a large antiwar meeting in Amsterdam. People were horrofied at the role of Dutch KFOR. On the 28th Nico Varkevisser of Global Reflexion, Cedomir Prelincevic, the Jewish leader and refugee from Pristina and I addressed party representatives from the Military Committee of the Dutch Parliament. Some were moved; at least one (the Christian Democrat) simply did not want to hear about Orahovac. The Dutch government is only beginning to realize that Orahovaic is their nightmare as well; this scandal challenges their legitimacy.

The Orahoivc Women ask all decent people to form an International Humantiarin Committee on orahoavic. As the Women suggest, the International Committee calls on you to:

Protest to the Dutch government. (Email and fax addresses are at the end)

Join and help the International Committee. Email SaveFamilies@aol.com or write to:

Support the International Delegation which will go to Orahoavc to bring out everyone who wants to leave. For more details, see the heading SAVE THE FAMILES after the interviews. Please read these interviews. See what NATO is doing IN OUR NAMES.

Interview with three heroic women Jared Israel was the interviewer. Peter Makara translated. Also included are excerpts from "To Kosovo and Back" by Zoran, a Serbian diplomatic aide who toured Kosovo a month ago. His complete report can be read at

The first woman we interviewed was Natasha, age 27. An Orahovac native, she studied in Belgrade until December, 1998, then returned home. In August, 1999, she escaped from Orahovac. Natasha says 3000 Serbs remain in the town. When the Yugoslav Army retreated in June and KFOR (NATO) occupation troops arrived: Natasha: "Maybe a thousand or more Serbs left. Orahovac is unique in that so many did stay; that's because we believed KFOR guarantees that we'd be safe. When it became clear things weren't going to be that way, people wanted to leave, but they were not allowed. Besides the Serbs, 500-1000 Roma, or 'Gypsies', stayed."

Natasha: "From April on our telephone connections as well as Serbian radio and TV were cut off thanks to NATO bombing. We had little information about what was happening in the rest of the country. We heard that after the June Peace Agreement was signed there was a massive exodus of Serbs from Prizen and elsewhere but we couldn't verify it so we wondered if it was true. Meanwhile, we were constantly being told by Western media that our security would be guaranteed - for instance, by Voice of America, which we heard via satellite connections. They used phrases about multiethnic, multicultural society and their Democracy and promised first to disarm KLA, then to establish their laws.

"The morning before KFOR arrived there was a meeting of their representatives with the Mayor, a Serb, plus other Serbs including the head of the winery. KFOR said that in two days or so life would return to normal. The next day the houses were burning."

Natasha: "With KFOR, the KLA came. The same day. Some neighbors even appeared in KLA uniforms. We were horrified. Suddenly we didn't feel safe [in the mixed section of Orahovac] so we moved to the Serbian part. "As we were leaving we saw, already, Serbian houses being burned. KFOR did nothing. We complained; they said they didn't have enough people. Soon reinforcements arrived but the situation stayed the same for a month. Over a hundred houses were burned. And they robbed whatever they could. A few "Gypsy" (Roma) houses were burned too. Twenty-five people who stayed in the mixed section were kidnapped, plus their houses were burned too.

"Slowly we realized the extent of the mistake we'd made in not leaving. Every day KFOR offered new excuses for not protecting us. They said: 'We can't put guards in front of every house. We can't give every Serb an armed guard.' "The KFOR checkpoint is close to the ghetto. KFOR guards the entrance and exit to the Serbian area. Plus there are barricades, which the Albanians put up. First you hit KFOR and second you hit the Albanian barricades. KFOR supplied tents for the Albanians who are sitting on those barricades. And they ran electric wiring into those tents to provide current."

[In his article in emperors-clothes, Zoran reports "Albanian roadblocks outside Orahovac are former German/Dutch fortified checkpoints. I can not imagine that Albanians could have taken control of those without [KFOR's] tacit approval - or instigation. The organizing committee at the roadblocks is armed. Heavier weapons are kept in hundreds of tents erected around the barricades - supposedly for women and children. Muscular men in sport suits patrolling the site carry small firearms under their jackets."]

Natasha: "We were kept in this Serb enclave. My parents can come out on the streets but that's dangerous; two people were wounded just being outside the house. Those who have tried to escape simply disappeared."

"There is no phone service to Belgrade. The only food is from humanitarian sources. One "Gypsy" tried to ship food from the Albanian to the Serbian section; some extreme Albanian group told him, "No food for the Serbs!" Near the beginning we would send some Albanian kid to buy stuff for us. But the kid would be beaten up and they would tell him 'Don't do that again!" "The ghetto is 500 square yards. Water is erratic: once in three days for two or three hours." "During the first days there were lots of reporters. Later there were fewer; I spoke to a Reuters' journalist twice. The second time he said the first interview had been all censored and crossed out."

[Zoran reports: "In the first days after KFOR's arrival, 5 Orahovac Serbs were killed and 10 abducted under the watchful eyes of German troops. Serbs aren't even allowed to go to the market or grocery store 50 meters away. The considerable Gypsy population, together with the Serbs, suffers equally."] Natasha: "The only thing that KFOR did was organize a shipment of bread to the Serbian part; they were very proud of it. We only see KFOR in the street; there are no meetings. The Albanians are in charge. They took everything. You occasionally have small KFOR patrols but Headquarters is in the Albanian section."]

[Zoran reports: "In Orahovac itself the former police station has been turned into a KLA HQ. The local KLA commander, the man who runs this town, is a mass murderer named Ismet Hara, responsible for last year's abductions and brutal killings of over 60 Serbian civilians from Orahovac (the bodies of most are still missing), some of whom - it is reasonably believed - he personally executed. "Serbs say they recognize many local Albanians in the ranks of the German KFOR. Probably KLA members recruited in Albania…KFOR denies this…I've personally seen KLA Commanders with their escort - all [illegally] armed - entering KFOR bases with KFOR ID cards and never a delay."]

[Zoran reports: "Early in the KFOR/KLA occupation, Dutch/German Baklava Units gave local Serbs 24 hours to hand in all their weapons. (note that the KLA has been given 3 months and still counting….) The naïve Serbs complied. A few weeks later, the Dutch/German troops entered the Serbian quarter in broad daylight, fired some warning shots over the heads of Serbs who were gathered near a church and dragged people from their houses. Serbian witness say they grabbed people by the hair and pulled them out while kicking them… "The Dutch/German troops arrested the Serbian Mayor and two other Serbs, accusing them of 'war crimes'. There is no credible evidence to support these charges, though the Albanian side has spread rumors that documents discovered in a cellar of one house implicated the Mayor."]

Natasha: "Yes, that arrest was spectacular, just like that. I heard that KFOR had masks. They arrested the doctor and the Mayor [and a restaurant owner.] They accused them of war crimes." "Nine people were seized altogether. The second group of six was just ordinary people. They had been working with the International Red Cross which wants to evacuate old and sick people. The six were told they could leave. Then KFOR arrested them at the checkpoint."

[Zoran reports: "From reliable international sources I learned the arrests are an attempt to turn these people into "important witnesses" in a made-up war crimes case against Serbs, not because of real evidence. "Here's the strategy: first they isolate the Serbs, then they wear them out, then they kick them out - after extracting the people Albanians accuse of being 'war criminals'. To this end, they come up with all kinds of justifications for keeping the last remaining Serb civilians in this monstrous new ghetto."]

Natasha: "The people who left that mixed part of the town the first day didn't have time to take any luggage or personal belongings. Not even personal documents. A lower level German officer who was friendly and kind did provide us with an armed escort [so we could get some basic necessities] and even helped with luggage. But soon after that he disappeared; we [Serbs] never saw him again. "In another case a common Dutch soldier saw an Albanian coming from a burning house. The Dutch soldier wanted to shoot at the arsonist but his officer stopped him, and they quarreled. We didn't see that soldier later either. Their practice in general was that they would change the people who patrol the Serbian area with the intention obviously that these people not get friendly with the Serbs."

Natasha: "In another case a Serbian woman was about to deliver. She wanted to go the maternity ward in the Orahovac hospital. Ever since KFOR's arrival, Albanians comprise the entire staff at this hospital. She got a KFOR escort and was taken to this local hospital; they said it would be a difficult delivery and to go to the larger town, Prizen. KFOR provided escort to Prizen. The delivery was difficult and in front of KFOR the hospital staff said that she should stay for at least 24 hours but as soon as KFOR had left, they kicked her out into the corridor. So she spent the night on a bench with the new baby."

[Editor's note: Natasha then recounts how when KFOR finally came and brought her back, a Serb complained to a Dutch commanding officer about this treatment. The Dutch officer replied: 'She's alive isn't she? So why complain?"]

[Editor's note: In August, Natasha fled from Orahovac to Belgrade. There she and other women with relatives in Orahovac pressed the Yugoslav government to intervene. The government negotiated with KFOR for two convoys of women to go to Orahovac with an armed KFOR escort. Natasha was on the second trip. Fter a brief visit, the woman were to gather at the Serbian Orthodox Church where KFOR would take them back to the KFOR checkpoint.]

Natasha: "I was there visiting my parents for three hours after a whole night of traveling and harassment: more time at KFOR's checkpoint then with my family. After the visit a crowd gathered at the church. They wanted their children to leave Orahovac. KFOR didn't want a scene so they let us get on the truck with the children. It was quite crowded. "Back at the checkpoint, they divided us women from the children. They had made a list of the people who came in with the convoy, and they said those people could leave but the children had to go back [to Orahovac]."

Natasha: "The children started crying; they wanted to go with us. We tried to convince KFOR to let the children go; they said if one "extra" person leaves they would not provide an escort. And already Albanians were gathering around, kind of watching what was happening. And it was getting dark. "The trick was that the KFOR would bring us back only to our bus and from there on it would be completely unsafe. "The whole scene was one of horror, the children crying, us women trying to convince KFOR. The Dutch commander shouted: "ENOUGH! Just those who came should go back on the truck and the children must go back where they came." So there was more crying and the women were crying and shouting, and he screamed: "ENOUGH!" The children were forced to go back."

The women left Orahovac and went next to Pristina, capital of Kosovo province. Miriana, the next woman interviewed told us that there six of the women met with a UN Kosovo Chief Bernard Kouchener's Russian assistant, whose name is pronounced Ivancev. After hearing their stories he said he wanted to go to Orahovac and see for himself, and they should come with him. Miriana: "We told him that this really felt like a concentration camp and that that should happen at the gate to the 21st century was astonishing. Each told her story separately. He said he didn't know too much about Serbs in Orahovac, he was at that duty only a month and a half. We told him it's actually a humanitarian catastrophe. He was apologetic. "He wrote down all we said. He said he'd be talking to Mr. Kouchener in the afternoon and would then contact us. We gave him our mobile phone number and told him where we were staying. He promised to call. "He did respect his word and called about 5 or 6. He talked to our translator Aleksander and apologized because it was Tuesday and he couldn't go before Friday. We agreed to meet him Friday noontime at the Turkish checkpoint [at or near Pristina]. Natasha reports that a Yugoslav representative in Pristina, Mr. Tomovich, agreed to negotiate with KFOR over an armed escort as well as the presence of a doctor and inclusion of medical supplies.

Miriana: "We stayed in the Serb-run Center for Peace and Tolerance. The conditions were quite awful. We didn't have a place to sleep. We didn't have water, current or food. It was really quite difficult but we kept in our minds the conditions of our families in Orahovac so we were just waiting for this Friday to come so we could go and see our families again and try and help our families. "Right across from the Center were food stores. But we couldn't cross the street and buy because we were Serbs. So we gave the soldiers money to go buy stuff for us. Our translators or these soldiers would cross the street and buy apples or something."

Miriana: "Four in the morning the water came and we quickly got ready. 9:30 in the morning we got out in the yard to wait for KFOR escort. Two Yugoslav representatives waited with us. But the escort did not come. Ten in the morning came; eleven came; 11:30. We were losing hope that we'd be able to get to the Turkish checkpoint at noon. Our representative [name unintelligible] said it seemed that the German KFOR troops [in command at Orahovac] were now demanding a signed permission by the International Red Cross for us to get to Orahovac.

"We saw that something had failed. So we said to a British Captain, he was in uniform" 'Give us an escort; let's go now.' "So that guy, whom we would be able to recognize now among a million NATO troops, went to KFOR headquarters. And he came back and asked, 'Could you perhaps go to Orahovac tomorrow but without an escort and without a translator; and if you agree, you must respect whatever orders the German command there in Orahovac gives you." It would be just us without an escort. Just the women without even the doctor. We were to come at 8 AM and strictly obey the German command. "So we said even that way we would go but we wanted a written document where the conditions would be spelled out. This British officer said: no written document. We insisted. He said no.

"Another night was coming. When it was obvious that these negotiations would fail, we said, 'All right, give us an escort so we can go back to the rest of Serbia.' Immediately he said OK; in 45 minutes we would get an escort. 'You see we had insisted a document exist so that in case we disappeared there would at least be a record. The bus we were using was from Serbia, with large Cyrillic letters. So it really sounded like that, that we would disappear. They could spin the story this way: they had tried to arrange a trip that was guarded but the women insisted on going on their own against KFOR's wishes and then this terribly regrettable thing happened. Due to the Albanians' desire for revenge against the Serbian oppressors, etc., etc. It was so transparent that even a little child could see through it. We had hoped that on this trip we would find some good people among the occupation forces, that there could be some good people but we saw that there are none."

Simca lived in Belgrade for many years but has maintained close ties with family and friends in Orahovac, calling and visiting frequently. Simca: "Until the ninth of April I had phone contact. After that I was just guessing. The connection between Belgrade and Pristina worked almost all the time but this Metohija area, towards Albania, the phone lines were down. During the bombing our contact was through the mail; it took 20 days, sometimes a month, but we kept in touch. You have to understand that since June we've been pressuring the Yugoslav government to organize some visit there."

imca was one of two women who went on the first trip back to Orahovac. Simca: "On this trip there were just two women from Orahovac. I was one. We had three large trucks with humanitarian supplies. When we got to the Dutch checkpoint in Orahovac the Dutch officer said one of the trucks could proceed into the Serbian area but that we, the two women, could not. They would unload the truck to see what was on it and then they would let in the second truck.

"I was afraid I would not be able to see my relatives at all. I started to cry and I begged one of the soldiers: "Please. Please." And he just waved his hand as if too say, "Go back to the group, go back to the others." "Suddenly I saw this man nearby, a civilian; he was my Serbian neighbor and I was surprised. His face is maybe similar to an Albanian. I said, 'How come you can roam around?' 'And he said, 'Oh, they're confused; they think I'm an Albanian.' So he was free and I said, 'Look, please don't tell my mother I'm here. My mother has a heart problem. I didn't want my neighbor to tell her that I'm there and then if I'm not able to see them she might get sick.' "When Albanians go through this checkpoint they're not even stopped. They just wave and KFOR waves back; it's just us that are stopped. Albanians clap their hands and shout 'NA -TO, NA - TO!' And the Dutch people are very friendly towards the Albanians.

"This neighbor of mine did not listen to my advice. He went and told my family. And suddenly I saw my brother and sister walking towards me. The Dutch soldiers immediately formed themselves into a row and put up a barbed wire barricade. So it was I, then these soldiers, then this barbed wire, and then my brother and sister on the other side. I was crying on one side of the barricade and my brother and sister were crying on the other side." [Simca was weeping as she spoke.] Simca: "I knelt down and begged him in English, 'This is my brother and my sister, please help me.' And he just waved his hands, saying, 'Nein, Nein.' The use here of the word "Nein" here confused the interviewer and there followed this exchange between him, the translator and Simca: Jared: "Is that the Dutch word for 'No?' That's not a Dutch word." Simca: "I thought if I addressed him in English he would answer in English but no, he said, 'Nein Nein'. " Jared: "But that's a German word." Simca: "I understand the difference." Jared: "But he was Dutch." Translator: "She knows that. That's her point." [Simca continued with her report:]

Simca: "Then this 'friend' of ours, this Dutch Major appeared, and I told him this was my brother and sister. He showed some mercy and told the soldiers that these two, my brother and sister, could pass through. So I was able to hug my brother and sister. "My brother does not show his emotions. I didn't see him cry at my father's funeral. But when he came and hugged me he cried too. It was terrible. The other people heard that someone had come from Belgrade and suddenly all of them were walking towards the checkpoint en masse though it was not a safe thing to do.

"Once he saw so many people coming, this friend of ours, this Dutch Major, decided that maybe there would be an incident so perhaps it would be better to let the women in. So we got in. It's difficult to put in words what happened. People surrounded us asking us questions: 'What's happening?' 'Are we forgotten?' 'How can we get out?' Questions and tears and worries. "My mother was just 15 yards away but she couldn't reach me because there was such a crowd. They looked at us as if we'd come from another planet, as if we were Gods, desperate to touch us and ask us questions. These people don't get newspapers; they don't get TV; the telephones don't work. "This Major, I was begging him to let my sister and her little children out. And he said: 'No! Only those who came in can get out.'"

Simca: "The procedure for getting in was astonishing. They photographed our ID documents. A woman searched me. I had to lift my arms and spread my legs and she was touching me everywhere as if she was looking for weapons. Just like in the movies. I felt bad before and I felt horrible afterwards. "First they look at the car, they look under the seats of the car, they look around and inside. They photograph the documents. Then they do this search with their hands around your body and then they do that to the next person and they tell you to stay aside while they do that to the next person. I had taken cookies and chocolate for my sister's children and they crushed it up and turned it over and inside out.

Simca was only allowed two and a half hours visiting in Orahovac. Simca: "As we were getting ready to leave suddenly there was a number of young people, boys and girls, who were all packed. They appeared immediately with suitcases; the same thing happened with the second convoy. I didn't spend much time with my mother; I have to admit that. I was concentrating all my effort on how I could save my sister and her young children. The youngest is two.

[The translator commented: "That's a Serbian trait, to save the younger generation. The older ones are expendable if it comes to it." It took a moment before the interviewer understood the meaning of this remark: the Serbs had experienced this before.]

Simca: "When we were leaving they made sure to keep people separated. There were the two of us, then a row of soldiers, then the barbed wire, another row of soldiers on the other side. Then the German police, with red berets made another wall. We were to leave at 5:30 but it took until 10:30. The problem was that three young girls slipped through the lines and got into the jeep of a journalist who was with us. This journalist fiercely quarreled with KFOR, demanding that the girls be allowed to go.

"There were more and more people coming from the Serbian section to the checkpoint. This journalist said he wouldn't let these girls be taken from the jeep; KFOR would have to shoot him. So the Major, seeing all these people and fearing trouble after this long quarrel, let the jeep leave with the three young girls. He was very angry. He said, "OK, you can leave. But you have not respected the Rules agreed on for this visit!"

[In a later interview (October 31), Simca recounted a conversation with Mr. Ivancev, the Russian assistant to UN Kosovo Chief Kouchener, which took place October 29. Ivancev told her they were holding the Serbs hostage in Orahovac because the Albanians had given KFOR a list of 200 war criminals.] Simca: "Ivancev said, 'The war criminals are hiding among the Serbs.' I asked him: 'Then what about the children? Why have you refused to release the children for four months?' He looked miserable. 'That's the question I asked Mr. Kouchener,' he said. And he looked so miserable I almost felt sorry for him."

This situation cries out for IMMEDIATE action. The lives of an entire community are at stake. They have been sentenced; they are granted NO RIGHT OF APPEAL. The Orahovac women have asked us to act NOW before more people are killed!

An International Humanirarian Committee on Orahovac has been formed. It includes the Orahovac women in Serbia, people in Holland and the US. Please join with us and help spread the message.

Join the Committee. To join just Email or write us at the PO Box listed below. Join personally or in the name of your group and tell us you want to join.

Particpate in and/or support the Delegation to Orahovac. This International Delegation will GO TO ORAHOVAC and bring out anyone who wants to leave.

If you can send a contribution please do; any money not used to pay the Committee's expenses will be donated to the people of Orahovac for humanitarian relief. Send conributions to:

Please send the following message to the Dutch officials listed below and ask your political, labor, business or other organizations to do likewise. Also contact your local Dutch embassy and let them know how you feel by phone and email and fax. Here's the proposed text but feel free to change it any way you wish:

• WE DEMAND that KFOR troops guarantee safety, food, water, electricity and phones - normal living conditions - for the Serbs and other non-Albanians of Orahovac.
• WE DEMAND that KFOR troops guarantee the safe movement of ANYONE in Orahovac.
• WE DEMAND that KFOR immediately institute a PROTECTED bus route from Orahovac to the Yugoslav-controlled part of Serbia.

• http://www.dkp-hessen.de/ •
• Autor: DKP Hessen • •