KOSOVO/MACEDONIA: KOSOVO CRISIS UPDATE

(24 Mar 1999) Albanian/Nat

In the face of NATO threats, Yugoslav forces continue battling ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The Serb army and police are involved in an offensive against suspected K-L-A targets in central Kosovo near the village of Srbica, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Pristina.

New fighting has also been reported in the northern Podujevo area and in the rebel stronghold region of Drenica.

Meanwhile, Macedonian authorities closed border posts stemming the flow of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing their homes.

NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia now appear imminent, barring a dramatic reversal in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's resistance to a peace plan involving the presence of foreign troops.

On Tuesday, Yugoslav forces continued battling ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo as officials in Belgrade remained defiant.

The Serb army and police can be seen here in an offensive against suspected K-L-A targets in central Kosovo near the village of Srbica, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Pristina.

Fresh fighting has also been reported in the northern Podujevo area and in the rebel stronghold region of Drenica.

The Drenica region has been the focus of a powerful offensive against separatist guerrillas by the estimated 40-thousand Yugoslav forces in the province.

There have also been reports of fighting near Vucitrn, in the north.

Serb police claimed success on Tuesday, saying the main road from Pristina to Podujevo had been re-opened and that "terrorist" groups "no longer present a danger along this road."

K-L-A soldiers are desperately trying to maintain their positions against the advancing Serb army.

The U-N refugee agency estimates 240-thousand people have been displaced within Kosovo, not counting the 190-thousand who have already left the province of two (m) million people.

As time runs out in for peace in Kosovo, large numbers of ethnic Albanian refugees have crossed the border into Macedonia.

But on Tuesday, the Macedonian authorities closed border posts stemming the flow of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fleeing their homes as the threat of NATO air strikes comes closer.

But the fear of war overrides the danger of the journey and many Kosovars are still attempting the crossing despite harsh weather conditions in the region.

Hundreds of men, women and children, many on foot, leading pack horses, are trekking through snow covered hillsides to avoid the fighting.

The sight of the Serb military moving into position is enough to scare these people from their homes.

SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
"My children were shaking. They almost fainted. They saw these tanks near the house. Everything is blocked. They told us that we should go, this is our land."
SUPERCAPTION: Kosovar Refugee

More than two thousand people have been killed in over a year of fighting in the mostly ethnic Albanian province and hundreds of thousands have been made homeless.

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