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"Nine million liters of Kosovo red wine, which the Japanese, the Americans and the Canadians purchased for 12 million deutschmarks, has been appropriated by members of the KLA with the assistance of German KFOR troops. Our company, Kosovovino, is now headed by a Shiptar, director Nuri Salcini, and a German, general Klaus Reihardt, the KFOR commander in Metohija. In addition to the wine cellar in Mala Krusa, KFOR and the KLA have confiscated our vineyards, a fertilizer farm, a distillation plant, trucks, the administrative offices and other facilities which are located in the Suva Reka-Prizren area. They have taken over our entire company, which is worth about 60 million deutschmarks, and forced all of us Serbs from our jobs. This morning I sent a letter to general Reihardt in which I suggested that Serbian employees be returned to their jobs and one of the best Kosovo companies saved from theft and collapse," we are told dejectedly by Vlasta Lazic, the head of Kosovovino and the best wine maker in Serbia over the past several years, who today sits in the Belgrade branch office of this company.
Lazic does not regret that 39 years of his work have been irretrievably lost and that Shiptars and Germans are now drinking the renowned Kosovo wine but he regrets that they are preventing the export of 360 freight containers of red wine to Japan and one million liters of wine each to the United States and Canada. The price of this wine, among the best in its class in the world, is 1.2 deutschmarks per liter in barrels. He especially regrets the fact that this money, earned while under sanctions, will never arrive in Serbia.
"In addition to the wine, very valuable are 2,000 beds of California earthworms which produce two million kilograms of fertilizer for our vineyards. This fertilizer is my product. It has enabled us to create organically grown grapes and to market organically grown wine which has won an assortment of championship titles in the country and in the world. A kilogram of this fertilizer is worth one deutschmark, so we currently have two million deutschmarks held hostage in the earthworm beds," says Vlasta Lazic.
Kosovovino was created as one of nine business units of the Progres export industrial complex, which was founded in Prizren in 1963. That is when Joca Prokic planted 4,000 hectares of grapes and established the foundation of viniculture in Metohija. Vlasta Lazic has been with the company since 1963 when he became the director of the Mala Krusa cellar which has a capacity of 850 freight containers. Two years later, they began exporting a red wine called "amser fender" to Germany.
"Delighted with this wine, which we said was made from grapes eaten by the blackbirds ["kos" in Serbian], the Germans themselves began calling it Kosovo wine. That is how our company was named and by 1989 we were exporting 28 million liters of this red wine. However, even before the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Shiptars began to wrest Kosovovino from the Serbs by maltreating us and forcing us to relocate. I myself considered leaving at one time but the director, Acif Beqiri, convinced me to stay. The company fell more and more under Albanian influence. This process came to a halt in 1992 when the Temporary Measures were introduced in Kosovo. That is when I became director of a company with two hundred employees who produced 20 million German Marks of product for export. Now the Shiptars have taken their revenge; they have stolen Kosovovino from us and given it to the Germans to manage," says Vlasta Lazic.
His employees admit that Lazic thought about transferring the wine to Serbia. He even had an offer from C-Market [a major food and beverage distributor] but it turned out to be too late. The KLA expelled the Serbs from Prizren before the transport of the wine could begin. And Lazic was forced to leave Mala Krusa with 350 employees three days before the end of the NATO aggression because the Shiptars had laid siege to Prizren. Their goal was to expel the Serbs, but also to take over all industrial collectives.
AN ARMY OF FOREIGN EXPERTS AS CONQUERORS
As soon as they were hidden behind the backs of British units, which entered Pristina first on June 11, 1999, the Shiptar terrorists used the opportunity to force their way into the Belacevac mine, to kidnap several employees, to kill one Serb and to take over the administrative offices and the entire mine. By the next day, they had also taken over the Clinical Center, Radio Television Pristina and the University.
"In Kosovo Polje Bogdan Kecman, the director of the oil company Jugopetrol in Kosmet, following threats by Shiptars that they would kill him, lost the company and the jobs of 150 employees, who are wandering in the Serbian capital and looking for any type of work. On July 6, 1999, less than a month after the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended, British KFOR troops and Shiptars with KLA guns expelled 580 Serbs, Montenegrins and Romanies employed in Kisnica and Novo Brdo mines near Pristina and practically took over these excavations from Serbia," writes the Pristina Center for Peace in one release.
The French eye Kopaonik
Last week officers of the French battalion in Leposavic flew by helicopter to Pancic's Peak [Pancicev vrh] and attempted to land despite the fact that warnings are still in effect that the peaks of the Kopaonik Mountain have not been cleared of NATO cluster bombs. KFOR believes Pancic's Peak falls within its jurisdiction because it lies inside Kosmet, since the border with Serbia stretches from Leposavic to Raska to the peak of the Kopaonik Mountain. Municipal officials in Raska claim that the peak of the Kopaonik Mountain lies inside Serbia and the KFOR does not have the right to conquer it with military helicopters, especially because on that peak are facilities belonging to the Yugoslav Army.
How this race to get to the peak of the Kopaonik Mt. will end no one s yet but it is quite possible if KFOR persists and the French land on Pancic's Peak, they will be followed to the most beautiful of Serbian mountains by Shiptar terrorists.
By July 28, 1999 the Shiptar terrorists had taken over all companies in the southern portion of Kosovska Mitrovica. The theft of socially owned property from the textile factory Jumko, the transportation equipment factory, Transkosovo, Kosmet-prevoz and DES [?] took place under the observation of French units of KFOR. By the end of July only the post office, of the state owned companies, was working in the Shiptar part of Mitrovica; all other organizations were destroyed and burglarized.
In Pec, members of the KLA took over the brewery, which belongs to the agricultural industrial complex of Belgrade, and expelled 350 Serbs and Montenegrins from that factory.
"In Pristina itself, of all state owned companies Beobanka withstood theattacks of Shiptar terrorists the longest. Thirty-six employees regularly came to work during the days of the KLA's return to Pristina. Some of them slept in the offices of the bank as well because they were afraid to go home. Money was illegally brought from Belgrade several times so that the bank in Kosmet could continue to function and the value of the dinar in relation to the deutschmark, which is being forced by the Shiptars, would be protected," we were told by Zoran Zivotic, a bank clerk whom we met in Raska.
Upon entering Kosmet, KFOR representatives gave excuses that they did not have enough troops to defend Serbian villages, but at the same time they did not leave a single key industrial object unprotected. Together with the soldiers and the officers who entered Kosmet came units of well prepared Western professionals, industrial and financial experts, engineers and technologists.
In the capital of Kosmet the foreigners took over the post office, with its thirty branch offices throughout the province, and ZTO [?], then the factory of shock absorbers, the factory of electrical equipment, the PKB food industry and its chain of food distribution and preparation.
Officially, KFOR acknowledges that Yugoslavia and Serbia have ownership of the natural resources and industrial capacities in Kosmet; unofficially, they are taking them over and occupying them together with the KLA. NATO experts from the ranks of KFOR have already been in the cement factory in Djeneral Jankovic, the factory of seamed pipes, the wood industry in Urosevac, tourist centers in Brezovica and on the Kosovo side of the Sara Mountain, the tobacco industry in Gnjilane, the factory of ceramic tiles with the kaolin mine in Kosovska Kamenica, the dairy and hog farm in Dobrevo, the factory of construction materials in Podujevo, the factory of zinc enamel in Vucitrn, the factory of transportation tracks in Suva Reka. More precisely, in 200 state-owned companies in all industrial centers of Kosovo and Metohija.
The conquest and occupation of the first block of thermoelectrical facility "Kosovo A" was explained by Jan Jonsten, the representative of the international forces, as follows: "KFOR independently made the decision to take over the management of production and distribution of electrical energy in Kosovo because the Serbian workers left their jobs, and electrical energy is critical for everyday life!"
Thermoelectrical facility "Kosovo A" has a total of five blocks with a capacity of 617 megawatts and annually produces 1.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Thermoelectrical facility "Kosovo B" has a capacity of 618 megawatts and annually produces 2.3 billion kilowatt hours. The Kosovo thermoelectrical facilities produce a total of 4.2 billion kilowatt hours of electrical energy. A Briton has been appointed temporary manager.
"Thermoelectrical facilities Kosovo A and B today are no longer controlled by the Serbian government but by KFOR and the KLA. This is a strategic war for the conquest of new living space. The foreigners, immediately upon arriving in Kosmet, showed interest in the thermoelectrical facilities, because the thermoelectrical power system "Obilic" accounts for one fourth of the production of electricity by coal in Serbia, and its coal reserves of 15 billion tons are believed to be the biggest in the Balkans. This Kosovo coal represents the future of Serbia, but also of Europe, because it represents a source of electrical energy for the next 200 years," we were told by Mirko Todorovic, a researcher at the Economic Institute of Belgrade.
By means of external pressure applied with the assistance of the KLA terrorists and physical occupation of the facilities internally, KFOR has attacked the thermoelectrical system "Obilic". First, the 250 Serbs employed by thermoelectrical facility "Kosovo A" stopped coming to work; after an attempt on the life of Zoran Stoisavljevic, manager of these thermoelectrical facilities, the Serbs left thermoelectrical facility "Kosovo B" as well. KFOR and the Shiptars also stole away the drying facility for lignite in Obilic, which was also built as a company for the future of Serbia. Now it is no longer that.
HASTY TAKEOVER OF TREPCA
On Friday night the KLA attacked the factory of batteries in Zvecane and expelled the Serbs. Afterwards a KFOR unit came to establish order but without the Serbs. Now the factory is in the hands of foreigners.
Even in Trepca, whose mines are run by the Greek corporation Mitilineos, the KLA and its leader, Hasim Thaci, with the assistance of the French peace forces, attempted to evict the Greek company which, however, has no representatives in the administration of the mining complex appointed by KFOR.
Namely, several years ago American sources leaked the news that geological observations from space confirmed that beneath the lignite of Kosovo lie great reserves of oil. This oil is now a topic of special research of American experts who do not wish to accept a single Shiptar into their teams so that the KLA cannot discover this carefully guarded secret.
Space research has shown that seven lead/zinc mines within the Trepca complex have rich deposits of gold, silver, cadmium and other rare metals in which the US is especially interested. The Americans believe that the Trepca industrial complex excavated its mines incorrectly.
This kind of behavior provoked a reaction by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose representatives brought the attempted takeover of Trepca to the attention of Bernard Kouchner, the governor of Kosovo. While the bombing was still going on, the Greek government had asked that the NATO command protect Greek investments in Kosmet. This request was granted at that time, so it is strange that now Greek ownership in Trepca should not be acknowledged. The metallurgical industrial complex Trepca in 1995 signed a contract with Evangelos Mitilineos worth 519 million dollars. The Kosovo giant was backed in terms of management and finance by General export and Jugobanka. According to the contract, during a five-year period Trepca was to deliver lead and zinc worth 350 million dollars, while Mitilineos SA Group was to bring to Mitrovica 150 million dollars worth of concentrated ore. 19 million dollars was to beinvested by the Greeks in mining equipment and spare parts.
Trepca is one of the three most important metallurgical industrial complexes in the world. It is especially famous for "the four Trepca nines" - indicating the top quality of processed zinc and lead which is 99.99% pure. The metallurgical industrial complex Trepca employed 11,000 people in all industrial capacities. It has plants and factories in 22 municipalities throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, Trepca directly and indirectly supports 300,000 people. It is only a matter of time, however, when KFOR and the KLA will completely take over Trepca and expel all the Serbs; last Friday we found only the secretary to director Novak Bjelic in the head office in Zvecane.
The metallurgical industrial complex Trepca and the Kosovo thermoelectrical facilities are the primary industrial capacities in the southern province and the largest producers of hard currency revenue. Thhese two giants accounted for ten percent and 25 percent, respectively, of production in their respective industrial branches and represented one of the foundations of the economy. At one time Shiptar nationalists used to sing "Trepca is working - Belgrade is being built." Now the same verse goes "Trepca is working - Albania is being built!"
At a time when the production level of Serbia was 19.2 billion German Marks, Kosovo contributed with a production of 1.1 billion German Marks. That is, we can say, only the direct loss of Serbia today due to the fact that Kosmet industries are no longer within the domain of Serbian industry. It is extremely difficult to calculate how much Serbia is losing in total due to the takeover of her natural resources and industrial capacities in Kosmet. The final list must include, in addition to production losses of state-owned property, revenue from taxes... If the means of production of the industrial capacities of Serbia in Kosmet are worth two billion German Marks, then at this moment KFOR together with the KLA has inflicted damages on Serbia to the extent of at least three billion German Marks.
English landing in Ajvalija
"At the same moment the English entered Pristina, the mobile phone system began working which was a sign that these professionals, too, had begun working. The truth is still being hidden from the public that Western experts in energy, metallurgy and mining were immediately sent to the Trepca mines, to her processing capacities in Gnjilane, Djakovica, Prizren, Pec and other industrial locations. The English immediately headed for Ajvalija, close to Pristina, to investigate the situation with pits rich with lead, zinc, gold and silver which are among the most valuable sites in Europe. And the French have in Zvecane and Kosovska Mitrovica taken over the plants of the metallurgical industrial complex Trepca, that is the foundries and processing capacities for lead and zinc which are the largest in Europe," we were told by engineer Bozidar Dobric of Pristina.
KFOR "PRODUCES" COAL AND ELECTRICITY
"The war of NATO, the US and the West against Yugoslavia was not a battle for the humanitarian and human rights of Albanians but a battle for Serbian and Kosmet natural resources, energy, mines, factories and companies. It was a battle for living space and energy sources and a new market of cheap labor. This can be concluded from the basic fact that NATO command did not bomb a single important Kosmet industrial facility. In my home town of Prizren, only one ordinary gas station was targeted," we were told by Bora Markovic, a beverage technologist from Prizren who today lives in Belgrade.
"The Germans have entered into all state-owned companies in Prizren, which are actually Serbian property, while private Albanian companies were not touched," says Markovic, and adds:
"Everything that KFOR and the KLA took away from the state of Serbia has already become a part of the industry of a Greater Albania. Electricity and food are being given free of charge to Tirana because they are Serb products. One Shiptar from Prizren has a biscuit factory in Turkey which produces 300 tons a month but he sells his products to Albania. The goal, therefore, is to destroy and take without compensation everything that is Serbian so that everything that is Albanian will have greater value!"
The Serbian authorities are apparently aware of the danger inherent in the takeover and appropriation of Kosmet natural resources and industrial capacities, first and foremost of the thermoelectrical facilities of Kosovo and the metallurgical industrial complex Trepca. Namely, at a major session of the Socialist Party of Serbia last week one of the topics of discussion was the situation in thermoelectrical facilities of Kosmet and the negotiations of the their administration with KFOR and the Shiptars.
"Instead of protecting the people and securing peace in Kosmet, KFOR is 'producing' coal and electricity. They did not advise anyone in the thermoelectrical facilities regarding their intention to export electrical energy," it was said in the head office of the Serbian Electrical Utilities Corporation [EPS].
Vojislav Tankosic, the assistant general director of the Electrical Utilities Corp. of Kosovo and Metohija [EPK, a subsidiary of EPS], recently confirmed that the Albanians have completely taken over management of the energy system in Kosmet, that they are hooking it up to Albania and refusing to work with Serbia. An EPS delegation traveled to Pristina to ask KFOR to urgently secure conditions for the return to work of all employees of the EPS in Kosmet and the normal activity of all coal mines and electrical power plants.
"The most responsible positions are now all held by Shiptars who are not qualified to direct work. It happens frequently that even the smaller capacities for the production of electrical energy in Kosovo are not working because the Shiptars and members of KFOR do not know how to fix problems," claims the EPS management.
The governments of Yugoslavia and Serbia are trying, in addition to the National Assembly in Kosmet, to form special groups in Belgrade as well as to stay on top of the emergency situation in the southern province. For example, Slobodan Tomovic was named minister for the coordination of Kosovo matters within the government of Serbia, while Branislav Vujinovic, the president of department of commerce of Serbia within the Yugoslav department of commerce was selected to head the Yugoslav department of commerce committee on Kosmet, whose task is to defend the rights of Serb companies, employees and entrepreneurs in this province. Vlasta Lazic, the man who created Kosovovino, believes that Kosmet and its industrial and natural resources are not lost forever.
"I have gone to Kosmet and left Kosmet twice already. And I will go back again, even if it is in 10 or 20 years. I have a deed for my land in Metohija and the Serbian Orthodox Church has deeds for its property. We Serbs must return to what is ours to claim what is ours. If we do not do this, then as my uncle Miloje says, we will deserve to all fit underneath a single pear tree!" [i.e. there will be so few of them, they will fit under a single tree]
Translated by Snezana Lazovic in September 1999