Wednesday, February 21, 2001

By Terry Boyd
Kosovo bureau

Terry Boyd / Stars and Stripes Dr. (Col.) Mack Blanton greets Nebjosa Covic, Serbia's deputy prime minister, at Camp Bondsteel's hospital, where Covic visited two Kosovar Serb women who were airlifted to Bonsdsteel after last Friday's fatal attack on a convoy.

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — The first Yugoslav government official to visit a KFOR military base came in part to check on victims of the Feb. 16 bus attack in Podujevo. But Nebjosa Covic, Serbia’s deputy prime minister, didn’t leave Camp Bondsteel without pressing KFOR officials to help end Muslim guerilla attacks against Serb forces in the Presevo Valley.

Covic spent about 15 minutes, chatting with Zlatka Savic, 58, who is recovering from surgery in intermediate care, said Dr. (Col.) Mack Blanton, Task Force Medical Falcon commander. The Serb official also thanked Dr. (Capt.) John Porter, a critical care surgeon, Blanton said.

Stana Bauk, 57, suffering from chest injuries, remains in intensive care, he said. Doctors are hoping to remove her from life support and stabilize her, then move her to a Serbian hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica within three or four days, Blanton said.

The two Serbian women are the last of the 10 patients remaining at Bondsteel after the remote-control bombing of the convoy that killed 10 and wounded 40. Covic also asked for permission to fly to Vranje to attend the funeral of a bus-bombing victim.

U.S. officials agreed to let Covic visit the huge U.S. camp out of humanitarian interest.

"Obviously, it was the right thing to do," said Christoper Dell, chief of the mission at the U.S. State Department office in Pristina.

Dell added that Covic’s visit "doesn’t mean anything in terms of the final status" though relations are improving between KFOR and the new Serbian government of Vojislav Kostunica.

Stressing that humanitarian interests were the overriding impetus for the visit, it also wasn’t a bad thing for top Serb official to see Bondsteel’s mass of soldiers and materiel, Dell said.

"I wonder what he must be thinking as he flies in and sees the scale of resources we can deploy 5,000 miles from [the United States]," he said. "I think it’s imperative that they understand the strength of our commitment to seeing through this process in Kosovo."

But Covic said his government is not entirely happy with how that process is going.

Leaving the hospital, he gave a brief press conference, thanking KFOR officials for giving "very good" treatment to blast victims. But, Covic added, Serb officials "are not satisfied with security matters."

He stressed that Serbia wants KFOR to intervene in the Presevo Valley, where ethnic Albanian guerrillas have killed three Serbian policemen this month while losing one commander.

Covic presented a peace plan for the Valley that calls for reducing the neutral ground safety zone — the guerrilla’s haven — between southern Kosovo and the Presevo Valley from three miles to one mile.

When asked about security for Serbs in enclaves, such as the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, Covic replied, "How can you tell Serbs they don’t need additional security when a KFOR vehicle was leading the convoy?"

Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999 after a 78-day bombing campaign forced out Serbs who had attacked the Muslim majority in the province. Now ethnic Albanians are pushing for independence, although U.N. officials advocate reintegrating Kosovo into Serbia.

Covic met with KFOR commander Lt. General Carlo Cabigiosu, who expressed his condolances for the loss of the bus victims and police officers, according to Maj. Steve Shapell, a KFOR spokesman.

RELATED STORY:
          Americans' work after bombing is noticed by Serbs

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