Kosovo guerillas release five abducted Serbs

PRISTINA, JAN 23: Ethnic Albanian guerrillas released five Serb villagers today after mediation from international observers in Kosovo, s...

PRISTINA, JAN 23: Ethnic Albanian guerrillas released five Serb villagers today after mediation from international observers in Kosovo, said a spokesman for the observer mission.

Col Mike Philips, an American with the Kosovo observer mission, told the Associated Press that the five were now with members of the mission being run by the organisation for security and cooperation in Europe. He gave no further details.

Yesterday’s kidnapping came while international officials pressured government forces and the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army to stop attacks in the separatist province of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic. Tensions have soared since a January 15 massacre of ethnic Albanians and a subsequent showdown between the Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the cease-fire, and the Yugoslav government, which tried to oust the head of the observer mission.

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The observers, who have been condemned by the Yugoslav government for accusing its security forces ofmassacring 45 ethnic Albanians in the village of Racak, condemned the abductions before the start of negotiations that led to their release.

“I think that was a very, very uncivilised thing for them to do, to kidnap civilians,” William Walker the American head of the team verifying compliance to an October cease-fire agreement, told reporters. “I want to condemn it.”