Remember why Kosovo wants independence, says envoy

By Douglas Hamilton

RACAK, Serbia (Reuters) - The massacre of 44 Kosovo Albanians by Serb security forces in this village nine years ago is a reminder of why Kosovo deserves independence from Serbia, says the U.S. diplomat who reported it to the world.

"I think the world has forgotten the sequence of events," William Walker said, on a return to the hillside where he witnessed the grim results of a Serbian paramilitary police operation to flush out Kosovo Albanian guerrillas.

"Racak was certainly not an isolated incident. It was happening all over Kosovo," said Walker, who led a Verification Mission to Kosovo to ensure the late Slobodan Milosevic kept his pledge to halt the use of excessive force and stop war crimes.

"What was different here was we managed to get here in the immediate aftermath, before the Yugoslav security forces were able to get their story out and make sure everyone believed their story, which was ridiculous," he said on Saturday.

Kosovo is now just days from declaring independence in the teeth of bitter opposition from Serbia, which is offering the province wide autonomy but insists it remain part of Serbian territory under the sovereignty of Belgrade.

An estimated 8,000 to 12,000 civilians were killed in the 1998-99 conflict, the great majority Albanians. Over 800,000 Albanians fled or were driven from the country at one point.

Walker says historical revisionists ignore these facts in their case against Kosovo's demand for self-determination.

Kosovo has been supervised by the United Nations since NATO bombed Serbia for 11 weeks in 1999, compelling Milosevic to withdraw his forces. The West sees no hope of persuading the two million Kosovars, 90 percent Albanian, to return to Serbia.