Serbs Seen as Hindering Aid

Serbian police and politics are blocking humanitarian aid for thousands of ethnic Albanians displaced by fighting in Kosovo province, aid workers said Monday.

The workers accused police of routine harassment in the region where 77 ethnic Albanians were killed by Serbian forces earlier this month.

“Every time we try to reach the [Drenica region of Kosovo], we are harassed and intimidated by the police,” said the director of one aid agency, who declined to give his name and that of his organization, for fear of retaliation.

“We should be working in these villages every day, but we cannot get there,” he said. “Our local Albanian staff are afraid for their lives at Serb checkpoints. Our vehicles are searched over and over again, and the Albanians are humiliated.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross suspended field operations in Kosovo last week and withdrew all its foreign staff after receiving death threats.