Friday, April 2, 1999
Students admit ignorance
about situation in Kosovo
KOSOVO continued from page 1
"I don't care that much about it, down. I don't understand it. 1 have
honestly. I watch it and Mow it, but no clue what's going on."
it has no effect on me." Erwin was also unaware of the
The news doesn't affect some stu- fact that more than one soldier had
dents amply because they dont watch been taken hostage,
the news. "I doubt a tot of people know about
"We don't watch the news that [the hostages] * he said,
much. We really don't know much The one instance in which stuabout
current events at USC [either],* dents interviewed said they'd pay
business sophomore Alice McKie said, more attention is if they had a friend
Business sophomore Beth Toles or family member invoked somehow,
also offered a reason why some stu- . "If I knew somebody over there,
dents aren't I'd definitely
knowledgeable pay a lot more
about current W attention like I
events. IjjN, did in the Gulf
"They don't E* Serbia War," Toles
have the time," w said,
she said. "Be- . \ Liberal arts
tween classes, ^^P^osovoS freshman
studying and / J Ashanti Friets
working, there Europe? admitted she
just isn't the M doesn't undertime.
stand every"We
just thingthafsgokind
of have time to briefly glance ing on but makes a point to watch
over The Gamecock because it's free, the news. Friets also has an uncle in
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for, and we don't even get to look at gion.
[the conflict] that much in-depth." "He didn't want to go, and he
Even some of those who take time didn't know why," he said,
to learn what's going on and look at "But they told him to go, so he
it in-depth are having problems fig- goes. He's only 20."
uring out exactly what the situation Psychology freshman Tevra Johnson
is. showed concern, as well.
"Most people don't know what's "The majority of my friends know
really going on over there," business about it," she said,
sophomore Jason Wade said. "[But] I don't understand the
"We were talking about it in gov- real reasons we're really over there,
eminent class. If government stu- I just don't think the U.S. needs to
dents don't know about it, I doubt lead the strikes everytime."
anybody else does." And Cerefice, for one, thinks that
Business freshman Zach Erwin as the NATO operation in Kosovo
said he doesn't have a lot of infor- continues, that's just the question
mation about the situation. that will arise.
"I know there's something going "If it starts to drag out too long,
on over there, that's about it," he said, that's when things will get messy,"
"I heard one of our planes got shot Cerefice said.
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WORLD I
~~ Three U.S
by Patrick Quinn
Associated Press
KUMANOVO, Macedonia - The
three U.S. soldiers had patrolled the
hills and valleys between Macedonia
and Yugoslavia many times. But
their familiarity with the rugged, illdefined
border didn't keep them from
being captured.
In recent weeks, some inhabitants
had begun to show anger toward the
patrols, as their mission official turned
from peacekeeping to military reconnaissance.
Still, Staff Sgts. Andrew A. Ramirez,
Christopher J. Stone and Spc. Steven
M. Gonzales preferred to travel the
rough roads, through small villages and
forests, across streams and goat trails,
in their wide Humvee than pull guard
duty at base camp.
"It was boring in the camp, and out
there it was quiet and peaceful," said
Tim Baker, a photographer for Stars
and Stripes, a newspaper for U.S. troops.
Baker spent time with the three soldiers
and other members of their unit
Tuesday in the mountains along the
border with Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's
republic Serbia.
Yugoslav military officials and NATO
offered conflicting information
Thursday about the exact location of
the U.S. soldiers when they were seized
by Serb forces.
A Yugoslav army announcement
said the three soldiers, missing smce
Wednesday afternoon, were captured
in Yugoslavia. NATO said it was unAlbania
acce
by Brian Murphy
Associated Press
Special to The Gamecock "If it looks
April 7,1
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Student
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fe NATION
. soliders fs
clear exactly where they were at the r
time.
Ramirez, Stone and Gonzales were
part of a U.S. Army contingent that had |
been assigned to a U.N. monitoring force
sent to Macedonia in 1993.
Last month, however. China vetoed
an extension of the U.N. force, and part
of the group ? the 4th Cavalry Regiment
of the 1st Infantry Division ? was
attached to a 12,000-member NATO
force assembled in Macedonia in case
of a peace agreement in Kosovo, where
ethnic Albanian rebels are battling Serbs
for independence.
They changed their white peacekeeping
vehicles for military green, and
that changed everything. Many of those
who live in the area are either ethnic
Serbs or Macedonian nationalists furious
over NATO military strikes on their
neighbor and the presence of foreign
troops on their soil.
"You go through these very small ?
farm villages," Baker said. It was tense. fj
When they drove the white [U.N.] cars, s
it was no problem. Now they are green, f(
and they are getting stones and dirty t
looks even though it is the same guys." h
During the patrols, a Humvee might v
sometimes split off from other vehicles a
in the patrol to go around a small hill.
That happened with the three soldiers, b
somewhere near the border village of tl
Penince. NATO said they reported be- o
ing surrounded and under small-arms *
fire before losing radio contact. f<
Military and civilian sources, speak- a
ing on condition of anonymity, said the tl
three might have been attacked by Serb
jpts waves of
impossible to return home, then I am n
not going to stay in Albania and cry for- il
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a 30-year-old carpenter from the southwestern
Kosovo city of Djakovica, h
who arrived Wednesday in Fier.
Such talk makes officials very c;
nervous in Italy and Greece, the two k
European Union nations in the direct i(
path of the ethnic Albanian exodus from o
Kosovo, a province of the Yugoslav re- E
public Serbia where 90 percent of the
population was ethnic Albanian. r
Yugoslav forces have reportedly been n
driving ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo.
ii
But Albania, with dire poverty and
a highway network that resembles s
999
11
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Page 3
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Special to The Gamecock
itaff Sgts. (left to right) Andrew A. Ramirez, Christopher J. Stone and
iteven M. Gonzales pictured Thursday on Serbian television.
armers who live on the Macedonian with helicopters and a C-130 transport
ide and thea turned over to Yugoslav plane.
Drees just across the border. Most of But it would have been easy to hide
he U.S. Army vehicles that operate the Humvee among the tree-covered
ere carry Global Positioning Systems, hills. As dawn broke, helicopters could
diich can pinpoint location to within be seen flying over the Kumanovo area,
few yards. Throughout the night and early mornBut
Macedonia and Yugoslavia con- ing, NATO officials here expressed the
est exactly where the border runs in hope they would be found,
hat area, which is near the Monastery That stopped when they were
f Prohorpcincki. seen bruised and beaten on Yugoslav
After their last call for help, NATO television.
.. U?~ 1 ?1 J "T 1. 1
jicco iicie iauiicucu a uuuio&ive &cmui- i tail uuiimiii t licit 2>eaiuii nafc
nd-rescue effort that continued through now been called off," said British Col.
he night, on the ground and in the air Robin Clifford, chief spokesman for NATO
forces in Macedonia.
? new Kosovar refugees
iuddy footpaths in some places, claims that could prove someone's right to live
t is in no position to handle the hu- m Kosovo. For Kosovo, such an outcome
lanitarian crisis alone. u u . n ',, ,
_,TT . . ,, _ , , could be seen as a victory for alleged
EU nations, led by Italy and Greece, . ?
ave promised money and supplies. Serb ethnic cleansing campaigns.
"As we've seen in other refugee Other officials, especially in Macerises,
however, it's not always easy to donia and Albania, suggest richer NAeep
refugees in one place, said Mar- members waging the airstrikes
in Hoffmann, deputy representative ,,,,,, r ,
T t at u' vo c should shoulder more of the refugee
i the U.N. High Commissioner for _ .
Refugees in Athens, Greece. burden. Aid officials have said food supA
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n WlUcopicaU UloUUi fceillcill Ul LIlc puco 1UI cue ivuouvu iciugcco aic u.cuiefugees
also sends a clear signal that gerously low.
lost will never return. "We all have a responsibility for the
Refugees speak of Serb officials seiz- , _ . . .
ig passports and other documents, tetugees.... Our country is facing a
NATO claims Serbs are also de- really difficult situation," said Albantroying
birth and marriage records ian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko.
Hey Lou! I want to know... j