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Sunday, January 31, 1999 Published at 10:38 GMT

Walker: 'No doubt over Racak'


Walker: 'No doubt over Racak'
The head of the international monitors in Kosovo has told the BBC he has "absolutely no doubt" that Serbs were behind the massacre of more than 40 ethnic Albanians in the village of Racak.

William Walker, head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), was ordered to leave Yugoslavia after he blamed Serbian security forces for the killings at Racak two weeks ago.

Kosovo Section
The expulsion order was later suspended by the Yugoslav authorities.

He told the BBC's Breakfast With Frost programme: "All the evidence that you looked at on the ground showed those people had died where they fell."

He said the victims "were all obviously not soldiers - there was a woman and child among them.

"I talked to some of the villagers who had so recently experienced this horror and everything just came together. There has been no contradictory evidence since the event.

"A lot of people have been examining it - journalists, other people from my team, other people from outside - and to date there is absolutely nothing that contradicts what I said about it.

"I have absolutely no doubt that what I said is accurate. Absolutely accurate."

'Uncertainty' over new massacre


[ image: width=150]

Mr Walker said he was not sure who was behind the latest mass killing of 24 people in the village of Rugovo.

Mr Walker accompanied the UK Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, as he delivered the six-nation Contact Group demands to Serbian and Albanian leaders on Saturday.

He said he believed that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic would agree to attend talks.

Mr Milosevic was "personable" and "a skilled manipulator of words and deeds", he said.

"He can be charming, at the same time he can also be very tough in negotiations. He always goes to the last moment before he decides which way to jump."


Europe Contents

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Relevant Stories

Disagreement over Kosovo autopsies (27 Jan 99 | Europe)
The forensics of investigating war crimes (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Kosovo observer 'defies' Belgrade (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Racak killings: Who says what? (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Pathologist: 'No Kosovo massacre' (19 Jan 99 | Europe)

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