| 07/25/2003
NATO report fails to establish responsibility for 2001 attack
that killed APTN journalist, two others
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – A NATO investigation of
a 2001 mortar barrage that killed an Associated Press Television
News journalist and two others in Kosovo failed to determine
whether the attack was launched by the Macedonian army or
by rebel forces.
Kerem Lawton, 30, a British national based in the Kosovo capital
Pristina, and two ethnic Albanians were fatally injured when
up to 19 mortars fell on the Kosovo village of Krivenik about
1,200 yards from the Macedonian border during fighting between
Macedonian government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
Both the Macedonian army and the rebel National Liberation
Army denied responsibility for the March 29, 2001 attack,
in which 10 people were also wounded. Krivenik had a population
of about 370 people, all ethnic Albanians.
NATO, which was supervising the Kosovo peacekeeping mission,
finished its investigation one month after the attack but
released the findings only Thursday. The alliance said the
Macedonian Defense Ministry provided its own report Jan. 22
but neither it nor talks with former rebel commanders shed
light on responsibility.
The alliance said the mortars could have been fired from either
Macedonian or rebel positions near Krivenik and that "evidence
uncovered by the investigation is therefore insufficient to
authoritatively determine who attacked Krivenik...or why the
attack was conducted."
According to the report, the attack followed a week of fighting
between the Macedonians and ethnic Albanian rebels, who were
trying to protect supply lines and sanctuaries along the Kosovo-Macedonian
border. NATO-led peacekeepers from Poland and Ukraine had
been trying to cut rebel supply lines, the report said.
The day before the attack, Macedonian forces launched an offensive
against ethnic Albanian rebels around the town of Gracani,
sending some rebels fleeing north toward Krivenik.
Mortar shells began falling on Krivenik about 9 a.m., the
report said. About a dozen peacekeepers rushed to the village
to investigate. As they were inspecting damage, about three
or four other mortars exploded in rapid succession, mortally
wounding Lawton who had just arrived in the village by car.
As the shelling continued, a peacekeeper helicopter flew over
the area but was unable to identify the sources of fire, the
report said. Both sides used the same type of mortars that
were fired on Krivenik, the report said.
The report said an analysis of the craters left by the explosions
indicated "the mortars could have been fired from either
the Kosovo or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia sides
of the border and from locations where both (the Macedonian
army) and the (rebel) forces were known or suspected to be
operating," the report added.
Lawton was born in Brussels, Belgium and grew up in England.
He received his university degree in England, winning honors
in Turkish and German. He was bilingual in English and Turkish
and also spoke German and French.
Twenty-seven AP journalists have died in the line of duty
since the news cooperative was founded in 1848.
On the Net: NATO:
http://www.nato.int/
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