London - Extreme suffering and human rights abuses have become routine in Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian separatists are fighting Serbian police and the Yugoslav military, Amnesty International said yesterday.
In three reports, the human rights group detailed the rights abuses perpetrated during the fighting in the 90 per cent ethnic Albanian province since the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began an open rebellion against Serb rule in February. "Exceptional suffering has become unexceptional. Each day, extreme misery and pain produced by human cruelty is now an everyday experience for more and more helpless people," Amnesty said.
Meanwhile Serb artillery pounded targets near Kosovo's airport and further west yesterday sending civilians fleeing, witnesses and ethnic Albanian sources said. Firing could be heard well into the afternoon from the provincial capital Pristina.