Journalist Paul Watson denies NATO reports on massacres

April 18, 1999


OTAWA, 17 April - Journalist of Los Angeles Times, Paul Watson, in the
interview given to Canadian TV network CBC denied assertions of the NATO
generals that Serbian army is massacring Albanians in Pristina.

"There is no evidence that Serbian army has committed massacres of ethnic
Albanians in Pristina", said Watson, who is currently reporting from Kosmet
together with a number of other foreign journalists. According to Russian
news agency Itar-Tas, Watson emphasized that his impressions differ from
the version offered by NATO.

Watson explained that he is visiting the areas of Kosovo in which Albanians
live on regular basis and that he has never seen a body or any sign of a
massacre or violence.

It would be very difficult to hide any uncontrolled massacre of civilians,
stated Watson, and added that there are no indications of such violence
whatsoever. NATO has been accusing the Serbian forces for the exodus of
hundreds of thousands of Albanians from Kosovo, says Itar-Tas, adding that
Belgrade always refused such allegations, arguing that movement of
population in the southern province of Serbia is caused by NATO bombing.

Watson said that he could not agree with the governments of NATO
member-states which are trying to deny their responsibility for the exodus
in Kosovo.

It is unlikely that such a large-scale exodus would have happened if it was
not for NATO air strikes, said the Los Angeles Times journalist.