KOSOVO MEDIA: BAKALLI IS FIRST WITNESS IN TRIAL AGAINST MILOSEVIC

PRISTINA, Feb 16 (Hina) - All Kosovo dailies in Albanian on Saturday report on the fourth day of a trial against the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, announcing the appearance of a senior former Kosovo official, Mahmut Bakalli, as the first witness before The Hague Tribunal for Monday. Kosovo analysts warn that with his hegemonistic rhetoric and lies, Milosevic is trying to bring NATO and the Kosovo Liberation Army before The Hague Tribunal. Reiterating once more his speech from 1989 at Gazimestan in Kosovo, where he announced the beginning of bloody wars and conflict in the former Yugoslavia, "the butcher from the Balkans" not only did not take the blame for genocide and crimes in Kosovo, but he used the most morbid lies, the Bota Sot daily writes. According to Milosevic, it was the NATO bombing and the fight of Albanian rebels which forced hundreds of citizens to leave Kosovo, the daily writes describing this as a lie. The Koha Ditore daily on the first page reports that it was now certain that Mahmut Bakalli, a member of the Kosovo parliament and former senior Kosovo official, would be the first witness for the Prosecution in the trial against Milosevic. According to the daily, Bakalli is in a hotel near The Hague. According to the Tribunal's rules, he is not allowed to contact media representatives. (hina) np