A former Weyburn resident is one of the front line personnel attempting to restore peace in the Kosovo region of Yugoslavia.
James Kenneth Hill is working as the Canadian embassy liaison for the Kosovo Diplomatic Observation Team (KODOM) reporting to Canadian officials in Belgrade.
Hill's parents, Ken and Caroline Hill of Weyburn, report their son says he and his team are safe.
Ken Hill adds, in conversation with his son on Monday night, James said the team he works with were heading back into Racak on Tuesday, where 45 ethnic Albanians were recently discovered massacred. Hill adds the KODOM team is made up of his son, James Kenneth Hill, an 11-year veteran of Canadian Foreign Affairs, along with six-to-eight Canadian military officers wearing civilian dress.
On Monday, the Canadian Press reported in the Leader Post that fighting had broken out in Racak, Yugoslavia as a result of the massacre.
Ken reports that Kosovo is primarily an Albanian region of Yugoslavia where the Serbs, led by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic are trying to maintain control.
"The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) wants to secede. The KLA is considered a terrorist group by (Slobodan) Milocevic and the Serbs," said Ken.
Further media reports cast doubt on whether the attack was aimed primarily at the Kosovo Liberation Army or whether the attack was aimed primarily at Albanian civilians in another act of ethnic cleansing.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has recalled the Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, said Ken.
"We're assuming it (the Massacre) was done by Serbian police or the (Serbian) military because all of the people killed are Albanians," said Ken.
In his conversations with his son James, Ken reports a lot of the violence in the region is done without sanction, adding the Kosovo Liberation Army is not a united political factor.
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