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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldsnow who wrote (12499)	6/19/1999 2:05:00 PM
From: Milk	Respond to of 17770

Goldsnow, I guess now that the press is finally starting to show the other side of the coin, it's becoming very difficult to figure out who the KLA soldiers really are - glorious freedom fighters or vicious separatist terrorists trying to establish a new, independent, ultra-islamic country. Here's an interesting article on the subject: "The KLA's professed long-term goal is to unite the Albanian populations of Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania into a greater Albania." "During the war in former Yugoslavia, over 5,000 ethnic Albanians fought together with Croat and Muslim military formations. When the policy of non-violent resistance failed to make any progress, some ethnic Albanians turned to violence." "The KLA appeared for the first time in public in June 1996, assuming reponsibility for a series of acts of sabotage committed against the police stations and policemen in Kosovo and Metohija. After these bombings, Serb authorities named it a terrorist organization. Since 1997 the Kosovo Liberation Army has conducted attacks on Serbian police and other officials. They did not attack Yugoslave Army military facilities, rather, their emphasis was ambushes of police patrols and attacks on Albanians who collaborated with Serbian authorities." "The Kosovo Liberation Army is alleged by Serbia to include about 1,000 foreign mercenaries from Albania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslims) and Croatia. Among the mercenaries it is alleged that there also British and German instructors. Most of these mercenaries are said to be Albanian nationals, especially former Albanian army officers, policemen and members of the state security forces. According to Serbian accounts, the primary KLA training camps in Albania are Ljabinot near Tirana, Tropoja near the Yugoslav-Albanian border, Kuks and Bajram Curi near the Yugoslav-Albanian border. Serbia claims that these locations are also the headquarters for the command and units of the Albanian army and police for the northeastern part of Albania and the centers for recruiting followers of the overthrown Albanian president Sali Berisha." fas.org "While the United States has strongly condemned violent actions linked to the KLA -- including the murder of the deputy mayor of Kosovo Polje, the cafe shooting in Pec, and the killing of an off-duty Serbian police official in Podujevo -- we are also concerned at the disproportionate and heavy-handed response of the security services." (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN December 23, 1998 STATEMENT BY JAMES P. RUBIN, SPOKESMAN) fas.org M.