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

To: Yaacov who wrote (11149)	6/4/1999 6:49:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

KLA threatens new wave of killing By Philip Smucker in Skopje and Tim Butcher Returning Kosovars risk border chaos KOSOVO Liberation Army guerrillas are poised to sweep forward the moment Serb forces begin the withdrawal agreed in Belgrade yesterday, threatening more killing in Kosovo as Nato prepares to deploy in the province. The KLA yesterday reacted sceptically to the peace deal accepted by Belgrade, which calls for the withdrawal of Serbian forces and for the guerrillas to disarm. "We are not prepared to even discuss the future status of our army until all the Serb forces have left Kosovo," said Ilir Rama, a KLA official in the Albanian capital, Tirana. "And we won't be discussing disarmament anyway." Nato planners anxious for an orderly withdrawal of Serb army, paramilitaries and special police concede that the presence of large numbers of KLA members seeking vengeance against the Serbs raises difficulties. The KLA's command structure is weak and disunited, meaning that assurances of restraint from the senior commanders would be unlikely to hold force on the ground. It is likely that Nato troops advancing into Kosovo will encounter pockets of fierce fighting between the KLA and Serb troops who either refuse or are unable to withdraw. There might be Nato casualties if they try to intervene and delays to the withdrawal if they do not. It is possible that Serb commanders on the ground could argue they will not give up their positions to meet their side of the deal until the KLA is forced to lay down its arms. Western defence sources said such problems threatened to slow the withdrawal of Serb forces, which in any event is likely to take weeks rather than days. The Serb field army is known to be desperately low on fuel after Nato jets made great efforts to destroy Yugoslav fuel stocks and refining facilities throughout Operation Allied Force. Roads and, more important, bridges have also been attacked, raising difficulties for the orderly withdrawal of what remains a substantial force despite Nato's efforts to destroy it from the air. Nato estimates that there are about 40,000 Serb security forces in Kosovo - 20,000 troops from the Yugoslav army and a similar number of special police units and paramilitaries. They are spread all over the province and as a result of the Nato air campaign have adopted dispersed and concealed positions. KLA activity is mainly on the western fringe of the province where it borders Albania from where the KLA receives reinforcements, ammunition and support. Around the town of Junik, the Yugoslav army is known to have deployed a motorised brigade, a parachute brigade and elements of an artillery brigade. Elements of each of these brigades have fought with KLA guerrillas trying to establish a supply corridor into central Kosovo and are dispersed under camouflage netting in well dug-in positions across the nearby hills. The warren of positions, bunkers and decoys built by the Serbs over the past 10 weeks would take some time to clear and it is here that problems can be expected from the KLA. Thousands of newly trained guerrilla recruits have been ready for weeks in Albania but have been kept back by heavy Serb artillery. If the Serbs move, this tide of KLA manpower will flow over the border, past the villages of Batusha, Padesh and Kosare, where they have suffered casualties in recent weeks, and down on to the plain near Junik. They would try to link up with other forces who remain in the mountains in Kosovo.Nato peacekeepers, still on the perimeter of the province, will be hard-pressed to prevent the KLA forces from moving in. Despite a will to fight on, there is a growing fear within KLA ranks that, under a Nato-imposed peace, the rebels will lose their image as the vanguard of the independence struggle. The KLA has given warning that Nato should not ignore it. "If Nato enters Kosovo it will be impossible to be there without our co-operation," said Jashar Salihu, the chief of the KLA's "Homeland Calling" financial arm. telegraph.co.