Kosovo


Boris Drenca of the Podgorica weekly "Monitor" looks at the current military events in the evolving Kosovo crisis, in the August 7, 1998 issue of this magazine.

The situation in the Southern Serbian province is slowly taking on a shape of pure confusion. The only clear thing in the last two weeks is that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) does not have the initiative which it did until the attack of the Serbian police on Orahovac.

After the defeat at Orahovac, KLA is continuing to suffer losses. The police was able to enter Malisevo after five days without firing a single bullet. This is a town which was, since the beginning of June, considered as the KLa center.

This is all a sign of the police operation that is supposed to spell out the final KLA defeat. Every day speaks about KLA defeats and police successes. Firstly, the Pristina - Pec road was deblocked, then Malisevo fell, then the police took over the police station in the Rudnik village in the Drenica region...

This all could sound as pure was propaganda if the police people did not decide to take domestic and foreign journalists to all these places, on some occasions just a few hours after the combat was concluded.

Malisevo was important for a number of reasons. According to the UNHCR estimates, some 20,000 refugees from Orahovac and Drenica municipalities were placed in Malisevo and its vicinity. At the moment, it is not known what has happened to them. When the police entered the former KLA center, the police found an empty city. The journalists who arrived in Malisevo the next day have only seen a few Romani families and an old man.

The town seemed completely deserted, while the goods were still located in the stores. Obviously the complete population of Malisevo and the refugees who have found themselves there have ran ahead of the police. It is estimated that the went to the neighbouring forests and hills. This is confirmed by the UNHCR representatives, whose largest problem is the inaccessible terrain, because they cannot deliver the aid to all the refugees. According to the estimates of the UNHCR spokesman, the number of exiled grew to 35,000 thousand. The estimates of the exiled people before the offensive, according to the UNHCR amounted to some 107,000 people.

The humanitarian part of the Kosovo drama is slowly turning into the main crisis. According to what can be seen in the zones of conflict and from which the Albanians ran away, the number of damaged (or destroyed) houses is much smaller than those that are intact.

The representatives of the international organizations say that it would be much easier for them to act if the population would return to their homes and remind that Serbia promised aid to those whose houses were damaged.

So, KLA, the organization which, until the attack on Orahovac had the initiative - is losing territory which it had under control. After the opening of the roads and taking over of certain towns, the police was able to reduce the territory under the KLA control to some 10 percent in comparison to 30-40 percent of the complete territory of Kosovo. What has surprised most of the journalists is that the police was able to press KLA quite easily. Excellent positions and well made systems of trenches and bunkers from the military point of vies have been deserted almost without a fired shot.

According to statements of police sources in Pristina, the hardest part of the police action is the road Pristina - Prizren, that is, the part between Stimlje and Suva Reka. Due to the configuration of the terrain and fierce resistance of the KLA, the combats around this road have been going on for weeks. Explosions could be quite easily heard from Stimlje, and smoke could also be seen.

According to the Albanian sources, there is a possibility that the KLA enters into the new Albanian negotiating team, or as somebody would like to call it, the Kosovo Albanian government. This could be interpreted as the acceptance of negotiations by the KLA which it has been refusing so far, and an attempt of this organization to achieve something at the negotiating table.



Source: Podgorica weekly "Monitor" August 7, 1998