Kosovo: Forces Fighting For Autonomy Vow To Continue Battle - 1998

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Eng/Albanian/Nat Forces fighting for autonomy for southern Serbia's province of Kosovo have vowed to continue their armed struggle. In an exclusive interview with APTV, the commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army - or K-L-A - accused the European Union of ignoring the fierce Serb police crackdowns. The ethnic Albanian fighters also said they could wait no longer for the outside world to decide their fate. The countryside of Kosovo may look unspoilt - but it is a region teetering on the verge of greater violence than it has so far seen. Vowing to continue to fight for autonomy for the province's majority ethnic Albanian population, a small, secretive militant group has taken up arms. Calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (U-C-K in Albanian), its fighters say they will start by killing Serb policemen and collaborators - as this wounded Serb policeman knows. The K-L-A's men have already carved out several no-go zones in the central region of Dreniza. As a result, Serbian police are forced to hastily retreat or obliged to rush through their territories on trains. Angered by what they call propaganda from Belgrade - which claims the K-L-A only kills civilians and defenceless urban police - the rebels agreed to speak to the media. By talking to APTV, Captain Abie - an ethnic Albanian and a former member of the French Foreign Legion - broke the strict K-L-A law of not appearing on camera. He insisted on showing the world what he said was evidence of Belgrade's latest heavy handed involvement in an alleged police mortar attack of a farm in the Dreniza region. He added there was little need for him to say anything - the debris of the attack said it all. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Are they a police force? I don't need to say talk, just look at it. The origin? The Europeans know it enough, from this side not far away 300 metres civilians are at home with children - you can see." SUPER CAPTION: Captain Abie, KLA Special Forces Abie's boss - Commander "Leopard" Ephraim - is a Catholic ethnic Albanian. He is also a veteran of the Balkan war. Although he was unprepared to reveal his identity - for fear of reprisals from the Serb police - he also agreed to be interviewed for the first time in the rebel group's history. He said he no longer held out any hope that the international community would come to the aid of the ethnic Albanians. Captain Abie translated on his behalf. SOUNDBITE: (English) "When we see Europe forgetting us and we see diplomats sleeping or writing on their agendas there cannot be a tomorrow after months from conference to conference with enemy forces who don't understand talking and respect just fire for fire." SUPER CAPTION: Captain Abie, KLA Special Forces, translating the remarks of Commander "Leopard" Ephraim, Head of the KLA Special Forces Meanwhile, life is tough for the people of Kosovo. Outside the main cities, there is no running water or electricity. The Albanians make up 90 percent of the province's two (m) million population. They say that their long peaceful push for freedom from Serb-run Yugoslavia is over. Now they insist on nothing less than full independence - and make no secret of their determination. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "My family has been living here for over 100 years, with my grandfather and my father. We are not refugees, nor are we animals as the Serbs call us, we are on our land and if we die it will be for our country." SUPER CAPTION: Antony, Farmer Trying to stop the smuggling of the hundreds of Chinese-made Kalashnikovs from Albania is a major preoccupation for the Serb-Yugoslav army. The main smuggling route is across the mountainous Albanian/Kosovo border. SOUNDBITE: (English) You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0ea69d6bb68cb2b33f50d39cac685e4c Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork