For The KLA, A Sense Of Betrayal
By Fron Nazi*
April 2, 1999
KUKES, Albania--It's called "Besa" -- the sworn vow on which
an Albanian stakes his life. NATO made such a pledge, says a Kosovo Liberation
Army member who goes by the alias of Shkem Dragobia, to him and his people.
But NATO has broken that pledge.
"When we signed the Rambouillet agreement, we were led to believe
that NATO and the U.S. would help the Albanians. So we stopped arming
and mobilizing ourselves," he says.
The talk in France was of decommissioning and converting the KLA into
a force to police its own communities. The KLA was told that, at all costs,
they should not try to take advantage of any NATO action and launch an
offensive of their own.
The Albanians say they kept their part of the agreement and expected
NATO to do the same and prevent the type of humanitarian catastrophe that
is now unfolding.
But "NATO has failed to keep its part of the 'besa'," he
says.
Dragobia says as far as the KLA is concerned, all agreements reached
at Rambouillet are now off. He says that if NATO won't provide ground
troops, then the West should at least provide the KLA with heavy arms,
artillery and other materiel so that they can take up the fight on the
ground themselves.
"We call on all Albanians and our friends to join us now,"
he says. "It's now or never." If NATO's efforts aren't successful,
he warns, the conflict between the KLA and Yugoslav forces could last for
five years.
"We want NATO and the U.S. to keep their original promises,"
says Dragobia, including the deployment of ground troops in Kosovo. "If
not, we want them to furnish us with arms and to give us time to reorganize
and equip ourselves," he said.
"If this cannot be done, than our wish is that they leave us alone
to resolve our own problems," he says. "We're convinced we can
handle the Serbs by ourselves, if we have to."
Dragobia refuses to give details of the KLA's current operations inside
Kosovo. But it seems clear that Yugoslav forces have been hammering the
KLA since the air strikes began. Although KLA forces remain active in the
mountains, its lines of communications have been cut and its
ability to move freely throughout the region is now limited, since
Yugolsav forces control most of the towns and roads in the province.
"We are trying to stop Kosovars first from leaving Kosovo by expanding
our control over the territory," says Dragobia. "Secondly, we
are trying to stop them from leaving Albania," he says. He worries
that, by accepting refugees with no clear plan for their return, Western
nations are directly assisting Belgrade's campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Dragobia, who has taken his alias from the name of a mountain peak
in Kosovo, speaks in small room packed with rifles, machine guns, helmets
and other basic military hardware.
Meanwhile, a steady stream of about 100 wagons and carts passes, each
packed with 10 to 15 refugees from Kosovo.
But where representatives of international relief agencies and journalists
see refugees, the KLA sees potential recruits.
Men freshly expelled from Kosovo are quickly given a choice: Sign up
for the KLA and join the counterattacks or be resigned to an uncertain
life in a refugee camp. Angry and in shock, most refugees sign on.
Although he refused to give specific numbers, Dragobia claims that
Albanian citizens are also joining the KLA but are currently being kept
in reserve.
Outside, about 100 KLA soldiers, armed to the teeth with kalashnikovs
and the mixed weaponry of a guerrilla force, surround the warehouse on
the outskirts of town.
They're joined by about 20 men who appear to be in their late teens
and are probably refugees, dressed in civilian clothes. They reappear a
short time later but now they're outfitted in neatly creased camouflage
uniforms, new boots and bright red berets.
They looked at each other awkwardly, like students just signed up to
a college sports squad, and getting used to the new jerseys. This time,
however, it's no game.
*Fron Nazi is a senior editor with the London-based Institute for War & Peace Reporting's Balkan
Crisis Reports.
Click here for more
analyses of the Balkan Conflicts from the Global Beat
© 1999 Global Beat Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. The Global
Beat Syndicate, a service of New York University's Center for War, Peace,
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