- © 1999 Global Beat Syndicate. All Rights Reserved.
- KLA Fights to Block Possible Partition
- By Fron Nazi*
- April 19, 1999
-
- TIRANA, Albania -- Fighting in northern Kosovo between Yugoslav
forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army may mark a critical strategic
battle over the ultimate fate of the province.
-
- According to a KLA commander, some 10,000 KLA fighters have
been defending 250,000 Kosovar Albanian civilians in the Lapski
and Shalja region in northern Kosovo. Along with trying to protect
the civilians, the KLA fighters are trying to prevent Yugoslav
forces from completely depopulating the region and thereby securing
it as part of a potential partition offer.
-
- Fearing such a deal between Belgrade and the West, KLA sources
say they are concentrating their men and materiel in theses strategic
areas in the north, which Belgrade would need to control before
suing for peace.
-
- Albanians believe that Belgrade will offer the West a truce,
and agree to hand over most of Kosovo to the Albanians in exchange
for the province's strategic, economic and historical assets
in the north. Many of the refugees entering Albania in recent
days appear to be coming from this region.
-
- Albanians believe a possible partition line could stretch
from the north-western city of Pec to the southeastern region
of Kraj Morave. Belgrade would retain control of major cities
such as Pristina, as well as Mitrovica, parts of the Drenica
region, and Kosovo Polje, site of the infamous 14th century battle
the Serbs lost to the Ottoman empire.
-
- Speaking by satellite phone from inside Kosovo, the man who
identified himself as a KLA commander claimed that the morale
there among both the fighters and the civilians remains high.
"So far we are doing well but we are concerned about the
supplies of food and medicine, which are running very low,"
he said.
-
- Fighting inside Kosovo apparently has been concentrated around
Mitrovica, in an area surrounded by hills and heavy forest. In
order to force the KLA into the open, Serbian forces have been
shelling heavily, the KLA commander said.
-
- According to Ylber Hysa, of the Kosovo Action and Civic Initiative,
formerly a Pristina-based think tank, "If the West buys
into any part of this scheme for ending the war, then they will
set a precedent for the region. Aggression will have been rewarded
and it will be clear that territories can be divided according
to both ethnic and economic lines."
-
- Such a move would fuel Albanian demands for the partition
of Macedonia and the creation of a link between Albania and a
rump Kosovo. Like most Albanian analysts, Hysa wants to see the
deployment of NATO ground troops to end the war and the creation
of an international protectorate in Kosovo.
-
- * Fron Nazi is writer for the London-based Institute
for War & Peace Reporting
-
- 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, and the News Media, provides editors with commentary
and perspective articles on critical global issues from contributors
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