Rise and Fall of an Army

AIM Pristina, June 7, 2001

Standing in front of the gates of the American troops (which are part of the NATO peace corps) camp "Monteith", near Gnjilane in Eastern Kosovo, one of their spokesmen "apologised" to journalists who have gathered in order to attend the change of command ceremony. With a forced smile on his face, the spokesman explained that a contradictory "protocol has messed up the plans of the Commander of the multinational brigade the East so that the ceremony would have to be postponed for three days".

In front of the camp gates also stood the armed commander of Albanian groups that fought around Presevo (known under the name the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac -LAPMB), Shefket Musliu. He came at the invitation of American troops dressed in plain clothes, waiting to attend this ceremony. Surrounded by several young men acting as his bodyguards, Musliu probably had no idea that he was the main reason why the ceremony was postponed. A source in the peace forces (KFOR) said that the invitation sent to him prompted the KFOR Commander-in-Chief, Norwegian General Torsten Skijaker "to object to his presence".

It was impossible to find out whether Musliu was aware that he was the reason of this protocolary confusion, but addressing the gathered journalists he said that his soldiers have fulfilled all their obligations from the Agreement on international mediation. "The peace is now in the Serbian hands", said Mr.Musliu obviously still under the pressure of KFOR commanders' commendations and patting on the back who congratulated him on his leadership because both he and hundreds of his fighters had surrendered voluntarily. KFOR is through with the land security zone between Kosovo and Serbia, which had been established in 1999 for the purpose of creating a dividing line between peace forces in Kosovo and the Yugoslav Army.

At the same time, it is through with the Liberating Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac. For sixteen consecutive months the Albanian fighters used this zone (which was off-limits for the Yugoslav forces) "fighting against Serbian repression". In this period, at least 65 persons lost their lives in conflicts between Serbian security forces and armed guerrilla fighters, while the international community turned a blind eye to their actions during the time Slobodan Milosevic, accused of war crimes, ruled in Belgrade.

However, his fall changed the approach of the international community, while the outbreak of conflicts in Macedonia was the last straw. This marked the beginning of the political and military fall of fighters in the Presevo Valley. NATO introduced a more "relaxed" security zone, which is a euphemistic name for its phasing out. The "Bravo" sector (which includes the region of Presevo, where the LAPMB is mostly concentrated) was left for the end. Despite claims that the return of Yugoslav soldiers to this zone would be allowed only after some kind of political solution was found, they started returning much before that. The return of the Yugoslav troops started on May 24 and lasted until May 31 with NATO's full consent and agreement.

At first, mediators managed to secure Shefket Musliu's signature for "the democratisation, demobilisation and total transformation of LAPMB by May 13". The international forces promised to pardon all fighters who surrender voluntarily, but also said that they would arrest all those who offered any resistance. The Serbian Government made the same promise. Soon after that, several hundreds of fighters laid down their arms and surrendered in order to take advantage of this amnesty, while their commanders were offered a choice to "either accept all conditions or commit suicide putting up resistance". For their part, they accepted demilitarisation and a continuation of peace process.

However, things progressed much faster than planned. On May 24, the Yugoslav forces entered the zones envisaged by the international forces' plan, and in some cases even "exceeded" it. The advance troops got to the village of Mukovac, the commune of Bujanovac, already on May 23 and harassed several Albanian villagers so that a day after when they triumphantly entered the village, only a bunch of old men was there to welcome" them. On that same day, an incident occurred (the most serious one since the outbreak of conflicts in this region) on the other side in the village of Trnovac. Under still unexplained circumstances the Serbian forces killed Ridvan Qazimi, one of the LAPMB's chief commanders, known under his war name Commander Lleshi. According to Albanian political leaders in the valley of Presevo, his assassination was "a death of the political process" since Commander Lleshi was head of the Albanian negotiating group.

And while other LAPMB leaders left this region and most of them surrendered to the peace forces, Commander Lleshi and Shefket Musliu remained in the village of Trnovac waiting for operations to end and negotiations to continue. However, as a consequence of his murder, several thousands of people fled their villages creating a new wave of refugees. Also, his death was a sign that the disarming of LAPMB was premature. Common folk have a very simple explanation of this problem: "If a negotiator has been killed, what will happen to us"? Two days later, carrying arms and last uniforms, Shefket Musliu, the LAPMB Commander in Chief surrendered to the peace forces.

On May 31, the Yugoslav troops entered the last part of the security zone, sure that they would not meet with any resistance. Dozens of jeeps of KFOR, UNHCR, EUMM (EU Monitoring Mission) and other humanitarian organisations followed closely the finish of this operation as Yugoslav forces returned to the villages of Dobrosin and Konculj (where the guerrilla headquarters had been), as well as Lucane, Turinje and Trnovac (with the greatest number of Albanian villagers). Describing their return the Serbian officials mentioned "idyllic scenes of relations between local Albanian population and the Yugoslav troops".

However, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic had no one to talk to in the village of Trnovac (with some 10 thousand inhabitants) where he was getting ready to deliver his speech "so as to convince the Albanians that the Yugoslav troops are coming back in order to restore peace". Representatives of the local Albanians thought rather cynical Mr.Covic's statement that the death of Commander Lleshi "saddened" him. Representatives of the political wing of Albanian fighters stated that "two birds were killed with one stone, - a man of war and peace was killed and that spread fear among the others".

Be that as it may, the last part of these operations went on without any incidents. For international representatives this was a good proof of the successful implementation of the Agreement. However, for the Albanian representatives, this was no sign that could help re-establish the trust that never existed between them and the Serbian security forces. As they said, their only hope was constant international presence, as well as promises that the political process would be continued. Expecting the resumption of talks, 14 members of the multi-ethnic police (seven Serbs and seven Albanians) started patrolling the area, as an advance of these formations, which according to OSCE plans, should assume the responsibility for maintaining law and order.

On the other hand, the Serbian Government sent over 4,000 men to the land security zone so as to re-establish the "the sovereignty lost under Milosevic". It did not bother anyone that Milosevic's Generals also took part in this operation.

AIM Pristina

Besnik BALA