KOSOVO SPRING

When on March 28, in Kosovo, in the municipality of Klina, as military sources claim, a regular spring drill of the military units of the Prishtina Corps of the Army of Yugoslavia began, with reserve forces from the territory of several Kosovo municipality participating in it, connoisseurs of the local circumstances were not surprised by the fear manifested by inhabitants of Albanian nationality. The public in Kosovo was regularly minutely informed about the movements of military units, barricades built on roads, airplane flights, and even the conduct of the local Serb population which was claimed to have taken an active part in the "regular drill". Tensions and insecurity on the entire territory of Kosovo were intensified by information on orders to have the shops closed, by the fact that schools did not work, and that economic capacities were closed "due to the fact that the Serbs from this municipality have joined military units". On the third day of the drill, the atmosphere was described as follows: "The city was deserted during the whole day, and citizens of Serb nationality could be seen observing... The whole area reminded of war camps: hundreds of military vehicles, trucks of all kinds... It was all accompanied by signals, sirens, detonations, explosions, shooting from all types of firearms". As a response to everything inhabitants of towns and villages of Klina witnessed, came "evacuation of children to surrounding villages" where the spring drill did not take place.

Information that in Pogradza, "at the highest elevation in the village, citizens of Serb nationality were positioned, dressed in Albanian national costumes", in other words that "in improvisations of their drills, what once used to be 'victory' over the 'Germans', now the enemy was recognized in the Albanians". Shkelzen Maliqi, the well-known Kosovo analysts, commenting on the information from the site in the latest volume of the political journal in Albanian language, ZERI, wrote the following: "A film of a group of Serbs dressed as Albanians, in tractor trailers, was shot from a helicopter while they were shouting various millitant slogans. The first presumption is that this was preparation of a prapagandist material and an alleged Albanian revolt which would justify the beginning of an armed conflict and punitive actions of the Serb army against the Albanians. But, the Serbs did this just in memory of the event - to have a snapshots of the Albanians as they would like to see them". Vice-President of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, Hydajet Hyseni, concluded that this amount of fear among the Albanians was caused by a delayed statement, as the official source put it, about the planned military drill, adding that "the unusual setting and costumes, rough behavior of the army and the police, their appearance in school institutions, maltreatment of Albanian citizens, raiding their houses and yards, jeopardy of their property, all certify that this was not just a regular military drill", Hyseni judges.

But, as it is, the drill is over and both the military command of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Albanians are satisfied. The first because of the great success, the latter because of reduced tensions. All that is left to do is to note mutual accusations. The Albanians: "Serb authorities are doing all they can to intimidate the local population and provoke a conflict". Commander, lieutenant-colonel general Milovan Bojovic in, as stressed, an unofficial statement given to a journalist of NASA BORBA: "This is not the matter of any operations directed towards alarming the population of Albanian nationality, but members of the separatist movement, as usual, use this drill for propagandist reasons wishing to keep the tensions in Kosovo and Metohija as high as possible".

In any case, any major movements of military or police forces, apart from the everyday ones which have become customary, cause serious uncertainty among the Albanians in Kosovo. The regular spring drill was this time carried out "on the testing range in the municipality of Klina", which is, as connoisseurs of strategic points claim, the line of combat in a possible conflict. Contrary to previous decades after the war, for the first time the Albanians were marked as the enemy. As neutral observers would say - each party has played its role. Some better, some worse.

Violeta OROSHI AIM Prishtina