[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} NEWS: Ethnic Albanians Mark Flag Day (AP, Nov. 29, 2000)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001129/aponline010159_000.htm

Ethnic Albanians Mark Flag Day 

By Fisnik Abrashi
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000; 1:01 a.m. EST

DOBROSIN, Yugoslavia -- On a day all Albanians salute their flag,
hundreds of children and soldiers gathered around a crude wooden pole
and snapped to attention as Albania's black and red colors were raised. 
    Trouble is, this is not Albania. Nor is it even Kosovo. It is
Yugoslavia, and herein lies the problem. Ethnic Albanian militants who
live in this area along the boundary with Kosovo are fighting for
independence. 
    Both Yugoslavia's army and the NATO-led peacekeeping force a few
miles away disagree. They are urging the Albanians to halt an offensive
that has killed five people - including four Serb policemen and an
Albanian child whose tractor triggered a land mine. 
    But rebel leaders like Sami Azemi told the hundreds gathered at
Liria elementary school Tuesday for Albanian Flag Day celebrations that
the attacks are only the start of their struggle to be free. 
    "Today is a holy day," Azemi said. "The flag is waving free on these
hills." 
    The talk is of war in this tense region between Kosovo and the rest
of Serbia. Ethnic Albanians make up the overwhelming majority of the
100,000 people who live in the area - and they seem sure they know what
is coming. 
    Hundreds have fled the area in recent days, terrified of clashes
between the militants and the Serb police. On the sidelines, are
NATO-led peacekeepers. They moved into the Serbian province of Kosovo
after the alliance bombed Yugoslavia last year to force former President
Slobodan Milosevic to stop a crackdown on ethnic Albanians. 
    The peace deal that ended the war created a buffer zone that puts a
three-mile swath of territory between the Kosovo boundary and Serbia
proper. The rebels say they are victims of lines on a map - and that
they want to be part of Kosovo. 
    They also want to be independent of Serbia, Yugoslavia's main
republic. They say Serb police forces have harassed them and that they
are afraid for their lives. 
    "We cannot live like that any more," Azemi said. "We want to tell
everyone that we will not accept to live under slavery." 
    Nowhere was this feeling more bluntly expressed than at the school,
where 100 fighters ranging in age from 15 to 65 years old lined up in
four rows, creating stripes of camouflage patterns along the soccer
field. Chains of bullets crisscrossed their necks and bodies. Their
shoes and boots were covered in mud. 
    They sang the Albanian national anthem, and patriotic songs used by
the Kosovo Liberation Army, the rebels who fought for Kosovo's
independence. The rebels, who go by the name of the "Liberation Army of
Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac," simply substituted their initials for
those of the KLA. 
    It's not really clear how strong their following is in the region,
but the impact of their decision to step up attacks against the Serbs
was clear. 
    Villages have been emptied, mostly by refugees anxious to flee the
onset of fighting. The few elderly people who have stayed behind warn of
sniper fire along the rugged road to Dobrosin, 175 miles south of the
capital, Belgrade. 
    Police outposts are all but vacated, with guerrillas entrenching
themselves inside. Their weapons are now pointed away from Kosovo, and
toward the rest of Serbia. 
    In villages like Koncul, just outside of Dobrosin, only stray dogs,
and guerrillas with Kalashnikov rifles wander freely on the streets.
Slogans for the new rebels are spray-painted in black on the white
walls. 
    The abandoned Serb police checkpoint remained fortified by sandbags
in the center of the village, on the road that leads to Kosovo. It was
riddled with bullets, but there was no sign of fresh fighting. A
cease-fire had been declared. Many were in Dobrosin, at the school,
parading and celebrating their equivalent of Albanian independence day. 
    One soldier, who wouldn't give his name, sat at the edge of
Dobrosin's mosque after the end of the ceremony, tightly gripping his
rifle. 
    "There is no turning back," he said. 
    On the opposite hill, another flag was flying - at the U.S. Army
checkpoint, just a few miles away on the Kosovo side of the line. 
    Both sides observe each other constantly. The flags mark their
positions. 
    Only a few miles to the east, yet another flag flies. That one
belongs to Serbia. 

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press


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