YUGOSLAVIA: KOSOVO: UROSEVAC: KLA BEGIN HAND OVER OF WEAPONS

(16 Jun 1999) Albanian/Nat

K-FOR forces are starting to disarm rebel Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers as part of the United Nations deal which hopes to eventually bring peace to Kosovo.

One group of guerillas found near Urosevac seemed happy to hand over their weapons to a division of the U-S army.

Also part of the rapid demilitarisation of the province are the Yugoslav troops still leaving, abandoning vehicles and equipment in their rush to go.

They are accompanied by Serb civilians, fearful of vengeance attacks by the returning ethnic Albanian refugees and the K-L-A.

The First Armed Airborne Division of the U-S army stopped a car-full of K-L-A soldiers near the Kosovan town of Urosevac on Wednesday.

As part of the K-FOR troops, one of their tasks is to disarm the rebel army, a condition stipulated in the United Nations peace deal agreed on last week.

This group of guerilla fighters complied with the K-FOR soldiers, probably relieved that the fighting is now over.

They were well-equipped, with a large cache of weapons including automatic rifles and grenades.

While these K-L-A fighters were friendly with the Americans, there are fears splinter factions of the rebels will continue to attack Serbs still living in the province, left unprotected by Yugoslav forces.

These abandoned Yugoslav military vehicles show how quickly they left.

With petrol supplies running low after over two months of NATO bombing, some of the vehicles did not have the fuel to take their soldiers home.

Even artillery and other equipment lies abandoned on the ground of this army base.

Some Yugoslav soldiers are still in the process of leaving, many of them in the same convoys as the hundreds of Serb civilians also leaving the province.

The Serbs from Kosovo, who made up 10 per cent of the population before the troubles began, are in their own turn becoming refugees.

Some travelling on tractors, observers will be reminded of another exodus, which ended only days before this one began.

These Serbs say without the protection of their own army, they fear reprisal attacks by Kosovo Albanians.

No doubt the Yugoslav forces accompanying the new refugees back into Serbia, will be given a hero's welcome for keeping their fellow Serbs safe from danger.

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