Militants ready to create Serb state in Kosovo city
By Julius Strauss in Kosovska Mitrovica
The Daily Telegraph, UK, Thursday, September 30 1999
MILITANT Kosovo Serbs are preparing a campaign of violence in the north of the province to counter the advance of ethnic Albanian extremists and derail international efforts to create a multi-ethnic state.Young men affiliated with the unofficial "Serb Defence Corps" say they are ready to drive the remaining ethnic Albanians in their sector of the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica south across the River Ibar. They say they have amassed enough weapons and trained men to repulse any counter-attack by ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
With tension increasing daily, a United Nations source in the city said: "The future of the city and the Serbs could now be decided within a few days."
The northern sector of Kosovska Mitrovica already bears close resemblance to Serbia proper: huge mounds of roast pork are sold on the streets, the signs are in Cyrillic, the newspapers are from Belgrade and the currency is the Yugoslav dinar. The rolling hinterland of Kosovo, where Serbs have made up the majority for generations, has been almost untouched by war.
Anger has been fuelled by increased violence against isolated Serb communities in Kosovo. Between 200 and 400 Serbs are estimated to have been killed since Nato arrived in June and more than 100,000 have fled to Serbia. On Tuesday two Serbs were killed and more than 35 wounded when grenades were tossed into a market near the historic Serb settlement of Kosovo Polje. Most of the victims were elderly.
Kosovo's remaining Serbs are bitter. Most now loathe President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia for signing away control of the province. Ethnic Albanian radicals in the south appear to be trying to provoke a violent Serb response. In the past week they have stoned Serb workers' buses passing through their territory and have blown up a railway line connecting isolated Serb communities. A former Kosovo Liberation Army commander is said to have opened fire on Serb villagers.
International officials say the fate of Kosovska Mitrovica may hinge on the outcome of a power struggle for the leadership of the city's Serbs. If the present leader, Oliver Ivanovic, loses, the Serbs are expected to cut ties with the UN and Nato peacekeepers and launch a campaign to partition the city and carve out a tiny state.
