"I used to buy everything I needed for my cafe in Serbia and now I only go to Bujanovac when I have to," says Bozidar - Boza Jankovic, the owner of the "New Paris Rose" in Ranilug. "The other day they took the money for teacher's salaries from Boro, the school secretary, but we reported it to UNMIK in Kosovska Kamenica right away and two days ago the Albanians returned the money."
Two young men were recently beaten up at the UCPMB checkpoint in Konculj which served to further discourage Serbs from traveling.
"Psychologically, there is a lot of fear. We're afraid of being kidnapped," says Trajce Petkovic of Ranilug. He explains: "The people from KFOR say they can't help. They're not allowed to go into the Ground Security Zone because that's what it says in the Military-Technical Agreement. I think it would be good if they got rid of the zone. If our people (the Police and the Army) were here, the UCPMB wouldn't dare stop and search anyone, let alone steal money and beat up Serbs."
"At that time there is almost no traffic and so there's no need for us to stand in mud the whole night and check out passengers and vehicles," says Master Sergeant Land, the commander of "Terminator", adding that "not a single weapon has been found during the last two months," which is how long he's been here.
American soldiers, and these were the only soldiers NIN's reporter saw on January 21 in "Terminator", have a somewhat different, more relaxed approach to searches. Unlike their colleagues the Scotsmen, who even search the interiors of vehicles with the aid of trained dogs at the Merdare crossing, the Americans don't ask people to get out of their cars. What's important to them is that they cast a quick glance at documents, under the hood and in the trunk which is usually so full that they can't get a hand in between the boxes of tangerines and the super-size duffel bags favored by smugglers.
Moreover, the number of troops in "Terminator" is not sufficient to secure the "border" to the next checkpoint. The fact that money, uniforms, weapons and well-trained terrorists are being injected from Kosovo and Metohija into Serbia doesn't interest the American troops much because, in their opinion, all this is happening in no-man's land, in the Ground Security Zone, which is of no concern to them. When asked how uniforms, weapons and people can get out of Kosovo if KFOR is securing the border of Kosovo, Sergeant Land says:
"I don't know. That's a political question; I'm a soldier and I don't need to know that. I know that we have patrols which cover as much as fifteen kilometers a day and we also do vehicle patrols. Besides, even when your army was on the borders the Albanians managed to smuggle in arms. It's not easy for an American to squat on some muddy hill with no Internet, no satellite television, no nothing. That's why my troops get to go to Camp Monty every four days while we (the commanders) stay here up to two weeks at a time."
According to the quotes from the 22nd Mobile Unit for Public Relations contained in the "media packet", it says that in 1989 this garrison was, among other things, a training center for paramilitary forces where Zada, the leader of the most powerful paramilitary unit in Gnjilane, was also trained. However, none of the remaining Serbs in Gnjilane have ever heard of Zada.
Unlike Camp Bondsteel near Urosevac, Camp Monty is in the town itself and a good part of it stretches across someone's land - on an area of at least five square kilometers (one-third the size of Bondsteel) of soil as fertile as any in Vojvodina.
"Before the war my father used to plant potatoes where the American military base is now," says Zoran B. Ristic and adds: "The Yanks took our land from us and we never received any compensation for it whatsoever."
In Gnjilane there are 29 Serb children left. They don't attend either of the two elementary schools, one of which is named "Abaxh Ajeti", and is located in the same street as Osman Sulejmani's house, Cenar Cesma Street.
"Osman's wife Mirdija is nine months pregnant and the other day, after I insisted, she went for her first checkup at the medical clinic," says Sifaldi, explaining that each "foot patrol" consisting of three KFOR troops and a translator, has one Albanian and one Serb family under its special care. Not hiding his concern for Mirdija, Matthew explains that in December Osman was left without a job.
"We receive no help, nothing except what our friend Matthew brings us," says Osman, who was released a few days ago from the prison in Bondsteel "due to suspicion that I am in the KLA", he himself explains. Matthew, who watched the door while KFOR searched the house and arrested Osman, is still his friend.
In Camp Monty we learned, however, that Osman was arrested because an AK-47 rifle, a bayonet and a sack of ammunition of various caliber was found in his house.
"Osman told me that his neighbor left it with him," says Matthew. When asked whether he really believed that Osman's story is true, he replies: "I think that he is a good man and I am sure that he would not lie to me. None of my colleagues in Monty believed him and neither do you."
During the bombing, Osman spent a month in the prison in Vranje along with about 80 other Albanians.
"The Serbian police arrested me in Presevo while I was visiting my grandfather, Illaz Demiri, because my identification card was from Gnjilane," says Osman. When asked if Illaz Demiri was the grandfather of his wife, he replied: "No, he is the father of my father, Sulejman." When asked why his own family name was different than that of his grandfather, Osman said: "It's a tradition among us."
In Gnjilane there are approximately 120 Serb families left. In the last two months they couldn't have left the town even if they wanted.
"It's hard for us. Very hard. We live as if we were in prison; we can't go anywhere. The UN buses haven't been running for the last two months, ever since things boiled over in Bujanovac," says Leposava Stoiljkovic. Her nine-year-old daughter, Jelena, like most of the Serb children, walks to school escorted by a KFOR soldier. "I can't tell a lie; they've never been attacked by anyone but I just can't relax until my Jelena's in the house. Anything could happen; in the past, they've thrown a bomb into the churchyard where the school is."
Sharing the building entrance with Leposava in Kamnik is 50 year-old Vera Antic who has three daughters. Two are (not) studying. Tanja is supposed to attend classes in Leposavic and Milena in Vranje. Suncica is raising 20-month-old Andjela. Having no other way of communicating with Dr. Vojislav Kostunica, the president of FRY Yugoslavia, for Andjela's sake, Suncica says:
"Kostunica, come save us, too!"