by Vesna TOROVIC
The special forces member nicknamed Magistar [someone with a masters degree] explains with an icy smile how the Albanians stage managed the whole incident to win over the public.
"When we entered those houses, we made an inventory. This was on December 25 and they had already been empty for a week. That's when they were looted. Now an Albanian comes and asks for his sewing machine and its not on our inventory list. The house of one of our local men was looted, too. One of them is asking for 1,300,000 dinars in damages. A house in Dedinje [posh Belgrade quarter] wouldn't be worth that much. The worst of it is that before we withdrew from the houses, we cleaned and tidied everything, washed the dishes... Yesterday my mother calls and says to me: Son, you weren't like that before. What are you doing down there!?"
The special forces men are still at the same posts. Except they're no longer in them but in front of them.
Records: "Our people bought the provocations of the Albanians. Whether they had to, I don't know, but they really gave us a bad reputation. I don't know if we will be doing any more work in the field," says the unit commander. His post is in an enormous house under construction from where they control the road to Gnjilane.
All the special forces men say that they were defamed and are especially embittered by the statement of Coordinating Committee chairman Nebojsa Covic.
"How could he say that! We are here risking our lives and exactly how could we loot and destroy and still remain in front of the same houses. The Albanians themselves signed records of an ethnically mixed commission confirming that nothing was missing. I have a record signed by one of them confirming that nothing was missing where my unit was housed, but later he said that some things were missing and that everything was broken. Some of the windows were broken, of course, and there was shrapnel all over because the terrorists were shooting at us with mortars and bazookas... Some of my men wanted to desert but despite everything we're still here defending our fatherland," says the unit commander.
We go to the upper story of this house, whose owner is somewhere in the Czech Republic and said to be one of the bigger drug dealers in this part of Europe. Through the window openings we look at the part of Lucane controlled by the Albanian terrorists. We see the mosque, the school - but children are still not attending classes. We see bunkers and sandbags.
Beirut: "This is like eastern and western Beirut. We're even divided by a bridge. They are constantly shooting at us... See that destroyed wall? A mortar shell. We have a post on the other side of the Binacka Morava River and we have been taking food to the men there by boat since the policemen were killed on the road near Oslare. This morning they provoked us from the direction of Gropa but it wasn't a serious attack. Our tour of duty here is 21 days and then they go accusing us of things. I can't give any guarantees for all policemen but I'm sure about my own men. Here we don't drink a drop of alcohol because it is most strictly forbidden. Here seven of our colleagues were killed and about ten wounded. When we left the houses, the Albanians locked them; meanwhile, my men are sleeping in sheds, pigsties and barns... They are sleeping on uncovered concrete. This morning one of them was bitten by a rat. They are as big as cats," complains the commander.
Almost all the policemen deny breaking or taking anything. They show us their new accommodations.
"Horses and pigs live better than we do. They didn't even bring us foam cushions. We have one uniform each and we wear it for three weeks. This morning my three year-old son called and said: 'Daddy, you're a thief.' We're going to sue Covic and donate the money we get into a fund for the children of the policemen who were killed. First of all, Covic owes us a public apology. I can't understand how he could make such a tactless statement. We were the ones who asked the commission to come. They want their houses to be intact; some of them have been hit by as many as five shells. We did our best to keep them clean and now we are being accused," says one of the special forces men bitterly in front of a bunker of sandbags, some 50 meters from the terrorists. It's located in the yard of a house but the house is locked. The policemen say that the owner comes to check on it. He hasn't complained.
Commission: "A woman and child returned to that house there. She's off visiting someone now. Our people are not allowed in their part of town but they can go wherever they like. Recently an electrician from Bujanovac didn't dare go fix the electricity tower near the mosque. Only the dogs here still like us. Occasionally an elderly Albanian will greet us and talk to us. We don't even see the younger people."
"The public needs to know how our police behaves. There is evidence that our security forces committed acts of vandalism and looted the houses from which they allegedly withdrew on April 24," accused Covic on April 27.
Even though a commission has been founded and despite the very harsh position of the Coordinating Committee chairman, no names have yet been published of who exactly looted, destroyed and damaged the Albanian houses in Lucane. In the Bujanovac Press Center reporters insist each day that the names of the special forces men who did this be publicized; however, they cannot get in touch with the commander of the Operational Group Goran Radosavljevic who is supposed to provide this information.