Bloody Battles in the Buffer Zone

Vreme, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, November 27 1999

Half of the territory of the Kursumlija municipality, which shares about 140 kilometers of border with Kosovo, has ended up in the so-called buffer zone after the signing of the agreement in Kumanovo. The buffer zone stretches five kilometers from the border with Kosovo inside Serbia [proper], and the number of policemen and their activities within the zone are limited. The situation is similar in other municipalities bordering Kosovo. However, the Kursumlija municipality has in many ways become "unique", since it is feared that the disturbances from Kosovo will spread to the Toplica region.

Since the end of the [NATO] bombardment, several incidents have taken place in the buffer zone between the Kursumlija municipality and Kosovo. During the last week or so, the incidents have become more serious and frequent. The most recent incident, which took place on November 21, was classified as "a serious incident" and became a topic for serious analysis of military and political analysts.

Namely, on Sunday at 3am, in the region of Prepolac near Kursumlijska Banja, a large group of armed Albanians entered the territory of Serbia [proper] from the Podujevo municipality and attacked a Police patrol engaged in regular reconnaissance of the buffer zone. A fierce battle ensued and the patrol called for reinforcements from Kursumlija. After four hours of shooting, armed Albanians finally withdrew to the territory of the Podujevo municipality which is under control of KFOR and the policemen went back to Kursumlija since further pursuit was impossible.

On the way back, a police vehicle hit an anti-personnel mine and policemen Jovica Janicijevic and Zivorad Pantovic died on that occasion, while six of their colleagues were seriously wounded. Currently, only Miljenko Strugar is in critical condition.

According to the official Police statement, the planted mine was of the type manufactured in Albania and currently used by the Albanian armed forces. Although that was not the first incident in that territory, nor were the two policemen the first victims since the end of the bombardment, the Police has only now issued an official statement carried by the state-controlled media. As we unofficially found out, the statement was issued in order to calm down the inhabitants of the region, many of whom are preparing to leave their homes because of the lack of safety.

The public only partly knows about the events that preceded the clash in Prepolac. Officials continue to disclose only meager and partial information. Since the end of the bombardment, apart from the two killed policemen, at least another four local civilians have been killed, three families have been expelled from their homes, one household has been burnt and several looted...

Sreten Zivkovic was murdered on the threshold of his house in the village of Livadice. Dejan Djordjevic, a police inspector from Podujevo, who had withdrew with the Police and [Yugoslav] Army from the province and found temporary accommodation with his relatives, was killed by a sniper in the village of Merdare. The Police blames extremists from KLA for the death of elderly woman Bozana Zecevic. She lived in an isolated household in the border village of Susnjak. She was murdered by 'a blunt object" and her household was looted. Mirko Saric disappeared on July 19 from the village of Tracevac. On that day, he went to the nearby Albanian village of Krpimej to buy provisions. A month later, KFOR members delivered his mutilated corpse to the Saric family, and ethnic Albanian neighbors living on the other side of the provincial border told the Saric family to leave their home unless they wanted to end up like Mirko. That was a serious warning: two weeks ago, the Saric household was first hit by mortar shells and then burnt to the ground. The Sarics had to leave Tacevac. Several days later, the homes of the Aleksic and the Andrijasevic families were attacked so that the Police from Kursumlija had to intervene. The two families left the village after the attack had been repulsed.

By the way, the Prepolac incident is not the only attack on the Serbian Police in the border zone. According to the testimony from the inhabitants of the village of Merdare, a month ago a fierce battle between a group of armed ethnic Albanians who tried to take the village and the Police took place there. The policemen were assisted by armed locals. During the shooting, the battlefield was buzzed by KFOR helicopters trying to prevent the spreading of the clash. After this clash, the inhabitants of Merdare decided not to harvest their fields this year since no one was able to guarantee their security.

There were several more cases of infiltration of armed groups from the Podujevo municipality, attacks on property, illegal cutting of forest, intimidation... However, until now there were no cases of Serbs from the Kursumlija municipality entering the territory of the Podujevo municipality. KFOR has been informed about all of these cases through regular channels, but they failed to react until the most recent incident in Prepolac. On that occasion KFOR reported that it had no data about armed attacks launched from the territory of the Podujevo municipality. However, they promised to increase the number of their forces in the border zone.

To the question "to whom does the Toplica region belong?" every inhabitant of this region will reply that it has been and remains Serb land, but that it is included in the maps of "Greater Albania". The other, Albanian, side believes that the Toplica region "belongs" to them. A recent appearance of Adem Demaci [former KLA representative] in the program of Radio Free Europe demonstrates that even some ethnic Albanian leaders share that belief. In the program "Most" [Bridge] broadcast on July 26 1999, in which Demaci discussed the possibility of common life in Kosovo with the leader of Kosovo Serbs, Momcilo Trajkovic, Demaci did not fail to mention that the Toplica region remains an open problem and that it should be addressed in the foreseeable future.

As far as the current version of the map of "Greater Albania" is concerned, it is more moderate than the earlier versions, which included Krusevac, Nis, and Pirot. The new version of "Greater Albania" reaches out to Kursumlija, Prokuplje and Vranje. The present border, regardless of the buffer zone between KFOR forces and the Serbian Police, is becoming an increasingly frequent battlefield for clashes that smell of a future war.