Agence France Presse
KLA units "specialised in hunting down Serbs"
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Sept 19 (AFP) - The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which officially disbands Sunday, had special "Serb-hunting" units operating even after international peacekeeping troops arrived here in June, according to two KLA members.
The special KLA units "forced the Serbs out of their homes and took them off to kill them in discreet places as far as was possible," said one of the KLA special unit members
"But, if they put up any resistance, they mowed them down on the spot." said the rebel officer, whose nom de guerre is "the teacher".
"Our group of seven men would go to the Serbs, house by house, and give them between 15 and 30 minutes to get out," the 'teacher' explained.
"Then in came the mopping-up team, 13 of them, with the job of executing those who stayed behind," he added.
The mopping-up team were "real professionals," said the burly 46-year-old with a Colt 45 pistol protruding from a jacket pocket.
The Kosovo capital of Pristina was "split into four zones, each with four units that are still at work today. We have been working in the eastern districts. But now the job has become more complicated because of KFOR which is protecting the Serbs," he sadded.
On June 21 the KLA signed an agreement with NATO to "demilitarise".
This forced the KLA to change its tactics to more covert action.
"We go to see the neighbours of any recalcitrant Serb and they pass on the ultimatum. Whatever happens, they end up coming out of their homes. Even if we can't kill them, we can give them a good beating," the KLA fighter said.
KFOR, he added, "will never be able to protect the Serbs 24 hours a day and it has never picked up any of our men."
Another KLA officer in the eastern Kosovo town of Urosevac admitted that his mission was to intimidate Serbs but refused to give any details.
The second man added that any Albanian helping the Serbs "deserves the death sentence".
This account of systematic intimidation by ethnic Albanians was confirmed by members of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force that moved into Kosovo following the end NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia on June 12.
Sergeant-Major Brian Johnson of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment contingent in KFOR, which is responsible for protecting minorities, confirmed the KLA officers' stories.
There were "small elements of the KLA groups who pretend to be police, who have forged police cards, who are armed and even have offices," he said.
Added to this were "many criminals who claim to belong to be KLA".
Out of a Serb population of some 5,000 in Pristina before the NATO strikes began in March, only 1,000-2,000 remain, according to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
KFOR estimates that two to three families pack up and leave Pristina every day.
Out of 170 Kosovar Albanians jailed by KFOR since it arrived to bring peace, "more than half were put away because of intimidation or violence against Serbs," Johnson said, describing cases of kidnapping and of elderly Serb women beaten or raped.
Johnson, who said his battalion received an average of 30 distress calls a day from Serbs just after the war, compared with five now, summed up the KLA intimidation methods in much the same way as "the Teacher".
'The teacher' now lives with his eight children in the home of a Serb whom he said he had threatened to kill.
"My KLA commander said that might be a bit noisy and said 'if you want to kill him, do it with a knife, it'll be more discreet.'
"As I don't really know how to do that, I let him go," he said.
'The teacher' also took possession of a restaurant of a Serb neighbour who, he laughed, "made me promise not to damage anything as he handed over the keys".
He, like many KLA officers, says openly that he dreams of a Kosovo without Serbs.
Meticulously, he entered into his little red teacher's notebook the names of the 79 Serbs killed by his unit from the beginning of the war, noting their dates of birth and details of the arms and money, in marks and dinars, taken from their bodies.
"When I found a mass grave in Lescovac," in the east of the province "with 46 Albanians who had been decapitated or had limbs cut off, I decided to kill every next Serb I met," he recalled grimly.
At the beginning of September he left the KLA. It was time for him to back to his old job, educating children as a teacher.
The deadline for full demilitarization of the KLA is midnight (2200 GMT) Sunday.