THE red flag with the black eagle yesterday flew openly from the roof of the school. There were guards at the gate, Albanians with arm bands reading UCK (KLA) and the same initials were spelt out in petals on the playground.
Processions of children presented posies of roses and kissed the cheeks of the swarthy goons, and inside was a self-confessed terrorist hitman,
who personally murdered the Serb chief of police, and whose authority was growing by the hour.
Whatever Nato thinks it has agreed with the KLA, it may shortly have to revise. Sali Mustafa has ideas of his own. For one thing, said the KLA’s commander in Pristina, the Serb troops would not only have to be out by midnight tonight, they would face execution if they hung around.
“As you know the agreement says the Serbs have specific times for withdrawing troops. Every soldier and paramilitary that steps out of line is going to be shot – by us or by Nato,” said Mustafa, who was wearing a Puma top and Adidas tracksuit. He had a revolutionary’s round glasses and a delicate, almost girlish face.
Looking at this young man, it was hard to believe that he had cold-bloodedly killed Pristina’s top policemen; but, so he confessed. “I was in charge of a unit and, well, they were our enemy, and I was shooting at them. Me and two other guys, we shot Misha Lahocevic. Zoran Iovanovic found his death. I shot him dead.” And having created this job vacancy, he was now thinking of applying because, as he understands the Nato agreement, he and his lads are going to be the police.
With every hour that passes, the arbitrary power of the KLA is growing in Kosovo, and Nato seems momentarily clueless how to deal with it. Ivan Nicic, 25, was driving out of Pristina yesterday morning, like thousands of other fleeing Serbs, when he spotted a man he knew, an Albanian. Their eyes met.
Suddenly, other Albanians appeared, pulling out their guns, and as Nicic panicked and floored the accelerator, they shot his green Yugo Tempo five times in the back. One bullet passed through his shoulder, and another grazed his skull.
The Albanians said he was looting, though a glance inside his bloodstained car revealed nothing more than the clutter one would expect from a single home.
Whatever the truth, Nicic was luckier than others. Last night KLA checkpoints were appearing all over town, especially at the route north to Belgrade.
Three more fleeing Serbs were reportedly shot dead, and Albanian gunmen had taken the lives of at least one Albanian who worked for the Yugoslav militia, as well as three other Serb policemen.
“Dead right,” said Sali Mustafa, smiling seraphically. “Three Serb paramilitaries were killed yesterday because they were going round and stealing from the houses, and we have an agreement with Nato which says we can defend ourselves.”
Of course, the Nato agreement does not condone the shooting of looters, but then what is the Nato policy towards the KLA?
In his magnificently cursory press conference yesterday, Gen Sir Michael Jackson mentioned the unfortunate “fatalities” of the past few days. There was a Serb policeman killed by Nato, and three German journalists killed by the Serbs. He didn’t mention those who have died at the hands of the KLA.
The freedom fighters still seem to have a privileged position. “The KLA have given a public undertaking to demilitarise. I will hold them to that, and I look to them to behave with responsibility and restraint,” said Gen Jackson.
“Demilitarise?” scoffed Mustafa; and one had the feeling that he has an Adams-McGuinness view of handing over weapons to the British.
Yesterday, the KLA was swarming over the hills and into the towns. On the roads to Pristina we found a grinning car-load of them, waving at a stalled column of Americans. There was a tall, thyroidal-looking fellow with buck teeth and some wizened old men. They laughed and clapped, and altogether they had the air of farmers out for a day’s ratting. But fear emanates from those AK47s that they shook as we passed; fear that has driven thousand of Serbs to flee.
Just as we were at the KLA HQ a couple of British officers appeared, coughing politely and wondering whether they could have a word with commandant Mustafa, to discuss arrangements for the final Serb retreat today.
They were told to come back in 20 minutes, which seemed a little ungracious from a band of guerrillas whom Britain and others have propelled to
power.
The reality is that we have made allies and victors of people of whom we know little. Sali Mustafa denied some of the propaganda, in particular that they are Marxist desperadoes.
“That’s a big lie about communism. I can speak for myself, and we are going to have a free market and democracy.” But he was determined to soldier on until Kosovo achieves full independence, and Nato seems flummoxed. Do we approve of them bearing arms against the remaining Serbs or not?
“We’re not quite certain what the policy is ourselves,” said Capt Andrew Reeds of the Army press office; but no doubt Nato will shortly find a policy thrust upon it.
