Ex-KLA Chief Warns Yugoslav Leaders

By Brian Murphy
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000; 10:54 p.m. EDT

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- Any attempts by Yugoslav leaders to return
police or military units to Kosovo would "bring another war" that could
trap NATO-led forces in the middle, the former Kosovo Liberation Army
political chief warned Wednesday.

The increasingly sharp comments by Hashim Thaci are part of efforts to
tap into pro-independence sentiments and memories of the KLA's struggle
against Serb forces before Oct. 28 municipal elections. Thaci's
Democratic Party of Kosovo is particularly critical of the more moderate
positions of ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova.

Thaci made it clear there would be no compromise on permitting
Yugoslav security forces back in Kosovo. Such a move has been
suggested by opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica in the campaign to
unseat Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

"If they attempt to bring back the Serb army and police to Kosovo ... that
would re-ignite the conflict in Kosovo and bring another war," he said in
an interview with The Associated Press.

Such a showdown would place NATO-led peacekeepers in the very
difficult position of tolerating their former Serb foes - the Serbs could only
come back if allowed to do so by Kosovo's U.N. administrators - while
trying to quell the KLA rebels they had supported.

The United Nations mandate to run Kosovo allows for a limited force of
Yugoslav troops and police to return and assist peacekeepers in guarding
borders, churches and historical monuments.

Meanwhile, Kosovo has its own political tensions - violence linked to next
month's municipal elections has escalated, including arson attacks on
political offices.

Several thousand Rugova supporters flocked to Pristina's sports stadium
Wednesday to hear him speak in his first pre-election rally since the
campaigning period began two weeks ago.

His Democratic League of Kosovo party, or LDK, "stands strongly
behind the realization of the independence of Kosovo," Rugova told a
wildly cheering crowd. Teenagers hung out of car windows with horns
blaring, waving black and red Albanian flags racing along the main roads
of Pristina.

Kosovo is still officially part of Yugoslavia, although it is run by the United
Nations and NATO-led peacekeepers. Yugoslav forces pulled out of the
province last year.

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press