http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=258955&section=default

Dutch Guerrilla in South Serbia Surrenders

PRISTINA, Jan 18, 2001 -- (Reuters) A Dutch sniper fighting with ethnic
Albanian guerrillas in southern Serbia has surrendered to NATO-led
peacekeepers in Kosovo, a U.S. spokeswoman for the KFOR peacekeeping
force said on Wednesday.

Captain Alayne Cramer said the man came to a U.S. military base in the
southeastern Kosovo town of Gnjilane on Sunday evening.

"A Dutch sniper turned himself in. He said he was a member of the UCPMB,
went to the gate and requested asylum," Cramer said, referring to the Albanian
acronym for the guerrilla group operating on the Serbian side of the boundary.

She gave his name as Johan Johannes Indikus Makkas.

KFOR was checking his information and may decide to extradite him to the
Netherlands, Cramer said, adding he was not wearing a uniform when he turned
himself in.

Gnjilane is close to the Kosovo-Serbia boundary area, which saw an upsurge in
attacks by the guerrillas on Serb police late last year.

Makkas, who also goes by his Albanian alias of Llirin Kushara, was reportedly
the only foreigner fighting alongside the rebels based in a five kilometers
(three
mile) wide security zone in Serbia proper east of Kosovo.

The situation has been generally calm this year although Serb police have
accused
the rebels of firing at their positions several times. The guerrillas have also
accused
the Serbs of provocations but say they have shown restraint.

The Liberation Army of Presevo Medvedja and Bujanovac, known as UCPMB,
emerged about a year ago on the Serbian side of the boundary, saying it was
fighting police repression in the area.

Serb authorities have branded them "terrorist" separatists bent on uniting
Serbia's
Presevo Valley -- which has a large ethnic Albanian population -- with
internationally-run Kosovo.

KFOR peacekeepers have captured several rebels in recent weeks. Others have
turned themselves in.