-Caveat Lector- KLA Moves in After Serbs Depart By CANDICE HUGHES .c The Associated Press DOBRO SELO, Yugoslavia (AP) - It didn't take the Kosovo Liberation Army long to move in after Serb forces withdrew. Within minutes, guerrillas were coming down from the hills. Within hours, they had seized control of one of Yugoslavia's biggest coal mines. NATO got there the next day. The rebels moved in so fast Saturday morning that mining company manager Dragan Radakovic - a Serb - didn't understand what the shooting was at first. ``I thought maybe it was the army celebrating'' their pullout, he said. But the rattle of automatic weapons fire got louder - and closer. International monitors said the KLA took control Sunday of a major crossing point on the Yugoslav-Albanian border shortly after Yugoslav officials abandoned it. About 10-15 KLA guerrillas were guarding the Morini station late Sunday, said Andrea Angeli, spokesman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Morini was the main crossing point for hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians who fled the province during the Serb crackdown, which accelerated after NATO started its bombing campaign March 24. Standing on the rim of Pit No. 10 at the Belacevac mine, Radakovic peered through binoculars and saw the KLA on the horizon. ``It was a hard feeling,'' he said. ``All I could think about was how to save my workers.'' The rebels moved into the 4-square-mile mine from the west. Radakovic pulled his employees out to the east in 2 1/2 frantic hours, saving nearly 100. But the rebels attacked a van bringing in workers for the afternoon shift. Three Serb miners and the driver, 31-year-old Zvonomir Stepic - coming to work unwarned and unaware - were kidnapped. As best as Radakovic could tell, the rebel force numbered several hundred. They were gloating, using the dispatcher's two-way radio at the mine administration to taunt the Serbs and curse them. ``Go back to Serbia,'' the rebel voice would say. Serbs are a minority in this province, outnumbered before the war 9-to-1 by ethnic Albanians. Stepic's father, Zivojin, said his son headed off for work unconcerned, despite the army and police withdrawal that has put Kosovo's Serbs on edge. ``We knew the army was withdrawing, but we didn't worry,'' he said. ``We expected NATO to protect the workers.'' Serb civilians have been pouring out of areas in northern and western Kosovo where the KLA is active. As many as 8,000 arrived in neighboring Montenegro on Sunday. But Serbs have been less fearful in Pristina, the provincial capital, which will be the headquarters of the NATO force. The kidnappings at the mine and Serb media reports of four separate KLA attacks in Pristina on Sunday could change that feeling of security. NATO is in Kosovo to assure the safe return of 860,000 ethnic Albanians driven from the province by Serb forces and to keep the peace. The international force also is supposed to demilitarize the KLA, but just how it will do that is unclear. Peacekeeping troops are streaming into the province, but the job of establishing control is complex and time-consuming. And the KLA, which appears to have no plans to lay down its arms, is badly complicating their task - as the mine takeover shows. ``It's horrible,'' Radakovic said. ``They don't respect agreements of any kind.'' The mine manager said the Serb army withdrawal took him by surprise; he expected them to wait for NATO. But shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, they began pulling out of the three deserted villages bordering the mine. Just a day earlier, military and police officials in Pristina had assured him there would be no security vacuum at the mine, a critical link in the electric power supply system that the KLA had seized for several weeks last year. Ten workers kidnapped in the June 22, 1998 attack have not been seen since. NATO took him by surprise, too. They arrived unannounced - and unaware that the mine was in rebel hands. Radakovic stumbled on the NATO team Sunday afternoon as he headed out to check on the tiny band of guards he'd deployed on a ridge between the KLA-controlled Belacevac and its sister mine, Dobro Selo. He was stunned. He was thrilled. He thought maybe he'd get his mine back. Maybe there was hope for the kidnapped workers. But the NATO force, four Royal Canadian armored vehicles, weren't there to recapture anything from the KLA or take away their guns. Their job was reconnaissance. ``They sent us here because it is high ground and we can see a lot,'' Lt. Chris Hunt explained. Radakovic briefed Hunt on the situation, pointing down the valley to the KLA positions in the distance. ``We'll try to get more troops over this way,'' Hunt told him. ``But everything's stretched pretty thin right now.'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
