Killing of ethnic Albanian commander
mars Kosovo buffer zone transition
By Scott Schonauer,
Kosovo bureau
IN THE KOSOVO BUFFER ZONE — Ethnic Albanian rebels accused Serb security forces of
shooting and killing one of their top commanders Thursday in the buffer zone between
southern Serbia and Kosovo.
The killing outraged guerrilla fighters and tainted what had been a relatively peaceful
entry of Yugoslav forces into the last but most contentious section of the buffer known as
Sector B.
Expectations of a smooth move into the border soon disappeared after rebels found out
the commander, known as "Lese," had been killed. The Associated Press later
identified him as Ridvan Chazimi-Leshi, and said he had been shot by a sniper in the
village of Trnovac after leaving negotiations with NATO officials.
Moments after the shooting, uniformed rebels blocked the main road just outside one of
the group’s headquarters in the village of Velikiternovac. Tension spread throughout
the hamlet as residents learned of the slaying.
One furious rebel leader lashed out at a group of reporters on their way to the town of
Bujanovac. After stopping the caravan of print and TV journalists, the leader grabbed and
smashed a still camera from a newspaper reporter and a videocamera from a television
photographer.
The man then pulled out his gun after members of the television crew tried to wrestle
the camera from him. Rebel fighters guarding the headquarters building restrained their
leader as journalists scurried to a nearby house.
"I started running like a dog under a trailer," CNN crewmember Robert Lawson
said minutes after the incident. The armed group did not allow the reporters to leave the
city until the town’s mayor convinced the rebels to let the three-car media convoy
go.
About 30 minutes later they escorted the caravan to the edge of town. Details of the
shooting were sketchy, but the incident could threaten a signed agreement by the rebels to
disband by the end of May.
A key rebel commander had agreed to demilitarize his forces earlier this week, boosting
expectations that allowing Yugoslav forces into the area would avoid bloodshed. NATO
invited Yugoslav forces into the last but most volatile section of the buffer zone earlier
this month.
Ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting for southern Serbia used the area as a base for the
past 16 months, taking advantage of the fact that NATO and Serb forces could not enter.
On a day before thousands of troops poured into the area along the Kosovo border,
Serbian deputy prime minister Nedojsacovic Kovic said he was confident security forces
would go in with little resistance.
Early Thursday that appeared to be the case. Villagers, who viewed the opening of the
buffer zone with skepticism, called the Yugoslav and Serb troops "polite and
nice."
"I was expecting things to be quiet," Kovic said as he patrolled the buffer
zone Thursday. And for the most part it was.
But one place where trouble did flare up was in Velikiternovac, when rebels and
villagers told reporters one of their commanders had been shot.
Dozens of villagers lined the town’s main street and uniformed rebel leaders
carrying rifles and AK-47s said they would not let traffic through until they spoke with
NATO envoy Sean Sullivan. As of 6 p.m., Sullivan had not arrived at the town and the crowd
continued to wait as startled journalists returned to town.
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