Effects of rebel leader's death felt
by troops at Kosovo's Outpost Sapper
Story and photos by Terry
Boyd, Kosovo bureau
Staff Sgt. Brian Curtis sorts though automatic weapons ammunition, amid hand grenades
and other munitions spread around him Friday at Outpost Sapper. Curtis is a weapons
disposal expert with the 789th Explosives Ordance Disposal unit.
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OUTPOST SAPPER, Kosovo — Thursday was easy for U.S. troops at Outpost Sapper.
Friday was time for them to go to work.
After the death of a Muslim guerrilla leader Thursday, weapons and people started
pouring through Sapper, the KFOR checkpoint on the border between Kosovo and the nearly
defunct Ground Safety Zone.
As ordnance specialists inspected tons of weapons surrendered by the guerrillas Friday,
Sapper soldiers processed farm carts and carloads of refugees.
"It’s been non-stop today," said 1st Lt. Jonathan Graebener, with the
3rd Battalion, 7th Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division. "We’re earning our
money today."
What apparently changed things was the killing of Ridvan Chazmi-Leshi, one of the
Albanian rebel leaders, on Thursday afternoon under unknown circumstances. After word of
his death began circulating, Albanians started moving up the hill from the guerrilla
headquarters of Dobrosin, Yugoslavia, near Outpost Sapper, at about 8 that night.
Then, at about 9 a.m. Friday, guerrillas started bringing tractor-loads of machine
guns, ammunition, mortars and grenades — mostly of Yugoslav army origin, according to
1st Lt. Bradley Stroup, with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Brigade of the 3rd ID. Weapons
included shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft rockets.
By midafternoon, guerrillas from Dobrosin had turned in eight tractor carts full of
weapons and one large truckload of small arms to Sapper troops.
Most of the weapons came from the school in Dobrosin, which was the armory for the
troops of Shefket Musliu, a commander of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and
Bujanovac, or UCPMB, Stroup said.
Capt. Dave Gardner, left, and Staff Sgt. Marcos Fajardo pose before a Yugoslav 12.5 mm
anti-aircraft weapon turned in Thursday by Muslim guerrillas. After the death of a
guerrilla commander Thursday, weapons and refugees began crossing at Outpost Sapper, which
is on the border between Kosovo and the buffer
zone.
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In the past week, guerrillas had been coming to Sapper and talking with U.S. troops.
"They just kept coming up saying, ‘We’ll stand and fight. We’ll stand
and fight,’ " Stroup said.
But when Leshi died, the weapons started coming, he said.
Now, some of the people in Dobrosin are complaining to U.S. troops "that we went
back on our word," Stroup said, afraid that the situation in the buffer zone is
growing violent at the same time guerrillas groups are disarming. The Albanians "are
unloading the weapons as fast as they can, going back to get their families," he
said.
Sources in Pristina said that people in the Dobrosin area — the final section of
the buffer zone, and still unoccupied by Yugoslav forces — are worried that the Serbs
will take retribution on the guerrilla headquarters.
"They’re thinking, ‘The VJ [Yugoslav army] is going to extract a
vengeance on anyone connected to the UCPMB," said the source. "They want to be
able to say, ‘We’re not UCPMB. You can check for weapons.’ "
Most the weaponry turned in Thursday was operable and well-designed. But some was was
aging and in poor shape. "These are awful grenades," said Spec. Brad Borgelt, of
the 789th Explosive Ordance Disposal Unit of the 11th Engineers Battalion. He said some
were of pre-World War II design and had "only about a 50-percent [detonation]
rate."
Regardless of the condition of the weapons, the guerrillas took some risk in turning
them in, said Capt. Dave Gardner, commander of Outpost Sapper. The amnesty for guerillas
to leave the zone passed at 8 a.m. Thursday, but Gardner said his troops and his
predecessors at Sapper maintain a dialog with Albanians who pass through checkpoint from
Dobrosin.
Because of that rapport, Sapper had some advance warning that the weapons were coming.
"I told them, ‘You have my word as commander of OP Sapper. I’ll take the
weapons, but not detain you. KFOR’s word is binding,’" Gardner said.
Gardner said that between 8 p.m. Thursday and about 3 p.m. Friday, more than 125
refugees had been processed at Sapper. Five 10-ton trucks had been called to haul away the
surrendered weapons. Both represented a lot of hours of work.
"I don’t think people realize how hard these guys are working up here,"
he said.
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