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KLA highlights struggle for survival

Fresh light is being shed on the desperate conditions facing many civilians still inside Kosovo.

A video just brought out of the province by the Kosovo Liberation Army reveals the lack of any proper medical facilities to treat the sick and wounded.

It shows people living in the open and there is also further evidence of civilians having been killed during the period since the Nato air strikes began.

For many weeks now, there have been reports from Kosovo that as many as half a million people have been driven from their homes and were struggling to survive in areas under the control of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Inadequate medical care

This video filmed by the KLA shows the rudimentary inadequate medical care available to the victims of this conflict.

Men who are said by the KLA to be civilians are seen being treated for bullet wounds in improvised field hospitals where there are few doctors and little medical equipment.

One man who had been shot in the leg is suffering from severe gangrene.

His foot needs to be amputated but the operation cannot be performed.

Doctors have fled

A health co-ordinator for the Kosovo Albanians, Shaip Muja, said he thought there had been 2,000 doctors in Kosovo before the war but 95% of them had now fled into exile.

The KLA video also shows the daily struggle for survival. Civilians are filmed living rough outdoors and foraging for firewood.

These are the people who have been under the protection of the KLA in the pockets of countryside still controlled by the rebels.

Additional footage of dead victims of the war show half a dozen men who have been shot and left lying where they fell - both inside buildings and outside in the woods.

Here again, the KLA maintains these people were civilians who were killed by the Serbs.

Aid crisis

This video is but a small illustration of what the international peace-keeping force may encounter when troops first go into Kosovo.

It also highlights the immediate need for aid convoys to relieve the suffering of the internally displaced as soon as possible.

This week, refugees arriving in Albania said there was no food left in some Kosovo villages.

Relevant Stories

Kosovo pullout talks 'positive' (05 Jun 99 | Europe)
Belgrade looks ahead (05 Jun 99 | Europe)
Analysis: Slow road to peace (05 Jun 99 | Europe)
KLA: Fight goes on (05 Jun 99 | Europe)
Will the refugees go home? (04 Jun 99 | Europe)
Refugees sceptical about peace (04 Jun 99 | Europe)

Internet Links

Serbian Ministry of Information
Nato
Eyewitness accounts of the bombing
Kosovo Crisis Centre

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