BBC News Online: Special Report

Kosovo Liberation Army emerges from the shadows

There is still little reliable information about the size and the structure of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The clandestine group first emerged in 1996, when it claimed responsibility for a series of bomb attacks in Kosovo.

In the past year, the KLA is believed to have killed dozens of Kosovo Serbs and Albanians whom it accuses of collaborating with the Serbian authorities.

Members of the KLA were rarely seen in public until late last year, when three heavily-armed and masked men appeared at a funeral of a Kosovo Albanian shot by Serbian police.

The BBC correspondent David Loyn recently tracked down a guerrilla unit after weeks of negotiations and a hard drive through the mountains.

Guerrillas' gameplan

The commander he was introduced to said that the conflict could spread beyond Kosovo - and warned the KLA might even try to take on targets in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

"First of all we want to liberate Kosovo," he said. "Already the fight is unequal. If it becomes necessary, and if the fighting does not go well ... then we will undertake whatever steps are necessary at that time."

He vowed that he was ready to sacrifice his life for the freedom of Kosovo.

"It is my biggest wish. Freedom is more valuable than life."

The KLA says it has captured a large amount of military equipment, including a helicopter, during clashes with Serbian police and army units.

Until recently, the main support - both political and financial - for the KLA came from Kosovo Albanian emigres in Western Europe and the US.

However, as the long-standing tensions in Kosovo increasingly erupted into open clashes, the support for the KLA among Kosovo Albanians started to grow. Many of them have become impatient with the failure of the peaceful resistance advocated by their political leadership.

Problems for the political leadership

If the emergence - and apparent military success - of the KLA presented Kosovo Albanians with a stark choice, it could also be said to force the hand of their political leadership.

The leader of the Kosovo Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova, has condemned the actions of the KLA, but stopped short of denouncing them as a terrorist organisation, as urged by the US.

The main question, though, is whether the actions of the KLA will bring about a change in the position of the ethnic Albanian political leadership in Kosovo.

Until now, Mr Rugova and his followers have advocated dialogue with the Serbian authorities, and recently began regular, bi-lateral talks aimed at ending the dispute. But with Serbian operations in Kosovo continuing there is no guarantee that the talks process will last long enough to produce results.

If the Serbian authorities continue to regard Kosovo as an internal - rather than an international - problem, the Kosovo Albanian leadership may have little choice but to abandon its peaceful option.

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Freed Britons arrive home
Violence flares in Kosovo
Draskovic attends crash victim's funeral
Kosovo mass grave unearthed
Kosovo Gypsies stranded on border
Yugoslavia slams KLA deal
Nato assesses Kosovo lessons
Montenegro sues for 'coup'
Babies die in Kosovo aftermath (From Health)
Pope calls for Balkan harmony
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