KOSOVO: SERB CITIZENS STREAM OUT OF PRIZREN

(14 Jun 1999) Natural Sound

Clutching teddy bears, pet dogs and rifles, thousands of Serb citizens streamed out of Kosovo's second largest city on Monday, many fearing reprisals for the repression of local Albanians.

Under the protection of NATO troops, a makeshift convoy made up of hundreds of tractors, trucks and cars had to pass through the centre of Prizren en route to the safety of Serbia.

And in doing so, they ran a gauntlet of rocks and taunts, hurled at them by ethnic Albanians, their former neighbours.

The southern city of Prizren once boasted a large and thriving multi-ethnic community -- but not now.

Fearful of revenge attacks from their former ethnic Albanian neighbours, the Serbs have shown they simply don't believe NATO promises of a peaceful end to the conflict and are voting with their feet.

They headed north towards the Serbian border, the only road the Serb civilians could use, and one which took them through the centre of Prizren.

And into the path of the hostile crowd of Albanians.

About 860-thousand Kosovo Albanians fled the province during a massive crackdown that began after NATO launched its bombing campaign on March 24.

Inevitably, some of the crowd found the Serb taunting too much -- this retreating Serb found himself a target for a barrage of rocks.

The convoy of human misery -- consisting of thousands of people crowded into hundreds of vehicles -- was reduced to a crawl as it made its way out of Prizren.

Although the vast majority were private cars, trucks and tractors, Serb police and military vehicles dotted the convoy.

Other Serbs are heading for the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro -- 12-thousand Kosovo Serb refugees had entered by Monday, including 3-thousand-870 on Sunday alone.

The German troops taking part in NATO's peacekeeping force -- the country's first major military deployment on foreign soil since World War II -- did their best to calm inflamed tempers.

The German soldiers in Prizren have already seen action after coming under fire on Sunday -- they shot back and in the ensuing fire-fight a car was hit, killing one of its occupants and wounding the other.

In the south of the province -- near the Albanian border -- roads are littered with Serb forces, waiting for transport back to their homeland.

Their withdrawal continues at pace -- the Yugoslav federal army has now withdrawn from Kosovo about 15 percent of its tanks, all of its best capable air defence weapons and all fighter aircraft.

The remaining troops - of a 40-thousand member contingent in Kosovo when the peace agreement was reached -- and all Serb paramilitaries are to leave by June 20.

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