Colleagues who had left Kosovo before the war started on March 24th said many of these homes were sacked over the past year of fighting, but there were signs of more recent departures. One pretty white house in a copse of trees was still burning. Cows that looked well cared for had been tied up to graze on the grass outside other abandoned dwellings. Near Podujevo, known as a Kosovo Liberation Army stronghold in the past, we were joined by an armoured escort vehicle mounted with a heavy machinegun. Since last summer and despite NATO's bombardment, the strategic balance appears barely to have altered.
Serb forces control the roads, while the guerrillas move about in the mountains.
We did not see the armoured columns they talk about in NATO briefings, but a half-dozen tanks spread out over several kilometres, each protectively sheltered next to a house, or shrouded in dried corn stalks. Back to the top of the page. Back to War Stinks . Back to Unfettered Soul . Back to Spirit Wonderland .