A Worrisome Kosovo Mystery

For most of the past month Balkan watchers have gazed at the sight of refugees leaving Kosovo and been haunted by a terrible question: What happened to Kosovo's best and brightest, the doctors, diplomats and intellectuals who made up the province's leadership and who have been noticeably missing among the refugees? For example, Veton Surroi, the gruff and charismatic Kosovar delegate to the peace talks in Rambouillet, France, courageously returned to Kosovo days before the bombing began but has since disappeared.

Last week, in a hurried phone conversation with Lirak, a K.L.A. officer in Kosovo, TIME learned that some of those...

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