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Kosovo's Albanians set out from their refuges last week with such high hopes but arrived to such horror. The impact of those pit graves and decomposing bodies, incinerated villages and pulverized cities will haunt the Balkans for generations. In Washington the White House is busy searching for a leader to replace Milosevic if the defeated strongman falls. Clinton is expected this week to meet Milo Djukanovic, Montenegro's useful pro-Western President, and U.S. diplomats met secretly last week with Belgrade political opponents in hopes of promoting a homegrown challenge to Milosevic. Washington refuses to cooperate with Yugoslavia as long as he stays in power, but Clinton repeatedly emphasizes, "The U.S. and our European allies have no quarrel with the Serbian people."
The demise of Slobodan Milosevic alone would not suffice for Jusuf Tafili as he stood mourning his murdered father and the seven others buried together beneath simple wooden stakes reading A.T., S.T., R.T., I.A...."All Serbian men had their hands in blood," he said. "If they were not directly involved in crimes, they helped the criminals. They deserve no space in Kosovo anymore." Nor, he says, did Albanians "give all this blood to stay under Serbian hands." To repay their sacrifice and to exact justice, he says, the Kosovars deserve independence.
The horror in Kosovo has radicalized even those in the province who once considered themselves liberal. After a day in the ruins of Pec, his hometown, Dukagjin Gorani, a Kosovar journalist, said, "We have had enough of moderation here. The Serbs must go. Serbian will never be spoken here again."
For the Serbs and the Albanians, the fighting has stopped, but this war is not over. As his ancient, weathered face streamed with tears last week, Azem Mucaj placed roses on a dried puddle of blood at the entrance to Pec. The 72-year-old Albanian farmer had brought his 14-year-old son Gzim safely down from the hills after two months in hiding from the Serbs, reuniting the family of seven. On Wednesday, Gzim raced joyfully to the main road to cheer the KFOR tanks as they growled by. A car stopped in front of him. Five Serbs in black masks jumped out and, without saying a word, shot Gzim dead.
--With reporting by Dejan Anastasijevic/Vienna, Dusanka Anastasijevic/Podujevo, Massimo Calabresi/Cuska, Anthee Carassava/Pristina and Jan Stojaspal/Ljubenica