An Italian member of KFOR, the Kosovo Implementation Force, checks a passing car at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Gorazdevac VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson visits a small town in Kosovo where the Serb population is slowly returning Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Kosovo peacekeepers find illegal jail, beaten prisoner Two U.S. soldiers reported killed in Kosovo accident  MESSAGE BOARD: Rebuilding Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

July 19, 1999
Web posted at: 10:37 p.m. EDT (0237 GMT)

From CNN's Nic Robertson

GORAZDEVAC, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Despite fears of retribution, Serb refugees are trickling back to the Kosovo towns they fled after Yugoslavia agreed to NATO's demands that ethnic Albanians be allowed to return

Kosovo Implementation Force (KFOR) peacekeepers are anxious to show Kosovo's Serbs that they will protect them from ethnic violence as vigorously as they would protect returning ethnic Albanians.

Italian KFOR troops man a checkpoint on the outskirts of Gorazdevac, a town that was home to several thousand Serbs before the Yugoslav army and police left as part of the agreement ending NATO's bombing campaign.

KFOR presence assures a family

The KFOR presence was enough to convince Slobodan and Senka Petrovic to return home, although their children remain in Serbia.

Like many other Serbs in Gorazdevac, the Petrovics have decided to take a wait-and-see approach. They plan to bring their children back for the school year only if KFOR keeps its security pledge.

Ethnic Albanian newspapers and Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) forces in the area claim that Serb paramilitary groups continue to launch attacks from the village. Serb residents deny the charges.

In a nearby Albanian village, the KLA buried one of its soldiers whom they say was killed by Serb paramilitaries. But local residents refuse to discuss the matter, saying only that Serbs from Gorazdevac are responsible.

The KLA has vowed to keep a watchful eye for similar cases despite a looming deadline for the rebels to turn over their automatic weapons.

Back in Gorazdevac, the Serbs wait and watch.

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