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KLA chief condemns detention of rebel general

Blair shakes hands with KLA leader Thaci in the U.N. headquarters in Pristina  ALSO: Explosion rocks Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo capital Boat crowded with more than 1,000 Yugoslav Gypsies docks in southern Italy Back in Kosovo, refugee family remembers good and bad of U.S. FBI Laboratory agents hunt evidence of murder in Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD: Rebuilding Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

July 31, 1999
Web posted at: 11:12 p.m. EDT (0312 GMT)

In this story: 'His words were our bread, our hope' Blair meets moderate Kosovar leader, anxious Serbs RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Kosovo (CNN) -- On a day when British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a triumphant visit to Kosovo's capital, the head of the Kosovo Liberation Army complained of harassment by Russian troops after the KLA chief of staff was detained briefly in western Kosovo.

On his visit Saturday, Blair urged grateful ethnic Albanians to live in peace with rival Serbs.

Blair met for a half hour with the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaci, whose popularity among ethnic Albanians has soared in recent months.

Thaci, speaking to reporters about the Russian detention of KLA Gen. Agim Ceku, said if such actions aren't stopped, "we will defend our honor."

The detention of Ceku near Kijevo -- an area of the German- controlled sector where Russian troops patrol -- underscored the animosity many ethnic Albanians harbor toward Russian peacekeepers in the province.

Thaci said Ceku was held for several hours in an action that confirmed rebel doubts about the Russians.

"This act goes against the agreement for the demilitarization of the KLA, and we strongly condemn it," he said. He demanded that Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson, the head of the peacekeeping force, "control Russian troops and not insult the KLA."

A spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force downplayed the incident. Lt. Cmdr. Louis Garneau said that based on initial reports from German peacekeepers, Ceku was not carrying the card given to him by the peacekeepers and authorizing him to travel with bodyguards. He said the incident lasted no more than an hour.

"The word arrest is wrong here," Garneau said. If he did not have the card, the troops acted properly, he said.

Blair was greeted with adoration by ethnic Albanians upon his arrival in Kosovo

A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow said Saturday he had no information about the incident.

Blair, making his first visit to Kosovo since NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia, was among the strongest supporters of the punishing 78-day bombing that forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end his crackdown against ethnic Albanians.

Cheers, flowers and a kiss or two were lavished on the British prime minister as he walked through the center of Pristina to meet and shake hands with residents. Blair planted a tree to symbolize the rebuilding of Kosovo.

A young boy broke through a tight security cordon to hand Blair a bouquet of flowers and receive a hug in return.

'His words were our bread, our hope'

"During the bombing campaign, his words were our bread, our hope," said Nexhmije Mehmeti, 62, who stayed in Kosovo throughout the 11 weeks of bombardment as hundreds of thousands of others fled from Serbian forces, fearing for their lives.

Blair visited British troops in Kosovo for several hours Friday night after attending a world summit on Balkan stability in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Blair then spent the night in Skopje, Macedonia, and returned to Pristina Saturday morning.

"What has given me pleasure is to see the young children in their homeland in peace," Blair said in an address to the crowd of several hundred.

Blair also talked about the importance of reconciling with old enemies and of including Kosovo in "the family of nations in Europe ... with the security that comes and the prosperity that comes from being part of Europe."

Blair receives a gift of ore from ethnic Albanian leader Rugova during their meeting at the U.N. headquarters in Pristina, Kosovo

Blair meets moderate Kosovar leader, anxious Serbs

The British prime minister also met separately with Thaci's main political rival, Ibrahim Rugova, the moderate politician twice chosen by ethnic Albanians to be Kosovo's president in unofficial elections. Rugova recently returned from self- imposed exile during the Kosovo conflict, and his influence has waned during his absence.

U.N. officials administering the province say they regard both leaders as important to Kosovo's political future, but the two have pointedly refused to reconcile.

Blair also met local Serb politicians and leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who have expressed concern about revenge attacks against the province's minority Serbs by ethnic Albanians.

Investigators confirmed Friday that three men being held for questioning in the slayings of 14 Serb farmers last week are ethnic Albanians. The killings, the worst single act of violence since NATO troops arrived in mid-June, rattled already shaky Serb confidence in the peacekeepers.

The men in detention denied involvement in the killings and said they have no connection with the KLA, said British Maj. John Wooldridge.

Blair offered 100 British police officers to speed U.N. efforts to create a police force to increase security in the troubled region.

Correspondent Nic Robertson and Reuters contributed to this report.

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