Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told The border, running through mountainous terrain up to a height of 2,600 m, was marked with concrete and stone posts, many of which were missing. There was no fence or other physical boundary. There were 32 border posts and observation towers. The towers were not usually manned as people on the Albanian side of the border used them for target practice. FRY patrols rarely patrolled along the actual border, as they were likely to be shot at. There were no known electronic surveillance or intruder devices securing the border. Within the border area, the VJ manned the 32 platoon-sized border posts and six company positions. The minimum strength of a patrol was 10 men. In addition, there were three "Quick Reaction" battalions, held in barrack locations, which were ready to reinforce or deal with large-scale border incidents/ incursions. The minimum manning for the border, as seen from the FRY perspective, was 10 men per km of border. Therefore for the whole border, including the boundary with Montenegro, there was a requirement for 3,000 personnel at any one time. In addition to patrolling, the VJ mounted ambushes. The border area contained marked antipersonnel minefields that were intended to channel intruders into prepared ambush sites. There was no administrative infrastructure within the border area. This meant that all permanent accommodation and support had to be provided by the barracks in Djakovica/Gjakova, Gnjilane/Gjilan, Orahovac/Rrahovec, Pec/Peja, Prizren/Prizren and Urosevac/Ferizaj. On 4 March 1999, the extent of the VJ control of the border was increased by law to a width of 10 km. The reason given by the Yugoslav authorities was that it was intended to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups into the province. The Reuters news agency quoted one government official as saying that the move might involve putting more troops into Kosovo. At this stage, the OSCE-KVM estimated that there were already at least 15 combat teams out of barracks - five times as many as had been agreed under the Clark-Naumann Agreement of 25 October. 5 Volunteers/Mercenaries. Volunteer units included not only men from Serbia and Montenegro, but from a number of other countries. Refugees tell of Russian-speakers, as well as hearing other languages spoken. The UCK claimed other nationalities including Romanians and Bulgarians, Germans, Greeks 6 and French were in the ranks of the Yugoslav/Serbian forces. The volunteers were formed into units (for example, the "Wasps"), and were not only involved in fighting but were given tasks such as the movement of ammunition, laying of mines, building dummy armoured vehicles as well as fighting where necessary. A volunteer would have been paid in the region of DM 300-DM 400 per month and worked within the VJ chain of command. Although volunteer units were within the VJ chain of command, on occasion they nevertheless stepped outside it. A volunteer unit of approximately 100 men is understood to have broken from military discipline and removed itself to the village of Zegra/Zheger (Gnjilane/Gjilan) in late March 1999, where they abused the local population. Two high ranking military commanders were removed from their posts http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch3.htm (3 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:47 AM