Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told 13 Often described with some clarity was the existence of the "Republic Srpska Delta Force", originating from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic Srpska. Refugees describe the unit as operating to the south of Gnjilane in early April and being involved in the forced expulsion of Kosovo Albanians from the hill villages north-east of Pristina by the middle of the same month. The Ministry of the Interior (Ministarstvo Unutrasnjih Poslova-MUP) Police The police received a greater priority in resource allocation from the government of Slobodan Milosevic than had the VJ. It was indicative of the importance Milosevic placed on the functions of internal security to support his political survival, that he strengthened the police to the detriment of the VJ. Within the Ministry of Interior (MUP) the most common group cited by Kosovo Albanian refugees were the militia (milicija). The "People's Militia" were equipped with light machine guns and armoured personnel carriers and were identifiable by their dark blue disruptive pattern (camouflage) clothing. Throughout the period of the KVM the militia were observed manning checkpoints in both the towns and in the rural areas as well as operating against the UCK. In addition to the regular militia, there was support from their reserve. Until March 1999, there were believed to be in the region of 5,000 militia in Kosovo. Recognizing and differentiating among perpetrators: uniforms Refugee statements often included a description of the uniforms worn by the perpetrators of human rights violations which they experienced or witnessed. Regular VJ could be recognized by the contrast of their uniform to that of the reservists, who were described as wearing the old Yugoslav People's Army (JNA, predecessor of the VJ) style uniform and in some cases included the comment that the uniform smelt of mothballs. The blue uniformed militia was also evident, badges were sometimes clearly seen identifying PJP. However SAJ also wore green at times, as did a number of volunteer and paramilitary units, leading potentially to a false claim that it was a regular VJ unit carrying out an act. The white uniforms of the White Eagles may have been the cream of an SAJ unit, local armed civilians could be mixed up with the ad hoc mixed dress of a paramilitary unit (Arkan's paramilitaries favoured black uniforms or civilian clothes). In short, a fixed rule for identifying perpetrators by uniform would be misleading; a description is only a valuable additional piece of information to a bigger picture. Within the MUP there are also specialized groups, namely the Special Police Unit (Posebne Jedinice Policjie - PJP) and the Special Anti-terrorist Unit (Specijalne Anti-teroristicke Jedinice - SAJ). The PJP http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch3.htm (6 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:47 AM