Fear Is The Only Constant
Even as Richard Holbrooke was making a last grab for peace, Serb forces were making war. Tanks and armor seemed to find little resistance from the lighter armed Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas. A senior Serb army officer told CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey the KLA would be "crushed within days."
That may be more bravado than reality but in the absence of both the prying eyes of international monitors and the need to meet peace terms, the Serbs are on a roll.
However, the KLA is still a danger. Tuesday the police buried 34 year-old Milivoje Mitic, one of four Serb policemen killed in a drive-by ambush while on a routine anti-crime patrol.
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Most of his village turned up for the burial. The minority Serb community in Kosovo feels deaths like this deeply.
Rather than weakening the Serbs' will to hang on in Kosovo, every killing seems to serve instead to harden their resolve and reinforce their view that the ethnic Albanians are terrorists with whom it will be impossible to make peace.
And peace is no longer on the table. Roadblocks seal off the area of conflict. Eve humanitarian aid is severely restricted. UN refugee officials estimate 25,000 ethnic Albanians have been displaced since Saturday. U.S. donated food aid is the only comfort some refugees get.
"They have not enough food, no electricity, no water, no telephones...we are all frightened. We don't know what will happen tomorrow," said ethnic Albanian teacher Idris Morina.
Fear is the one constant here. As night falls, the streets of Kosovo's towns and cities belong only to the police and those who hate them.
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