29.6.2004
A Long Day
“The overall situation in Kosovo is considered normal, to judge by regular reports, without any serious problems,” the Commander of the contingent, Colonel Aleš Opata, told us in acquainting us with the conditions in the area of responsibility of the 2nd Czech-Slovak Battalion in the KFOR operation.
“The situation is similar, that is, relatively calm, along the provincial Serbian-Kosovo border. For that reason, the KFOR units are primarily dealing with local matters and help the local police and UNMIK, the international police, to expose serious criminal activities and they participate in the struggle against organised crime.”
Rapid Arousal
The evening meeting with the Commander of the 2nd Czech-Slovak Battalion of KFOR, Lieutenant Colonel Petr Procházka, finished. A few minutes later we discovered that in the early hours of the following day a group of soldiers would be leaving the Sajkovac base for a search operation. “If you are interested, you can come with us,” was the surprising and tempting offer from First Lieutenant Pavel Löfler, the press spokesman. “But you will have to get up in the dark.” It is a few minutes after five, and the base resounds with the thudding of boots, vehicles being started and clear orders from the Commander. Quickly we get up and pack whatever we may need. In the end we are the only ones from the Sajkovac base, since soldiers from the Gazala base, members of the company of Captain Miloš Zrubec, are taking part in the search operation.
As we drive through the Kosovo villages and along the road it is clear that everybody is still asleep. Not a soul anywhere, only a stray dog barks here and there. No wonder, who would want to get up in the cold. Minus ten degrees is not exactly pleasant. At Gazala everything is ready. Some forty-five soldiers are lined up in the lit-up hangar. All have bullet-proof vests, are fully armed and by the marking it is clear that members of the Military Police, medical staff and members of the EOD team are participating in the operation. All that remains to be done is check the calling codes and tune the walkie-talkies between vehicles.
At this point we are told by our guide, the press spokesman, where we are going and what is the aim of this action, which had always been kept secret from us before. “Many people close to the border still have weapons in their possession without proper permit. On the basis of certain information and patrolling there is the suspicion that there are illegally kept weapons in the buildings that the soldiers will be checking in the village of Donja Dubnica.”
It was still dark when the motorcade reached the edge of the village along a field lane. The Tatras and Land Rovers line up on the meadow and before we had time to alight, the target houses were surrounded by the Czech soldiers. Silhouettes of soldiers could be seen in the garden, by each barn, woodshed and below every window, and the entire surrounding was tightly closed. “We also have a check-point along the road. Nobody is allowed in, and nobody may go out,” Sergeant 1st Class Milan Hejtmánek, the Commander of the operation, briefly explained the situation. He is a person who has plenty of experience with operations of this kind.
“Open up, we are soldiers of the KFOR units!” The words of the Commander are accompanied by knocking, or rather, loud pounding. Slowly lights come on in the windows, and a man of about forty-five years appears in the door, evidently drowsy and surprised. Before he comes to fully, the Commander and the interpreter tell him the aim of the action, the suspicion of illegally kept arms and his rights. Then follows a rapid search of the entire premises. When it is over, we are told by Milan Hejtmánek what the exact procedure is. “Everything follows standard procedure. First we assemble all persons, that is even women and children, in one room, then we naturally repeat the question as to whether there are weapons on the premises. That is followed by a search of all rooms.” According to the Commander of the operation, as a rule many local inhabitants remember some gun or pistol, particularly at the moment when they are told that specially trained dogs will be searching the house. The action is very thorough as shown by the personal search of everybody present, including women and children. Even babies have to have their diapers removed under the supervision of a nurse. Weapons and cartridges can be hidden everywhere. In the meantime the members of the inner cordon search cupboard after cupboard, shelf after shelf in the presence of the owner of the house and one other person to ensure that nobody should be able to accuse the soldiers of placing there weapons they have brought or of damaging or stealing property. Their colleagues in the outer cordon check the well, stables, woodsheds, using special points to search stacks of straw. Even the cesspool is given attention. In the meantime two of the soldiers measure the size of the garden and the outside walls of the house. “We have to record everything in the protocol,” one of the soldiers explains and asked why they measure the house, replies quickly: “We measure also the inside, then we compare the two, and find out whether there are not double walls or hidden rooms, where the weapons might be.”
“Weapon!” a clear voice inside the house. The owner recollected that there was a weapon and brought a Simonov rifle. “It is quite normal here that they remember, but we have to go on searching, it might only be an endeavour to distract our attention,” is the Commander’s explanation why the action continues. Then cartridges are found. The situation is no different in the neighbouring house. There, for a change, they had a Mauser rifle. They tried to appease the Czech soldiers with some documents, but they were unlucky. “Valid documents for weaponry look different,” the spokesman of the unit explains for us the uncompromising attitude of the members of the search team. “They always try to drag out some rags of paper, but there already exists a precise system of records, and our boys know what is and what is not valid. The rest is a job for the local and international police.” The latter took away the two rifles and, as we learnt later, arrested and interrogated the two owners.
Two houses, two rifles. Success? “This time it was basically a matter of random selection of buildings in the proximity of the provincial border,” explains Captain Zrubec, the Commander of the company, in speaking of the result of the operation. Then he added: “It could be assumed that in all likelihood we would find something in that locality.”
It is around ten o’clock in the morning and we are returning to base. Only now does First Lieutenant Löfler reveal that, a few hours before the arrival of the whole group, other Czech soldiers had been on patrol in the vicinity. They spent almost the whole night there, in the cold, without moving, hidden behind a bush or in a hollow in the ground. “We watched movement in the houses. If people had left, for instance to go to work, before our arrival, we would have stopped the entire action. Why divulge that something is about to happen and find the houses empty. We would have put it off.”
What the night showed...
Originally we wanted to go to bed earlier and catch up on what we missed in the morning, But we gave preference to the chance of being able to participate in another action, which is part of the work of the Czech soldiers patrolling the operational sector entrusted to them in the Podujevo area of Kosovo. “On 15 January we took over this sector from the British. Since that moment we have been carrying out patrols in Podujevo itself, directly in the town,” said Captain Jiří Adamec, Commander of the reconnaissance company, in explaining the situation to us. “The aim of these operations is to demonstrate the presence of KFOR units in this locality and stop the local inhabitants carrying illegal weapons and trafficking in drugs and the like. For that reason we check selected buildings at night, including night clubs, bars, and passing vehicles.”
It is far from easy to imagine how, at night, the Czech soldiers check on bars where the atmosphere might grow pretty tense when the soldiers with KFOR badges on their uniforms – moreover wearing bullet-proof vests and with submachine-guns over their shoulders – enter. Incidents might not be far to seek. Just you try and check someone’s identity papers before midnight, in a smoke-filled room, where the tables are bent under glasses full of alcohol and where ten to twelve well-built fellows are standing at the bar. “The members of the patrol know exactly how to proceed, and it is to their advantage that with them is always a member of the local police and an interpreter. In case they find a person they are looking for, they simply check on him and refer everything to the given authorities. It is not their business to make arrests, the purpose is to demonstrate our presence and to show that we know of places where illegal business is done,” the Commander of the company provides information before we leave.
While back at home in the Czech Republic most adults sit down to watch television, and get up-to-date information from home and abroad, five fully armed members of the 2nd Czech-Slovak Battalion leave the Sajkovac base for a “routine” night patrol in Podujevo. It is up to them how many vehicles and persons they check, depending on the situation and the correct appraisal of the atmosphere. They make use of experience gained during joint patrols with the British, who had the locality under perfect surveyance gained during preceding months and years, and of knowledge derived from previous missions. Most of the soldiers from the Chrudim battalion, who are now working in Kosovo, have taken part in several other peacekeeping missions. Remember Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia, where the “Chrudim guys”, under the command of then still Captain Oldřich Nápravník and First Lieutenant Jiří Adamec, were the first to appear on the airport in Skopje. Yes, you remember correctly. All media at that time announced “The Czechs were there first”.
It was almost dark at half past seven, and the Czech soldiers, accompanied by three members of the local Kosovo police, set out on a joint patrol. The Commander of the group decides on the route. By stages we go through the local marketplace, where planks vaguely resembling tables project into the street from the pavement. A few hours earlier they were packed with vegetables, and a variety of other goods, ranging from cigarettes to car radios and cosmetics. We turn into the side street, and the Commander gives a signal. The members of the patrol spread out and stop the first vehicle. It is clear that the driver is not exactly pleased. He has no choice but to get out of the car, show his papers and open the boot. “The local inhabitants know that we can check on them, but, as you can understand, who wants to show identity papers and get out of a heated car,” the Commander explains the powers of the patrol members. He writes down the number of the vehicle and details about the driver. Everything in complete calm. One of the soldiers lifts up the spare tyre. “O.K.” The Commander says a word of thanks. The members of the local police had no reason to interfere, and the interpreter was not needed. The Czech soldiers are able to communicate in Albanian in a few basic sentences.
We stop at the next corner. According to signs, bright lights in the windows and the sounds of loud music heard even in the street we are close to a night bar. We climb the steps. One soldier remains outside, another stands by the door inside, and the Commander and members of the local police go to the bar. It is surprising that nobody is upset by the presence of armed soldiers, and the barman discusses with the Commander in lively and, to judge by his face, friendly manner. A short while later we leave one of the Podujevo night bars.
The patrol has a long night ahead, and many other bars, streets, checks on vehicles. Closing time in Podujevo is exactly at midnight. Then the Czech soldiers of the 2nd Czech-Slovak KFOR Battalion can end their night patrol, write up a report on the last vehicle or person they checked and go back to base.