July 4, 1999
Web posted at: 9:14 PM EDT (0114 GMT)
 

GNJILANE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Ethnic Albanians covered a wall with red, white and blue slogans Sunday, celebrating an American holiday to show their gratitude to the U.S. peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo.

In some parts of southern Kosovo, ethnic Albanians played volleyball and ate barbecue with U.S. Marines and soldiers. But in the southern base town of Gnjilane, Marines planned a quiet picnic of hot dogs and hamburgers in their camps, saying mingling with Albanians might alienate Serbs with whom they also have to work.

"All the people out there celebrating the Fourth of July will be Albanian," said Staff Sgt. Lance Waring of Surf City, N.C., standing outside the sandbagged city hall in Gnjilane.

At any rate, added Staff Sgt. Dwight Jones, it might be a bit early for a party. Much of Kosovo remains a dangerous place, with Albanian-Serb attacks continuing and land mines threatening returning refugees.

"We basically have a mission, a job to do here," said Jones, of Brownsville, Tenn. "You don't celebrate until everything is done."

Since arriving in Kosovo last month, members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit have killed one Serb in Gnjilane and another in nearby Zegra after coming under fire, heightening tension in a region already bitterly divided by ethnic conflict.

The U.S. forces are part of a NATO-led team sent to oversee the return of refugees and back up a U.N.-led civilian administration for the Serbian province.

Many Kosovo Albanians see the peacekeepers as their saviors after their community suffered brutal repression at the hands of the Serbs. Serb forces had to retreat under a U.N. agreement that saw the arrival of NATO peacekeepers.

"At last the Serbs are gone," Besnik Selimi said, pausing from painting a wall along the main road leading into Gnjilane. He and friends from the neighborhood were slowly covering the wall with American flags, Marine shields and heartfelt, if misspelled, slogans:

"Klinton, you are king of the world!"

In Camp Bondsteel just outside Gnjilane, Army soldiers sat down with former Sen. Bob Dole for a barbecue of steaks, ribs and chicken in a tent decorated with stars-and-stripes bunting.

Dole heaped his plate and sat at a picnic table with several young soldiers. "I believe independence is going to happen here," he said. "There's been conflict ... now there's hope."

Capt. Brian Linvill of Clemson, S.C., who as headquarters commandant is something akin to Camp Bondsteel's mayor, acknowledged the pork ribs were unusual in a largely Muslim province. But he said he wanted an all-American menu, and no Kosovo Albanians were on hand to be offended.

No fireworks -- which could easily be confused with gunfire or bomb explosions -- were planned, he said.

"We don't want to make the locals nervous. We came here as peacekeepers, not as noisemakers."