A RADICAL splinter group within the Kosovo Liberation Army is planning 
a spring offensive against Yugoslav forces massing near the province's 
southeastern border, where three predominantly Albanian towns within 
Serbia threaten to become the region's new flashpoint. 

Western military sources confirmed that 15 KLA insurgents and five 
Serbian policemen had been killed in recent fighting near Presevo, 
Medvedja and Bujanovac, home to 70,000 Albanians. Diplomats fear the 
incidents presage a new chapter in the Kosovo conflict that threatens to 
stretch NATO's KFOR peace force beyond its capacity 

The diplomats fear fighting could encourage KLA groups in neighboring 
Macedonia and Montenegro to take up the struggle for a greater Kosovo. 
The Albanians' desire for more bloodshed is barely concealed. The daily 
Koha Ditore newspaper reported that the "homeland calling" fund that 
raised millions of dollars for the armed struggle has been reopened to 
help KLA cells. 

Senior KLA sources have admitted that the fund - drawn mostly from the 
Albanian diaspora in America and Germany - was never closed. 

KFOR's problem is anticipating the violence. General Klaus Reinhardt, 
the force commander, has pushed thousands of reinforcements into 
Mitrovica, the most obvious point of tension, but other areas bordering 
Serbia are left exposed. 

The three contested towns are just beyond the Gnjilane zone of Kosovo, 
which is controlled by American troops. 

Western sources claim the KLA splinter group - known by its Albanian 
acronym of the UCPMB - has exploited the relatively lax security to run 
cross-border missions. 

"Eastern Kosovo and the Serbian border region is of the highest 
strategic importance," said Marcus Pucnik, an analyst with the 
International Crisis Group in Pristina. "Should events there develop as 
they did in the rest of Kosovo last year, then we will see the old 
pattern - villages burnt, expulsions and also the possibility of 
Yugoslav army shells landing near American troops. That would inevitably 
suck NATO into the fight." 

NATO sources in Brussels said KFOR aimed to "seal off" the border, and 
admitted contingency plans were being made for a fresh conflagration. 

The sources said KFOR's numbers are likely to be boosted by 7,000 to 
about 37,000 over the coming months, as the peacekeepers try to back up 
the United Nations' stated intention of "reintegrating" Kosovo. 

But tensions within KFOR are running high, with Russia accusing the UN 
of failing to protect the dwindling Serbian population in Kosovo. 

On Friday a senior Russian foreign policy adviser, Sergei Ivanov, said 
Moscow would consider withdrawing its troops if the "reverse cleansing" 
and apparent preparations for eventual independence continued. 

"We have a mass of complaints," Ivanov said. "The main one is that UN 
resolution 1244 - which confirms that Kosovo remains a constituent part 
of Yugoslavia - has absolutely not been carried out." 

For KFOR troops, the growing tension along the border adds to a gnawing 
sense of unease within the mission. Last week Belgian troops north of 
Mitrovica said they were battle-ready, but had little idea from which 
direction the trouble would come. "If there is a major problem I hope I 
would be warned," said Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe Grosdent. 

What most worries diplomats, however, is a perceived split between 
American and UN policy in Kosovo. There is a groundswell of sympathy for 
the Russian position among European diplomats. One Scandinavian official 
said yesterday: "We're opening a Pandora's box that threatens the whole 
Balkan region. 

"The UN resolution says the international community is responsible for a 
sustainable autonomy for Kosovo, but what we see today is not autonomy, 
it's independence. And there are clearly KLA, ready to fight, 
everywhere."