Kosovars to take blockade question to followers

ORAHOVAC, Yugoslavia - Leaders of the ethnic Albanians who are blocking Russian peacekeepers from entering their town refused to end their blockade today, but they agreed to ask their followers whether they are willing to back down.

''The generals wanted to make us accept a compromise but we are not in the market to trade,'' local Kosovo Liberation Army commander Ismet Tara told reporters after meeting for a second day with German, Russian and Dutch officers. ''We don't have any mandate from the people to do that.''

Tara said protest leaders would talk to the townspeople of Orahovac but ''if the will of the people is not respected, the situation will become very tense.''

There was no sign, however, that the local ethnic Albanians were prepared to give up the standoff, despite the fierce heat and strong international pressure.

Ethnic Albanians have been blocking the roads with trucks, tractors, cars and buses since Monday, when Russian troops tried to enter Orahovac to take over positions from Dutch peacekeepers.

Local ethnic Albanians objected, saying Russian mercenaries fought alongside Serbs during the 18-month crackdown that ended with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepting a Kosovo peace plan.

''We will stay here until the Russians grow tired of insisting and give up,'' said Ismet Bugari, 53, one of several thousand townspeople manning the barricades Tuesday in 95 degree heat. ''Anything is better than having the criminals in our town.''

Russian Gen. Vadim Andreev appeared to confirm the allegations of Russian mercenaries. But, he said, ''we are a professional army. They were bandits.''

That distinction meant little to the ethnic Albanians.

''People cannot tell the difference between mercenaries and soldiers because they all wore the same uniform, had the same weapons, spoke the same language and came from the same place,'' said a protest leader, Agim Hasku.

Ethnic Albanians around Kosovo trust NATO more than Russians to keep the peace. But Kosovo's dwindling Serb population trusts Russians their fellow Slavs more than NATO to protect them from ethnic Albanians seeking revenge for atrocities committed under Milosevic's crackdown.

German Gen. Wolfgang Sauer said the Russians will not try to force their way into town unless they get word from the Germans to do so. Orahovac is located in the German sector of Kosovo.

In Washington, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said he was confident the situation would be resolved with the Russians operating in Orahovac.

''The fact is that we believe that Russian troops will act evenhandedly, they will fulfill their mandate in Orahovac, just as they have done elsewhere in Kosovo,'' deputy spokesman James B. Foley said.

In Pristina, meanwhile, a joint Serb-ethnic Albanian council formed to advise the U.N. mission held another meeting and for the first time both Ibrahim Rugova, the pacifist leader, and his rival, Kosovo Liberation Army leader Hashim Thaci, were present.

Both Thaci and Rugova claim leadership of Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanian community.

Serbs on the council proposed the creation of five separate Serb enclaves in Kosovo where Serbs could be better protected against ethnic Albanian militants. Most of the 200,000 prewar Serb population has already left the province.

However, ethnic Albanians on the council refused to consider they idea, which they view as the first step toward ethnic partition of the province.