Support is growing for violent Albanian struggle, in the light of the massacre at Drenica. There the Serbs massacred 41 ethnic Albanians, claiming they were searching for members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The village was tear-gassed, the houses shelled to pieces. The survivors deny that there were any gunmen in the compound. The village is only 500m from a Serb police base, an unlikely Place to set up a guerrilla camp. Now 60 refugees spend each night in the schoolhouse, as Serb choppers circle overhead. It was meant as a warning to the Albanians against armed resistance to Serb rule. In fact it’s had the opposite effect, galvanising the Albanians behind a direct challenge to Serb domination. Adem Demaci, the ‘Nelson Mandela of Kosovo’, who spent 28 years in prison campaigning for Albanian independence, says Albanian violence is in self defence. A diplomatic solution seems impossible with even the moderate Albanian leadership insisting on independence in Kosovo, an outcome that the Serbs and the international community show no sign of accepting.

Produced by ABC Australia