ISSUE 1416 Sunday 11 April 1999 KLA recruits leave London By Rajeev Syal Invincible sails in as UK doubles war effort MORE than 500 Albanians have left Britain after volunteering to become guerrilla fighters in the war against Serbia, according to Kosovo Liberation Army representatives in London. Men and women from Britain's 8,000-strong Albanian community have gone to Tirana, the Albanian capital, to be trained as soldiers. They are responding to a general order issued by the KLA last month asking all Albanian people from 18 to 50 to report to join the war to free Kosovo. Pleurat Sejdiu, the KLA's official representative in London, said yesterday that they had been inundated with new recruits. "We have received many requests to join the KLA from people who have heard that their friends and relatives have been killed or hurt in the conflict," he said. More than 340 volunteers have signed up to the KLA in the past three weeks. Once they have pledged themselves to the army, they are interviewed by a number of KLA representatives at a secret north London address. One volunteer, Ekrem, 34, last week pledged to fight for Kosovo - even though he has never been there - and has lived a settled, trouble-free life in Britain for four years after leaving Albania. He said that he was ready to leave his job as a mini-cab driver, his British girlfriend of two years and his home in Cricklewood, north London, for the war because his cousin, Burim, died fighting for the KLA. "I do not want to die - but if I do not go and defend my brothers, and fight for my family members who have died in battle, I cannot expect a single Nato soldier to die for Kosovo," Ekrem said. He will be sent to Tirana via Italy because the airport in the Albanian capital has been closed. Once in Italy, he will cross the Adriatic Sea by ferry and take a coach to Tirana. The volunteers are allocated to military training in camps around the Albanian capital. Ex-servicemen from the Albanian or Yugoslavian armies receive just 15 days of training. If they are without military experience they are sent away for a month's training. New soldiers are then assigned to the infantry, artillery or anti-tank units. Some are sent straight to the front to fight. The KLA claims that it has turned away hundreds of other volunteers because it is sticking to its strict policy of only allowing Albanians to join the army. More than 300 non-Albanians, many of whom are British-based Muslims or former British servicemen, have asked if they can fight in Kosovo. They have been turned away because the KLA does not want to be accused by Serb propogandists of running an Islamic movement or an army of foreigners. More than 30,000 members of the KLA have died since it was formed in 1996. Yesterday, clashes resumed along the Kosovo-Albanian border between the KLA and Serb military forces, according to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 10 April 1999: [International] Young men flock to join KLA fighters 2 April 1999: [International] KLA faces collapse as men and guns run out [ Front Page | UK News | International News | City | Sport | Features | Reviews | Search | Feedback | Alex | Site Plan | Daily Index | Weather | Crossword | Matt | Travel | Books | Technology | Students | Schools | Opinions | Classifieds | Appointments ] © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1999. Terms & Conditions of reading. Commercial information.