^{May 30, 2001}

he message over the loudspeaker echoed in the hills of southern Serbia on Thursday and soon after, the guerrillas began to arrive in bunches. "Attention! Attention!" the voice speaking ethnic Albanian bellowed. "Yugoslav forces will be entering into the Ground Safety Zone soon! Do not continue a hopeless fight. You cannot win against such odds!"

Minutes later, ethnic Albanian rebel fighters, some of them not much older than 17, dropped their weapons and walked across the border into Kosovo. They looked tired, dirty and defeated. "It's over," one man said. "We quit."

In the span of an hour, 18 rebels turned themselves in to U.S. soldiers Thursday, taking advantage of NATO's offer of amnesty to those who lay down their arms and surrender. Thirteen more would give up by the end of the day. By 2 p.m. Friday, 66 had given themselves up at military checkpoints.

Since the top commander in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Thorstein Skiaker of Norway, announced the controversial deal to guerrillas battling Yugoslav forces in Serbia's Presevo Valley, almost 200 rebels have given themselves up, the Army reported.

U.S. soldiers hope for more in the days leading up to the elimination of a buffer zone between Kosovo and Serbia on Thursday. If that happens, it will be a sign that support for a large offensive within the rebel ranks has whittled away.

Army psychological operations soldiers are blasting four scripted messages from a speaker atop of a Humvee to help convince more rebels to give up. They also are handing out leaflets to suspected members of the Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, more commonly known as the UCPMB.

It's part of a campaign by NATO and Belgrade to avoid a bloodbath when Yugoslav forces enter the last part of the 3-mile-wide buffer. Ethnic Albanian guerrillas have used the area as a safe haven because Yugoslav security officers and NATO's Kosovo force, KFOR, could not enter.

The soldiers, with the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, also are distributing pamphlets written in ethnic Albanian and English. One shows a photo of peacekeepers releasing UCPMB members at a military checkpoint. It reminds them they could leave the Presevo Valley without penalty until Yugoslav forces retake the buffer zone.

"There is still time ... Join your fellow soldiers," the leaflet says.Another leaflet shows a picture of a hooded rebel in the woods with a rifle. It asks: "Aren't you tired of it all? Lack of food, equipment and sleep. Walking through snow and rain, up and down the mountains. Watching your friends get wounded or killed ..."

Peacekeepers at an Army Outpost called Terminator hope the message reaches those fighting across the border. "They seem to be getting the point across," Staff Sgt. Ted Moyer said.

The rebels arrived on foot and by taxi. Most wore civilian clothes with their military uniforms stuffed in duffel bags. Soldiers herded them into an old feeding barn that was converted into a makeshift jail two weeks ago using fencing and barbed wire. The men were screened, photographed and questioned by soldiers before being released. Only two of them were detained because they are suspected of committing "serious crimes."

As soldiers interviewed one group of suspected rebels Thursday, another group entered the checkpoint. "Here comes four more," 1st Lt. Tony Leibert said. "Gate! You got more."

The men said they lived in Kosovo and crossed the border to join the UCPMB in their fight for control of the Presevo Valley. The mother of one rebel greeted her son at the checkpoint, where she had been waiting. She said she had not seen her son in five months.

A few of the men admitted they feared Yugoslav forces would kill them if they found them. One of the rebels said he had not slept in two days. During questioning, another told soldiers their commander ordered them to throw their weapons into the woods and surrender. "I think they're done," Leibert said.

The men who turned themselves in Thursday didn't resist peacekeepers. The door to the barn jail at the border checkpoint didn't have a lock, and rebels went in and out, closing the gate behind them. Soldiers gave them water and milk. The only complaint by rebels was the stench inside the feed stable. "Like animals," one of the men said when asked how soldiers treated him.

Lt. Ryan Bromenschenkel, an intelligence officer with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, predicted more would follow. Fighting between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Yugoslav forces has intensified in the past month, but he said a good portion of the rebel force is poorly trained. "Everybody wanted to play soldier," he said. "But as soon as the bullets started flying, they changed their mind."

Time will tell whether the men who turned themselves in will return to the Presevo Valley and fight again. Although the insurgents signed a form stating they would not go back, critics of the amnesty deal said the extremists could resume fighting at a later date.

The UCPMB have used the buffer zone to cross in and out of Kosovo for the past 16 months. Some rebel factions have peacefully settled with Yugoslav soldiers in portions of the buffer zone opened earlier this year. But the 22-mile stretch known as Sector B is the most contentious, and rebel commanders in the north and south sections are considered radical and ruthless.

On Wednesday, soldiers at this same checkpoint seized a truckload of weapons, including 175 rocket-propelled grenades, destined for the militants. "I'm sure there will be some diehards," Bromenschenkel said.

But time is running out. U.S. commanders said rebel fighters are out-matched and out-gunned by Yugoslavia forces, which they consider a "professional army." They said there is little chance that the guerrillas could win. "It's suicide," one soldier said.