FOR NEARLY HIS ENTIRE LIFE, DERVIS AUDAJA, 54, LIVED ON THE SAME BLOCK in the Kosovo city of Pec, developing close friendships with his neighbors, a mix of ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Now all that is gone forever. Early last week Serb paramilitary units drove into his neighborhood, went to the door of every Albanian home and gave the residents 10 minutes to pack their belongings and go to the Korza, the city's main square. From there most of the crowd of 15,000 were herded into the local sports stadium, where they spent the night in silent fear, half expecting to be mowed down in a mass execution or placed in the way of nato bombs.

The next morning, the Serb police told the Albanians they could go home safely. But by then most of their houses were in flames. Audaja's home was already ashes; still, he was determined to stay in Pec. He moved in with relatives next door and asked his Serb neighbors for protection. "I asked them, 'What have I ever done in 50 years that would make you burn my house?' They told me it was outsiders." But by Tuesday, more Albanian homes were burning, and Serb soldiers, acting under the orders of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, lined the hills surrounding the neighborhood. Audaja, his trust shattered and his possessions gone, put his paralyzed daughter into a wheelchair. He pushed his daughter for 13 hours before a truck stopped to offer them a ride.

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