Editor’s note: This is the final part of the Daily’s series about the crisis in Kosovo. Today’s story focuses on the Albanian perspective of the conflict.

After more than one week of bombings and evacuations, Albanians at Iowa State shared their thoughts on the actions surrounding the crisis in Kosovo.

“I’m worried about what is happening in Kosovo with all of the killing, war and ethnic cleansing,” said Burin Ametaj, graduate student in nutritional immunology from Albania. “The situation is very ugly.”

The intensity of the conflict in Kosovo has come as a shock to Orion Ciftja, postdoctoral associate at Ames Laboratory from Albania.

“I just didn’t think things would happen so fast or at this great of a scale,” he said.

Due to Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic’s actions, Ametaj expects more conflicts in the Balkans.

“I was not surprised that fighting broke out in Kosovo,” he said. “I know how Milosevic is and have seen him fight in Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia.”

NATO’s intervention, however, has come as a relief to Albanians.

“I was very happy that some institution was doing something for the [Albanians] who were being killed or deported,” Ciftja said. “I feel deep gratitude to the U.S. and NATO.”

Both Ciftja and Ametaj believe NATO must deploy ground troops along with the airstrike campaign.

“I support NATO’s work so far,” Ametaj said. “However, I feel NATO must intensify its actions and send ground troops to really deal with this situation.”

Ciftja said he believes Milosevic is the root of the troubles in Yugoslavia.

“Milosevic wants to fully annihilate the entire Albanian population and aims to leave only Serbs in Kosovo,” he said. “It is pure genocide. By stripping the Albanians of all of their legal documents, Milosevic wants to say the Albanians never existed.”

Ametaj said he believes part of Milosevic’s plan is to destabilize the Balkans with the flood of refugees into already troubled countries.

“Many of the countries in the region are new democracies and have political and economic problems already existing before the thousands of refugees came,” he said.

Ametaj disagreed with claims that the bombings increased support for Milosevic among the Serbian people.

“Milosevic will not have much long-term support because the Serbs will soon feel economic troubles due to the bombings and no one working to support the economy,” he said.

Ametaj described examples of the atrocities committed by Serbs to the Albanians, as related to him by his relatives and the media.

“Twenty teachers were shot in front of their students,” Ametaj said. “Also, Serbs will use trucks loaded with ammunition to explode houses of Albanians and blame it on NATO bombs.”

Reports of mass executions are alarming Ciftja.

“I’ve heard of the mass execution of men after being separated from their families to cut resistance from the Albanians,” he said. “This is a humanitarian disaster that civilized societies must not permit.”

However, Ametaj said he is critical of Russian Prime Minister Yevgeney Primakov’s attempts to bring peace to the region.

“[Primakov] asked for reduced Serbian forces and an end to NATO bombing,” he said. “This is not a solution and has no significant effect on the situation.”

The war in the Balkans will not end quickly or without more action from NATO, Ametaj said.

“Although I hope [the conflict] will end soon, I don’t think Milosevic will withdraw until he is defeated,” he said. “NATO must introduce ground troops or the fighting will continue and possibly extend into Montenegro.”