It was quite credible he said yesterday because I was with Bajram Kelmendi [the human-rights

"It was quite credible," he said yesterday, "because I was with Bajram Kelmendi [the human-rights lawyer] until 5pm on the day he was killed with his two sons. The Independent's obituary described him as "well- read, cosmopolitan and shrewd". Every journalist and diplomat who visited Pristina called on Baton Haxhiu, because he was (and is) among the best- informed and most acute analysts of the territory's tragic affairs. Mr Haxhiu's international reputation contributed to the shock felt when it was claimed that he had been murdered by the Serbian security forces. I was very worried about how they would feel." It is a good thing that the 32-year-old editor of the Koha Ditore (Daily Times) newspaper - one of the most prominent and respected Albanian journalists in Kosovo - has a dry sense of humour.

"I HEARD of my death on the radio while I was hiding for five days in a basement in Pristina," Baton Haxhiu said in London yesterday, "and I couldn't tell anyone it wasn't true - not my wife, not my child, not my parents. Since then, the money from the diaspora has been re-routed to the KLA.. Most of their leaders have left Kosovo or, as in Rugova's case, have been captured by the Serb forces The LDK is... no longer a player."The new government is demanding control of the funds collected by the former prime minister-in-exile, Bujar Bukoshi, over the past 10 years. Since 1991, when Mr Rugova's party formed an underground government for Kosovo, it has financed itself via a levy on Kosovo Albanians abroad. Every Kosovo Albanian was expected to donate 3 per cent of his or her income to finance the government, and about $300m (pounds 190m) was raised, much of which remains under Mr Bukoshi's control.Following the outbreak of large-scale fighting, the KLA set up its own fund, The Homeland Calls.

I want to defend my nation."The captain said the KLA was giving recruits two months' training. It was also breaking with Albanian society's conservative instincts by recruiting women. "My 19-year-old daughter will fight," he said.Kosovo's new government in exile contains six KLA representatives, in control of all the key posts, including finance, public order and defence. Only one post, that of deputy prime minister, was left for supporters of Ibrahim Rugova, the discredited Kosovo leader who was captured by the Serbs at the start of Nato action and who has been paraded twice on Serbian television.Mr Krasniqi said: "The LDK [Rugova's party] is currently inactive.