I am not in the mood to die,“ a soldier of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) said. In shattered villages near the central Kosovo town of Malisevo, soldiers in NATO‘s KFOR peace force in the province have only had time to identify minefields, not to clear them. Reuters reporters who visited the area this week met members of the British charity Halo Trust which clears mines in trouble spots around the world and is planning to join forces with the guerrilla KLA to try to make the area safe. For now, KLA forces who operated in the area during their fight for independence from Belgrade have started clearing the area themselves instead of waiting for NATO soldiers to help. „When the refugees come back, children might chase cows and we cannot control them,“ one soldier said. Halo has begun its work by interviewing local people to try to identify mines which have already killed or wounded several civilians in Kosovo since the conflict officially ended. A red rag tied to a fence post is all that warns people away from the picturesque country lane where the cow‘s legs were apparently blown off by one of the variety of mines used by the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Six cylindrical anti-personnel mines were lined up on the porch of a nearby house the KLA are using as a base — a sign of the work the rebel army is doing to make the area safe. When a human being touches a booby trap wire stretched between such mines at knee, chest or shoulder level, they are blown off their feet and hit by flying chunks of shrapnel. Kosovo is riddled with booby traps and mines left as a parting gift by retreating Serbs, other mines planted by KLA forces and unexploded NATO bombs. Like KFOR, the KLA is worried about returning ethnic Albanian refugees wandering into minefields while foraging for wood to rebuild their houses. Even once the live munitions are cleared, NATO will find it difficult to disarm all KLA forces as they are too accustomed to Serb attack to believe the war is over for good. Though their leaders have promised to hand over arms, KLA soldiers in this rural area which was once one of their stronghold are holding on to some supplies just in case. Evidence of the damage they could do were seen nearby. While Serbian security forces operated in the area freely by day during NATO‘s bombing campaign, KLA soldiers ventured down from the mountains at night to mine a main road. A wrecked Serb tank lay on a verge opposite a car blown onto its roof by another KLA mine.