KOSOVO exile Kemajl Avdiu has told of his fears for the safety of his family facing the threat of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavian province.

Footballer Kemajl, who joined Bury FC this season, told the Bury Times: "Phoning home is a lottery. I was unable to get through for a month.

"But on Monday I did manage to speak to my aunt in Pristina. My family fear for their lives but they all support the NATO bombing.

"I think that if people know the whole story about what is going on, and if they have a little heart, they will support the bombing too."

Kemajl (22), lived in the Balkans until he was 12 when he went to live in Sweden with his parents and two sisters. He now holds Swedish citizenship but says he feels deeply affected by the humanitarian disaster worsening daily in his homeland.

Kemajl, who has spent hours watching the crisis unfold on television, explained that there was trouble in Kosovo long before he left in 1988.

"My mother was having problems because the police knew she was helping people injured during demonstrations. I know many of the people who died.

"We left not because Sweden or England is better than Kosovo; nothing is better than your own country. Everyone should have a home, but we had to lose it and start again in another country. "I hope my mother and father will go back there when they retire. They are Kosovo Albanian. I think they will go back."

Kemajl said his relations in Kosovo were very afraid to go out, not because of the NATO bombing but because they fear the Serb aggressors killing them.

"They say they don't care if NATO makes a mistake and houses are bombed, because at least they are trying to help. All my life I have been waiting for NATO to come and help us.

"The army and police are telling people to leave their home city or die. Many of them are just disappearing. No one knows where they are.

"The Kosovo Liberation Army is only a very small army. There are many people who would fight but there are not enough weapons. There is no point facing guns with only knives."

Bury FC boss Neil Warnock signed "Kemo" - as he has been nicknamed - from Danish side Esberg iFC. He has been disappointed not to get more first team opportunities but says the tragedy in his birthplace has kept his footballing problems very much in perspective.

Kemajl, who is fluent in several European languages - including English - added: "We have a large squad of good players at Bury. I need time coming from a different country. Football is different in England."

And yesterday, as Kemajl headed north to get more experience during a loan spell with Scottish Second Division side Partick Thistle, he said he hoped to return to Bury to continue his football career. But for now, Kosovo is the only thing on his mind.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.