Exile with a passion for his native Kosovo

From his chip shop on Dublin's north side, he puts the KLA case

From his chip shop on Dublin's north side, he puts the KLA case. For 10 years Mr Ismet Bajgora has lived and worked in Ireland.

This Kosovar has an Irish girlfriend, two Irish children, many Irish friends and even a curious "take" on the Dublin accent, but a good proportion of his passion remains for the `liberation struggle' in his native Kosovo.

He is in regular contact with the Kosovo Liberation Army and is certain that it should remain in place.

"The KLA shouldn't give up arms. There will be a long period of finding out what exactly happened, what the Serbs did. It is too soon to talk of taking away the Kosovo's protection."

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He says the KLA will be the Kosovan police force eventually, so why would there be a rush to disarm them, he asks.

Ismet came to Ireland when he was 20 - "forced to leave by the Serbian police".

"I was a student and involved in agitation," he explains. "I have settled very well into Ireland. I love it here and I have to say the Irish are very similar to the Kosovans. We too are very relaxed, enjoy a good time and meeting up for a few drinks of tea or coffee.

"I would drink a bit of alcohol sometimes, but you would never see me drunk. I don't mind the way the Irish drink a lot, but I do think the women drink too much. My girlfriend used to drink quite a lot, but we can't afford to anymore, can't afford the hangovers!"

Since he arrived he has raised the funds to run his own take-away, "by working 18 hours a day".

He would like to undertake studies when he is better established and perhaps have staff to run the take-away.

He has been all over Ireland with his girlfriend Barbara and the kids and is particularly fond of Co Mayo, he says. "I don't know why. She prefers it." In the past month he has been to Poland to visit his father and to Holland to see his sister. Both fled Kosovo when the war began. His mother is still in Pristina and he talks to her on the phone.

"She is alive and I am happy. But the things they went through, you wouldn't want to hear. I wouldn't want to speak of them. You know you hear awful things but when your family has seen them . . ."

He says he is not angry about what has happened to his country, that he has been affected more by a sense of helplessness.

"I like doing the things anyone here does - go to the movies, maybe into a few pubs and dancing. But not since the war began. I wouldn't have felt comfortable dancing when I didn't know what has happening to my family, where my family was.

"Now that the war is over we will keep in contact with what is happening in Kosovo. We welcome NATO entering the country, but Kosovo will eventually be ruled by the Kosovars of course.

"There will be elections and we will begin to build our country again. Of course I want to do what I can from here to support the people, and the KLA while they are doing that."

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland is Social Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times