Clashes shatter Macedonia peace Posted May 22, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1341000/1341688.stm
Monday, 21 May, 2001, 19:26 GMT 20:26 UK
Clashes shatter Macedonia peace
Macedonian troops - first clashes in five days Ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian forces have clashed once again in one of the heaviest exchanges since the upsurge of violence in the region.
A five-day lull in fighting ended as the Macedonian army launched artillery, tank and helicopter attacks on Albanian-held villages, saying they were responding to rebel shooting.
The clashes came as ethnic Albanian guerrillas in southern Serbia signed an agreement to disarm and disband.
Western diplomats had been negotiating the deal designed to stem a potential flood of reinforcements to the rebels in northern Macedonia.
Violence resumes
The Macedonian forces launched an artillery attack on the villages of Slupcane and Vaksince in response to an hour of rebel sniper and machine gun fire, a military spokesman said.
Reports from the area said flashes of gunfire were visible from buildings across the village, as high explosive shells detonated with orange and grey plumes of dust and smoke.
The minaret of the Vaksince mosque was reportedly demolished.
Later, in the nearby village of Opare, the army launched attacks using helicopter gunships and tanks, which were met by machinegun fire from the rebels.
Army spokesman Blagoja Markovski said he thought the rebels had used the break in the fighting to regroup and take up new positions.
These were the first major clashes since Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski suspended military action last Thursday under heavy international pressure, despite the rebels' failure to heed a deadline to lay down their weapons and withdraw.
Other rebels 'disarm'
Across the border in Yugoslavia, the UCPMB - the ethnic Albanian rebel group based in the Presevo Valley - signed a Nato-mediated agreement to disarm.
"The UCPMB will be demilitarised, demobilised, and disbanded by no later than 31 May 2001, with the help of the international community," said the Declaration on Demilitarisation, cited by Reuters news agency.
The Yugoslav Government had given the rebels until Thursday to withdraw from the Presevo Valley.
Then its troops will move into the last parts of a buffer zone created by Nato peacekeepers on the Serbian side of the Kosovo boundary, which takes in the Presevo Valley.
Diplomatic efforts
The buffer zone was originally intended as a demilitarised strip of land aimed at keeping Yugoslav forces away from Kosovo.
But ethnic Albanian rebels in southern Serbia succeeded in using it as a base from which to launch attacks against Serbian forces - prompting Nato to decide to allow Yugoslav forces back into the zone.
Some of these rebels have taken advantage of an amnesty declared by Nato peacekeepers to withdraw to Kosovo.
However, there is concern that some of these rebels may join those fighting against the Macedonian forces.
The BBC's Jonathan Charles said British officials had intercepted messages from guerrilla commanders suggesting that 1,000 extra men could be transferred to the Macedonia conflict after their withdrawal from the Presevo Valley.
But the BBC's south-east Europe analyst says that, given current constraints on their movements, it is unlikely that these rebels would make a major contribution to the group in Macedonia.
Macedonian troops have stepped up border patrols, and Nato has been sharing intelligence with the Macedonian Government.
Diplomats fear that the rebels in northern Macedonia would try to expand the number of villages under their control if they received reinforcements.
Ethnic Albanian rebels give up in Serbia, battered in Macedonia Posted May 22, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010522/1/prv1.html
Tuesday May 22, 11:02 AM
Ethnic Albanian rebels give up in Serbia, battered in Macedonia
BUJANOVAC, Yugoslavia, May 22 (AFP) -
Ethnic Albanian guerrillas have agreed to abandon their separatist struggle in southern Serbia, but their comrades in nearby Macedonia have not given up the fight for "liberation".
Serbia's victory over the rebel threat came Monday thanks to a deal struck with the rebels to boost minority rights and offer the fighters an amnesty, but Skopje was in no mood for compromise as it bombarded rebel-held villages.
In the southern Serbian village of Konculj, rebel leader Shefqet Musliu, signed a statement reading: "The Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB) hereby commits itself to fully demilitarise, demobilise, disarm and disband".
However the picture was very different in neighbouring Macedonia where government forces used artillery, tanks and helicopters to pound ethnic Albanian guerrilla positions on Monday in a renewed round of fighting that sparked fears for the safety of thousands of civilians trapped in the area.
The rebels in Macedonia control a large swathe of territory in which Red Cross officials estimate 10,000 civilians are trapped by the fighting.
Defence ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov said the army was responding to "provocations" from the rebels, who had attacked government forces with heavy machine guns, mortars and anti-aircraft cannon.
Both the LAPMB and the Macedonian rebel forces were formed by veterans of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The neighbouring breakaway Yugoslav region of Kosovo, currently under UN control, is predominantly ethnic Albanian.
The LAPMB arrived on the scene in southern Serbia in January last year when a group of former KLA members set up camp in Dobrosin, a village in a three-mile (five-kilometre) wide buffer zone separating Kosovo from the rest of Serbia.
There was another encouraging sign for peace in southern Serbia late Monday when Yugoslav forces arrested a diehard rebel commander, Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic announced.
Troops arrested Muhamet Xhemaili as he tried to slip into Kosovo, Covic told Belgrade's B-92 radio.
Xhemaili led the diehard Car group of the rebel LAPMB, and had belatedly ordered his guerrillas to lay down their weapons, after first refusing to accept the peace deal.
Xhemaili's rebels controlled the last area of a demilitarized buffer zone along the Kosovo border where Yugoslav troops are to redeploy Thursday.
Covic said that his arrest meant "the conditions are now in place for all the extremists in the region to hand over their weapons."
The rebel's statement agreeing to put down their arms was witnessed by NATO envoys, who have guaranteed that any rebel fighters who hand themselves in to international peacekeepers guarding the Kosovo frontier will be pardoned and allowed to go free.
More than 240 rebels have already done so, and many more are expected to follow before the end of the amnesty on Thursday, NATO officials said.
The deal is seen by western diplomats as a victory for Serbia's new policy of reducing ethnic tensions by involving Albanians in the political process and co-operating closely with its former enemies in NATO and the West to isolate extremists.
It will also serve to further isolate the ethnic Albanian militants fighting in Macedonia and boost Belgrade's democratic credentials in the debate over the future of Kosovo, which has a majority ethnic Albanian population, western officials said.
"We have achieved our goal to resolve the crisis in the most peaceful way possible. The most important thing is that we have avoided clashes, victims and destruction," said Serbia's vice-Prime Minister Nebosja Covic.
"Conditions for the full reintegration of Albanians into Serbia and Yugoslavia have been achieved," he added.
NATO's envoy to southern Serbia, Pieter Feith, was also delighted at the outcome, which he said "sends a strong signal to the region as a whole, especially to the Albanian community in and around Kosovo that armed violence has no future and that it is best to pursue their political aspiration through peaceful means".
"The momentum achieved now will bring Serbia and Yugoslavia closer to NATO with the view to an early adhesion to Partnership for Peace," he said, referring to a programme set up to help former Communist states join NATO.
Macedonians grow more radical Posted May 22, 2001
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/05/21/fp6s1-csm.shtml
Macedonians grow more radical
During a lull in clashes, the president vowed on Saturday to resolve crisis "politically and militarily."
By Arie Farnam
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
SKOPJE, MACEDONIA
Sasha Sofronieski and Remzi Ramadani live on opposite sides of the troubled Macedonian capital, Skopje.
Both come from educated, middle-class families - not a traditional breeding ground for ethnic hatred - yet both fear they will end up fighting on opposing sides in a bloody street war between Macedonian Slavs and ethnic-Albanians. They used to have friends in the other community, they say, but now turn away when they meet in the street.
Mr. Sofronieski, a dentistry student, chats with friends in a cafe on the Macedonian side of town. Graffiti on a nearby wall reads, "The lion will smash the eagle!" referring to the Macedonian lion emblem and the eagle insignia of the ethnic-Albanian National Liberation Army, which launched its antigovernment campaign three months ago. "They are terrorists, trying to destroy our country," Sofronsieski says of the NLA.
"They murder our policemen, who were just young guys like me."
Across town, Mr. Ramadani, an unemployed teacher, disagrees. "The Macedonians call Albanians terrorists and separatists, but that's a lie," he says. "We have asked for equal rights peacefully in Parliament for 10 years with no results. It is only natural that we would take up arms."
Macedonia has been tense ever since it gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The country's 30 percent ethnic-Albanian minority has long campaigned for recognition as a constituent nationality of Macedonia, more state-sector jobs, and more Albanian-language schools.
In February, an NLA training camp was discovered in the northern village of Tanusevci. Since then, clashes between security forces and the rebels have radicalized opinion on both sides to the point where the country is teetering at the brink of civil war.
"A mood shift has occurred in the form of fear that violence may no longer be restricted to the 'front' in Tetovo or Kumanovo, but could become a form of random urban terror by civilians against civilians," says Eran Fraenkel of Search for Common Ground, a Washington-based NGO.
A history of bloody civilian wars in nearby Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia has induced Western diplomats to treat Macedonia's insurgency, by an estimated 600 active rebel fighters, as a major regional crisis. "We are seeing budding vigilante actions in this conflict," says Sam Vaknin, an analyst for Central European Review and United Press International. "It is latent. Civilian violence is waiting to erupt."
On April 28, the conflict escalated when eight policemen were ambushed by NLA guerrillas. Within days, dozens of Albanian shops were burned or sprayed with swastikas in the southern town of Bitola. In Skopje, armed, masked men attacked Lozana Café, a popular meeting place for Albanian intellectuals, killing one person and injuring several others.
The NLA declared a "free zone" in the northwestern Sar Mountains three weeks ago. Despite warnings it was prepared to launch a "final" assault on rebel-held towns, so far the government has shown restraint, mindful of civilians who refuse to leave the area. On Saturday, President Boris Trajkovski vowed to resolve the crisis "both politically and militarily."
Sofronieski must serve two years in the military after graduation, but this doesn't bother him. "Many guys have volunteered to join the Army," he says. "If the situation gets worse, I would have to stop studying and go to fight."
Like many Macedonians, he perceives the insurgents as a threat to the Macedonian state. "We have worked hard to develop our country economically and now these terrorists are threatening to destroy it," he says. "They have another country - Albania. We have only little Macedonia."
Across town, Ramadani says that if the conflict spreads or drags on, he will send his parents to safety in Kosovo and join the NLA. "What else can I do?" he asks, spreading his hands. "I have no work." There is an estimated 60 percent unemployment rate among ethnic Albanians, twice the rate among Macedonian Slavs.
Ramadani, despite his pedagogical training, only occasionally works as a substitute teacher or day laborer.
"Disgruntled, unemployed men are prime candidates for recruitment by extremists," says Vera Budway, a Balkan analyst at the East-West Institute in Prague, the Czech Republic. "The roots of Macedonia's problem are in economic inequality, which breeds radical nationalism."
Ramadani holds up Lobi, an Albanian magazine that pictures Hysni Shaquiri, a member of Parliament who joined the NLA in the mountains. He holds a machine gun, with the quote: "Albanians must settle their problems with a rifle." Ramandani says, "He is not a terrorist, he is a hero."
Sofronieski, for his part, displays a Macedonian-language newspaper with gruesome pictures of the scene where the eight Macedonian police were killed. "These were human victims," he says. "The Albanians aren't really fighting for an Albanian university. They are allowed to study at our university. What they really want is Greater Albania. I've heard about it on TV many times."
Iso Rusi, editor-in-chief of Lobi, says the language difference has produced a dangerous gulf in understanding. For example, neither ethnic-Albanian parties nor the NLA have called for independence, but the Macedonian public overwhelmingly believes that is the Albanian dream. "When you compare news media in Albanian or in Macedonian, you often get completely different information," Mr. Rusi says. "In the past few months there has been a massive increase in hate language ... on both sides."
After watching a TV news report, Lidia, a well-traveled Macedonian who didn't want her full name used, says: "Three months ago I wouldn't have believed it, but now I say that the only good Albanian is a dead Albanian. I am a woman, but even I am prepared get a gun and fight for my country."
Fear of Ethnic Attacks Grips Macedonia's Cities Posted May 21, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/21/world/21MACE.html
May 21, 2001
Fear of Ethnic Attacks Grips Macedonia's Cities
By CARLOTTA GALL
SKOPJE, Macedonia, May 19 Mean-spirited graffiti have appeared on buildings in this capital during the last month. "Death to the Shiptars," says one in red, using the derogatory term for Albanians. "We are going to force out the terrorists and come back for you," says another, signed by the Macedonian Lions, a local soccer team.
The graffiti give voice to the fears of most people in Skopje that a three- month-old conflict between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels in the mountainous border areas could move into the urban areas and develop into ethnic violence.
"Nerves are running thin," said one international aid official in Skopje.
Already two police officers have been shot, shops have been hit with grenades and an Albanian pizzeria was raided, leaving one dead and the owner badly beaten. Rumors that Macedonian Slav nationalists are forming paramilitary gangs in the capital are not without merit, diplomats say.
Everyone seems to worry about ethnic attacks in the bazaars, on their Communist-era apartment blocks or at shopping malls around the capital. They say that the fighting has already affected their businesses and that if it continues, the conflict is certain to come to the cities.
Above all, the residents both Macedonian Slavs and Albanians say they are frustrated because their new unity government is not moving faster to end the conflict.
"Of course we are worried," said a Macedonian Slav hardware storekeeper, who gave only his nickname, Denny. "The situation depends on us Macedonians and we could solve it fast on our own." Denny, 26, blamed it on international interference. But a friend of his cited the government's indecision. "The government is prolonging it," said Ljubco, 37, owner of a small grocery store next door.
An Albanian who runs a clothing store across the city in the old bazaar agreed. "The government exists but it is not working as it should," said Nimet, 28. "If the government recognized the rights of people they could end this in 24 hours," he said. Like the others, Nimet would not give his surname.
While Macedonians and Albanians want to see action, the two sides offer contrasting ideas about how to end the armed rebellion. Macedonian Slavs interviewed said that they wanted want a quick military solution, even if it cost some lives. Albanians said concessions should be made to their people in order to remove the source of the protest.
Whatever their views, people from all walks of life seem to grasp the urgency of the situation, though many say the government does not. Most say their leaders have only two months to take action or, they believe, the conflict will spread.
Whether Macedonia's leaders make the right moves soon enough is "the $64 billion question," said one European diplomat in Skopje. "It is their big chance," he said. "And the alternative is not worth thinking about."
The international community has moved quickly to bolster Macedonia's fragile multiethnic state, and more recently to pressure the Macedonian Slav politicians to make real political reforms that will favor the Albanian population. Xavier Solana, the European Union's defense and foreign policy chief, has made seven trips to Skopje in the last six weeks. The NATO secretary general, Lord Robertson, has visited four times, along with other officials, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
Macedonia serves as the base for about 5,000 NATO-led troops and provides a vital electronic and logistical base for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo. "If this goes, the bill will be high," said one foreign official in the region. "That's why there is massive engagement."
Despite such international pressure, few diplomats are sure if the Macedonians will deliver enough in time to defuse the Albanian rebellion.
But foreign diplomats say the new government with its four main parties two Macedonian Slav and two Albanian has an opportunity with its majority in Parliament to pass and ratify unpopular or controversial legislation that has been delayed or neglected for 10 years.
But so far, the government has been slow to act. Leaders spent almost six weeks after the fighting in western Macedonia in March trying to decide how to forge an all-party government that would tackle the crisis. Now as they deal with fighting in the northeast region, they may delay crucial legislative and constitutional reforms that could help bring about a solution.
For Albanians, the most pressing issue is making changes to the Constitution.
They want the preamble changed so that Albanians are considered an equal people of Macedonia. But Macedonian Slav politicians will barely discuss that issue.
An American diplomat grimaces when asked about the chances for constitutional changes. "This is a very difficult stage," he said. "This is going to be very hard. Ninety-eight percent of the Albanians insist on it, and 98 percent of the Macedonians reject it."
Reforming the structure of local governments would give Albanian regions more autonomy, but that would also be enormously complicated and would be difficult to push through Parliament.
In the meantime, diplomats hope that international pressure and aid will bring some results. They expect a law on greater official use of the Albanian language to be ratified soon as a first step.
And a third television channel for the Albanian and other minority communities will move ahead now that money has been allocated from the recent privatization of telecommunications, the diplomats say.
For its part, the Macedonian administration is introducing changes that are not dependent on Parliament, like hiring more Albanians to the civil service and the police force and offering the rebels an amnesty.
And the United States Agency for International Development has found an extra $5 million to add to its yearly program of $33 million that aids Albanian students and police cadets and helps rebuild houses damaged in the recent fighting.
Macedonia Troops, Rebels Battle Posted May 21, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010521/wl/macedonia_62.html
Monday May 21 7:06 AM ET
Macedonia Troops, Rebels Battle
By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Government troops and ethnic Albanian insurgents clashed Monday in northern Macedonia, where thousands of civilians remain trapped in rebel-held villages.
The rebels attacked for about an hour at dawn from the villages of Slupcane and Vaksince, using snipers and machine guns, said Macedonian army spokesman Blagoja Markovski. The military responded with artillery fire, Markovski said.
The clashes resumed later in the morning, including a drive-by shooting near the village of Rudince. Markovski said the rebels fired from two Jeeps, and the government troops responded. There was no immediate report on casualties.
Fighting in Macedonia first erupted in February. The guerrillas launched a rebellion saying they want more rights for the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia who make up about one-third of the 2 million people.
The clashes in several northern villages, where the rebels have dug in, have left thousands of civilians caught up in the fighting, often lacking food and water.
Markovski did admit that living conditions of civilians were precarious, but he reiterated government claims that the villagers were being used as human shields by the rebels to protect them from a large-scale government offensive.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gjorgji Trendafilov said at least 1,000 civilians still remain in the besieged villages after hundreds were evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross in the past weeks.
On Sunday, ICRC teams used a lull in the fighting to evacuate dozens of women, children and elderly. The ICRC also provided requisite aid to those who decided to stay in the villages, siding with the rebels.
Amanda Williamson, the ICRC spokeswoman, said Monday that further visits to the northern Macedonian villages would depend on the situation.
The Macedonian government initially threatened to ``eliminate'' the rebels unless they accepted a deadline set for last Thursday to give up their armed struggle. Under intense pressure from the West, the government later promised restraint.
Markovski alleged that the rebels have used a break in the fighting to regroup and take up new positions.
Western officials fear that full-scale warfare in Macedonia could engulf the whole Balkans and encouraged key players to stand together. As a result, Macedonia's political parties, including ethnic Albanians, recently formed a unity government to seek a political solution. But sporadic fighting has persisted.
MACEDONIAN FORCES ARE BOMBING THE MOUNTANIOUS VILLAGES OF TETOVO Posted May 21, 2001
http://www.merhamet.com
MACEDONIAN FORCES ARE BOMBING THE MOUNTANIOUS VILLAGES OF TETOVO
Skopje, 21 May 2001 (CHOM)
NLA keeps from fightings, whereas the other party is bombing some of the villages of Tetovo, with the pretext of destryoing the mines on the road between Selce and Vejce; and, with the pretext of military exercises, which is not true and whci is being used to exalarate the conflict, is stated in the Announcement of NLA, Brigade 112.
The desinformation which is being given by the Slavo-Macedonian military & police structures, stating that each day NLA soldiers are being killed and especially the desinformation given regarding yesterday's bombing of a vehicle filled with NLA soldiers is nothing but a poor propaganda, when it is well-known that we don't have such vehicles, ends the Announcement of the Brigade 112, signed by Commander Qela
ISLAMIC COMMUNITY APPEALS TO THE PARLIAMENT AND TO THE PRESIDENT Posted May 21, 2001
http://www.merhamet.com
ISLAMIC COMMUNITY APPEALS TO THE PARLIAMENT AND TO THE PRESIDENT
Skopje, 21 May 2001 (CHOM)
The Islamic Community of Macedonia with a public Announcement appealed to the Government and the President of the Republic requiering the immediate permition for the Humanitarian Organization 'El Hilal" to enter the war affected regions. The inhabittants that have decided not to leave their homes, urgently need assistance in food and medication, and we believe that our place is next to these unfortunate people, is said among others in the Public Announcement of the Islamic Community.
Macedonian rebel village battered but unbowed Posted May 20, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010520/3/pnv9.html
Monday May 21, 3:33 AM
Macedonian rebel village battered but unbowed
By Douglas Hamilton
SLUPCANE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian insurgents on Sunday defied insistent calls by the Macedonian government and major Western powers to surrender or withdraw from villages they have occupied.
Guerrillas holding the heavily shelled village of Slupcane claimed high morale and low casualties. But they said food was running short after 17 days of bombardment and virtual siege in the northeastern hills near the Yugoslav border.
With the help of the Red Cross, 38 women and children were evacuated on Sunday from the nearby rebel-held village of Vakcince.
Many more remain, however, huddled in the basements of houses virtually on the front lines of the conflict that has engulfed a cluster of villages almost in sight of the Belgrade-to-Athens highway.
"We have bread and salt and sometimes beans, but only once a day," said Hatixhe Ramadani, a Slupcane woman in a dark and stuffy cellar full of women and restless children.
But she voiced vehement support for the guerrillas in a fluent speech that needed no prompting. An old man mumbled that he had eaten "only a paprika with salt all day".
The road to Slupcane rises from army lines in the fields outside a Slav Village where tanks and artillery point their barrels at the hills and troops occupy many of the houses.
In sunny ethnic Albanian villages outside the guerrilla enclave, peasant families plucked lush vegetables from healthy looking crops. A few km (miles) further on, at a sandbagged roadblock bristling with machineguns, another reality begins.
Guerrillas clad in black from boots to berets are in control. They drive fast in battered saloons with spider-webbed windscreens and an assortment jeeps.
BULLET-RIDDLED CARS OFF ROAD
Two bullet-riddled cars are off the road, splattered in places by the distinctive flower-petal pattern that exploding mortar shrapnel carves into the asphalt.
A dead cow lay at the entrance to the village. Inside, a farm tractor hauled away the carcass of a horse. Villagers said about 400 animals had been killed in the shelling. They can only be got rid off during temporary ceasefires.
"The situation here is catastrophic," said Hatib Demiri, head of the village emergency council. "We are using our last reserves. Only when the Red Cross visits do we dare to leave our basements and take fresh air."
The roof of Slupcane mosque is holed, the minaret sliced in half by a direct hit. Barely a house has escaped damage. Some are totally burnt out. The streets are strewn with broken red roof tiles and shattered window glass. An electricity pylon leans drunkenly at a crossroads, cables dangling.
"You see this? You see how they fight?" demands a grizzled fighter waving his arm at the destruction.
He had a blind eye from an old wound and a bandaged foot from a recent one. He spoke broken German and he had "Decani" carved on his rifle butt - clearly a veteran of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
"Those four or five explosions you heard about an hour ago, those were mortar rounds aimed at one of our cars doing a food run," said Captain Shpati of the 113th Brigade of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA), or UCK in Albanian.
"Part of the road back there is exposed to Army fire, and if the snipers can't get us, they try mortars. Our man is okay. He got out of the car and took shelter under a bridge."
GUERRILLAS REPORT LIGHT CASUALTIES
Shpati said the guerrillas had lost "one martyr and two wounded" since the fighting erupted on May 3, a remarkably light toll considering the tonnage of high explosive and truckloads of heavy machinegun bullets fired at the guerrillas by Macedonian tanks, artillery, combat helicopters and armoured cars.
The casualty toll is the same figure Shpati gave to the same Reuters reporters a week ago, again in a hospitable interview over Turkish coffee and cool fruit juice.
In the village, they said eight civilians had been killed.
All this has failed to dislodge them. Disgruntled army officers said that if it weren't for politicians demanding a soft approach -- partly to assuage Western powers afraid of civilian casualties -- the job would have been done in a day or two.
The NLA is demanding a role in political negotiations on equal rights for Macedonia's one-third Albanian minority. But no government supports the demand, and the republic's two main legitimate Albanian parties are now part of a grand coalition.
At the front line, there was little inclination for polite welcomes and friendly chats.
Hard-eyed fighters in greasy bandanas and dark glasses rocketed into the village in an overloaded Golf, eye reporters narrowly and speed off again in a cloud of dust. They look like Slupcane is not the first place they have battled over.
Shpati again denied that the civilians were "human shields".
"We've never prevented anyone from leaving. They can go if they want. But they don't because these are their only homes and those are their sons and daughters in the front line."
Macedonian leaders argue over ways to end rebellion Posted May 19, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010518/1/pkjz.html
Saturday May 19, 5:19 AM
Macedonian leaders argue over ways to end rebellion
SKOPJE, May 18 (AFP) -
Political leaders warned that Macedonia was still on a knife-edge between peace and war Friday, as sporadic clashes between ethnic Albanian rebels and government troops continued despite an army ceasefire.
Guerrillas and troops clashed briefly near a string of rebel-held villages north of Skopje after what the army described as a "provocation from terrorists," which apparently caused no government casualties.
However the army added that the government's unilateral vow not to assault rebel positions was holding.
As the international community allowed itself a moment of optimism, deep divisions remained between politicians urging talks with the rebels -- or even an amnesty for the fighters -- and those backing a military solution.
Government spokesman Antonio Milososki said the current ceasefire would show Skopje's "will to find a solution without bloodshed."
"It is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength," he said.
Despite calling off an assault that had been threatened if the guerrillas had not surrendered by noon Thursday, the Macedonian government still had no intention of holding talks with those it has branded "terrorists", he said.
"It is not reasonable to have a dialogue with people with Kalashnikovs in their hands," Milososki said.
The self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA), which claims to be fighting for Albanian rights, has seized a 400-square-kilometre (150 square mile) swathe of territory, including a dozen villages, in hills just north of Skopje.
Rather than talk directly with the rebels, Macedonia has formed a government of national unity to co-opt elected Albanian leaders into discussions on reforms to reduce ethnic tensions and prevent support swinging to extremists.
But while European diplomats welcomed the "breathing space" afforded by the government ceasefire, local commentators and political leaders warned that deep divisions over how to deal with the rebel threat could still lead to war.
"There is no sign at all that political dialogue will start soon," warned Iso Rusi, a leading ethnic Albanian commentator and editor of the weekly magazine Lobi, calling the ceasefire "a realistic decision".
"It's obvious (the government) should sit down at the negotiating table. If they refuse to do so the next step will be real war. At the beginning the NLA didn't have the support they expected among the population, but now they are getting more and more," he warned.
Macedonian Slav opinion, however, remains opposed to talks with the rebels.
Georgi Marjanovic, a criminal law professor and a member of the opposition League for Democracy, said: "There's no question of negotiating with them. They were not elected."
"We have reacted with moderation but that cannot go on for ever. We have waited and waited. If they want war, they'll get it, and they'll be cruelly defeated," he warned.
Jovan Manasievski, vice-president of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coaltion, said the rebels should be dealt with by force before any political talks could start.
"I am very sceptical about the possibility of beginning serious political dialogue while part of our territory is occupied. We should establish order and security before anything else," he said.
The defiance of the rebels in Macedonia contrasts with events a few miles further north in Serbia, where recent government successes have convinced more than 200 ethnic Albanian fighters to hand themselves in to NATO peacekeepers since Wednesday, a NATO spokesman said.
Negotiations with the rebels have also borne fruit in the southern Serbian conflict, and on Friday rebels left two villages after an agreement with local authorities to demilitarise part of the disputed zone.
In Macedonia the latest round of fighting between the army and the guerrillas flared up on May 3 after the guerrillas ambushed and killed 10 police in soldiers in separate attacks.
Rebels and troops last exchanged heavy fire on Wednesday night near the northern village of Slupcane -- where hundreds of civilians are hiding in cellars -- only hours before the deadline expired, Markovski said.
Macedonian reports said that hundreds of civilians fled the area of fighting Friday, but in Slupcane, at the heart of the conflict, AFP reporters found hundreds of women, children and old men still holed up.
Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski said: "According to our information, conditions for the civilians are dramatic and the humanitarian situation is getting worse and worse. We will do everything we can for these people in accordance with international conventions."
Macedonian Conflict Zone Still Full of Civilians Posted May 18, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010518/wl/balkans_guerrillas_dc_13.html
Friday May 18 9:48 AM ET
Macedonian Conflict Zone Still Full of Civilians
By Kole Casule
SKOPJE (Reuters) - The flight of ethnic Albanian villagers from a rebel enclave in Macedonia dried up on Friday, disappointing the government after it appealed to civilians to leave the conflict zone.
Government troops are maintaining a cease-fire after bombarding rebel-held areas for two weeks, and authorities have warned villagers to use the opportunity to get out in safety before the army takes ``decisive action'' against the guerrillas.
But the numbers of people moving were on the wane on Friday. ``It's nothing like it was yesterday,'' said a government source. ``About 100 have been counted today.''
``It has apparently dried up today,'' said a diplomat.
An estimated 1,500 villagers quit the area on Thursday, but most appeared to be from villages not actually occupied by guerrillas of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA).
There may still be as many as 3,000 villagers in Slupcane, a rebel stronghold which has suffered heavy bombardment by the Macedonian army, and an unknown number in Vakcince, the other main target of shelling.
The larger village of Lipkovo, which is also in NLA hands, is believed to be harboring thousands of displaced people who have abandoned their homes closer to the firing line.
``We have reports that villagers from Slupcane and two other villages have gone into Lipkovo, so the village population has been doubled,'' the police official said. ``It wouldn't surprise me if some of them are living in the open.''
Access to Lipkovo is hampered by police and army checkpoints.
President Boris Trajkovski said on Thursday the cease-fire was yielding results, as some civilians began leaving the villages in small convoys of cars, trucks and tractor-trailers.
He postponed ``decisive action'' by the army and said the order not to open fire unless provoked would remain in effect indefinitely. But he stressed that he was not handing over a chunk of the country to the rebels.
Macedonia is under international pressure to avoid a frontal assault that would almost certainly inflict civilian casualties, and has firm backing for its refusal to open political talks with the rebels, as rebel leaders demand.
BREATHING SPACE
The cease-fire and the movement of at least some civilians to safety, or back from guerrilla front lines, has created some breathing space in the crisis.
Along with reports of desertions from the rebel movement in adjacent Serbia, the pause in Macedonia spurred cautious hopes that the ethnic Albanian insurgency which threatens a new Balkan conflict might yet be contained without a bloodbath.
The guerrillas this week found themselves fighting two armies on two adjacent fronts -- the Serbs in the Presevo Valley of southern Yugoslavia and the Macedonians west of the town of Kumanovo.
At their backs is a strong, unsympathetic NATO (news - web sites) force in Kosovo urging them to give up and prepared to prevent any attempt by the two groups to join forces in Macedonia.
Some ethnic Albanians in the villages sympathize with the guerrillas, others fear the army and police, and many may simply not wish to leave their homes for fear of permanent exile.
In Kosovo, NATO peacekeepers reported on Thursday that 125 ethnic Albanian fighters had ditched their guns and crossed the boundary from southern Serbia into NATO custody. Serbian forces said 108 men had surrendered to their Presevo authorities.
About 3,000 ethnic Albanian civilians have fled the area since Sunday, when fighting erupted in Oraovica. Serb commandos cleared guerrillas from the village on Tuesday in what looked like a textbook counter-insurgency operation.
But rebels attacked again near Kosovo on Thursday, killing two Yugoslav soldiers and wounding four others northwest of Vranje.
A Trail of Misery as Macedonia Fights Albanian Insurgency Posted May 18, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/world/18MACE.html
May 18, 2001
A Trail of Misery as Macedonia Fights Albanian Insurgency
By CARLOTTA GALL
Salih, a 46-year-old farmer from Opae, had been held by the Macedonian police for five days during which he endured beatings and interrogation.
KUMANOVO, Macedonia, May 17 The hills above this town lay quiet today as a noon deadline passed for rebels to withdraw from mountain villages along Macedonia's northern border, and the government said it was suspending its threatened offensive in the interests of peace.
The government, which has been fighting an insurgency by ethnic Albanians, bowed to international pressure to refrain from an assault on villages where thousands of civilians remain holed up in cellars.
"We have a will to reach a political solution," said a statement from the office of President Boris Trajkovski. Military operations would "remain suspended to show that we are attached to a peaceful solution," the statement said.
But Macedonian security forces are pursuing an aggressive campaign against the ethnic Albanian population in and around rebel-held areas, and that campaign is spreading fear as well as exacerbating ethnic tensions.
Wednesday evening, for example, residents of nearby Opae, which lies just a mile from rebel positions in the village of Slupcane, abandoned the village after the police searched houses and hauled off the men for questioning.
The area has been sealed by the security forces as they have tried to push out the rebels. Villagers said they had endured 10 days of shelling in the latest fighting and some had lost houses and livestock.
Hundreds have sought refuge here in Kumanovo, which is under a nightly curfew. Some said they feared to be seen talking to a journalist amid the heavy police presence in this town populated almost equally by Macedonian Slavs and Albanians.
Farther south, in a small house in the capital of Skopje, a farmer from Opae named Salih and one of two brothers badly beaten by the police this week, sat hollow-eyed with fear considering a future without a home or an income. He recounted how he had gone to tend his cow at dawn and been caught by the police. With four others, he said, he was beaten and interrogated while blindfolded and handcuffed for five days, before being dumped in the countryside on Tuesday miles from home.
With the conflict in its third month, the Macedonian government may be stymied. Despite broad international support and the promise of assistance from NATO, in recent weeks it has lost more territory to the rebels. Now it is increasingly losing the patience and trust of its Albanian civilian population.
Armed Albanian rebels appeared in late February in the border areas, skirmishing with the army and demanding greater rights for ethnic Albanians, who make up about a third of the country's two million people. Macedonian Slavs make up nearly 70 percent.
The rebels have attacked the police and military, and moved into a swath of Albanian villages across the north part of the country. The western town of Tetovo, where heavy fighting took place in March, is also under curfew as rebels have reappeared in the western border areas. They represent a serious military threat to the largely ineffective Macedonian Army and command overwhelming sympathy among the rural Albanians.
While most Albanians say they want a peaceful solution, they invariably side with the rebels against the army and the police, who are predominantly Slavs.
The Albanians do have a stake in government; the main Albanian political party, the Democratic Party of Albanians, has participated in coalition with the governing party for the last three years. And this week a second Albanian party was brought into a new government of unity, made up of the four main political parties, two Slav and two Albanian.
But the new government has yet to address the main grievances of the ethnic Albanians that are at the root of the conflict.
Meanwhile, the army and police have continued operations against the rebels, who are excluded from the political negotiations, and have rounded up or displaced thousands of civilians.
International aid workers say 16,000 Macedonian Albanian refugees have arrived in neighboring Kosovo 9,000 in the past month alone. Another 10,000 civilians remain in the hill villages under government siege.
For Salih, 46, and his brother Sami, 40, who were so badly beaten this week, and for their young families, the future is even more bleak.
Recovering today at his sister's house, Salih said he saw television news footagee that showed that his house had been badly destroyed by a shell.
He said that he and his brother are on welfare, and that he helped support his two children by selling milk from their one cow.
"We cannot think of going back home, because we have nothing," he said. "We Albanians have less now than we had before we asked for more rights. For now we are losing everything."
Last week, he said, a group of 10 police officers seized him and beat him, he said. "They beat me with all their strength, with their fists. They said they would cut my throat with a knife. Then my brother and a friend came looking for me and they grabbed them too."
"They took us to Kumanovo, where they made us strip and they beat us with metal bars," he said, showing the bruises on his shoulder and legs. After five days he was dumped in the countryside and made his way to Kumanovo.
"I feel more frightened now," he said. "Every time I hear the door creak, I get scared."
But he did not criticize the rebels for bringing strife to the village. "They want their rights, that is why they came out," he said.
Instead he criticized President Trajkovski, who has called on villagers to leave their villages, to allow the security forces in to clear out the rebels.
"He wants it his way, to flatten the place so we have nowhere to go back to," he said.
Macedonia ceasefire holds Posted May 18, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1337000/1337582.stm
Friday, 18 May, 2001, 10:31 GMT 11:31 UK
Macedonia ceasefire holds
Fleeing refugees fear a renewed assault
A ceasefire in Macedonia appears to be holding, but ethnic Albanian rebels have made no response to Western mediators' attempts to persuade them to lay down their weapons.
The ceasefire was announced unilaterally by President Boris Trajkovski on Thursday, after a government deadline for the rebels to withdraw from occupied villages in the north of the country expired.
Civilians remain in the frontline village of Slupcane
He said military action would be suspended because civilians were now leaving the area, after previously ignoring government requests to do so.
However, a BBC correspondent in Macedonia, says the exodus of civilians is from less affected villages, leaving hundreds, perhaps thousands, in the frontline villages of Slupcane and Vakcince.
The international community has continued to urge the Macedonian Government to show restraint, fearing that an all-out assault on the rebels could split the country's new coalition government, and escalate the conflict.
Rebel chance
If they lay down their arms, the rebels have been promised some kind of amnesty, and the chance to set up their own political party, or to join existing Albanian political parties in Macedonia.
No incidents were reported and the region is calm
Macedonian Army spokesman
Western diplomatic sources said on Thursday that a breakthrough was close, after messages had been exchanged with the rebels via ethnic Albanian politicians.
"We are close to peace," said one official, requesting anonymity.
The rebels took control of a swathe of territory in the north of the country on 3 May, after being driven out of the area around the north-western city of Tetovo a month earlier.
They say they are fighting to improve the position of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, but are widely believed to be seeking to annex Albanian-populated villages in Macedonia to Kosovo.
Presevo moves
On Thursday Serbia gave ethnic Albanian rebels in the Presevo valley close to the Macedonian border and the boundary with Kosovo, until 24 May to lay down their arms.
In the last few days more than 100 are reported to have crossed into Kosovo, handing in their weapons to Nato peacekeepers.
Nato secretary-general Lord George Robertson has said the alliance will do what it can to prevent rebels crossing from Serbia into Macedonia.
Peaceful 24 hours
Macedonia's new coalition government had warned on Tuesday the rebels would be "eliminated" if they failed to lay down their weapons by noon on Thursday.
Although clashes continued in the hours preceding the deadline, the 24 hours since it passed have been peaceful
"No incidents were reported and the region is calm," army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said on Friday.
Macedonian government changes tack Posted May 17, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1336000/1336398.stm
Thursday, 17 May, 2001, 16:27 GMT 17:27 UK
Macedonian government changes tack
The deadline prompted many villagers to flee the conflict zone
By south-east Europe analyst Gabriel Partos
Macedonia's President, Boris Trajkovski, has said security forces will not start fresh operations against ethnic Albanian guerrillas, despite the passing of a deadline for the fighters to lay down their arms or leave.
The statement from Mr Trajkovski's office came amid reports from western diplomats that talks on bringing the fighting to an end were close to producing an agreement.
There has been huge international pressure in recent days to prevent a flare-up in the fighting, which has been less intense since the formation of a government of national unity at the weekend.
In effect, Trajkovski ignored the passing of the deadline
The message of restraint was conveyed to the Macedonian leadership, shortly before the deadline was due to expire, by a high-level delegation from the European Union.
The Swedish Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh, whose country holds the current EU presidency, made it clear that the West wants the negotiations to go ahead - and if military force is used, it should be limited in such a way as to avoid civilian casualties:
"A new government now has a heavy responsibility in front of it - that is to ensure that a military response will be strictly proportionate, that the government can press ahead with inter-ethnic dialogue and all the time look forward to good progress," she said.
Change of approach
The Macedonian administration has responded by, in effect, ignoring the expiry of its deadline to the guerrillas.
But international pressure was probably only one of the reasons behind this change of approach.
As President Trajkovski's latest statement indicates, the ultimatum has had some effect by persuading several hundred ethnic Albanian villagers in the conflict zone to leave their homes.
That would reduce any civilian casualties if the security forces were to launch an offensive.
A reduction in the civilian population would also undermine the Albanian fighters' ability to use classic guerrilla tactics - such as sheltering behind non-combatants or using the local population's help to get food and other essential supplies.
Fragile coalition
But there are probably other important reasons for Skopje's decision to put off any offensive for the time being.
Western diplomats believe a breakthrough with the rebels may be imminent
Large-scale casualties among the ethnic Albanian population could scupper the newly-formed grand coalition.
That is because the ethnic Albanian representatives who have just joined the government might leave it straight away.
Besides, there is no guarantee that an offensive would be successful.
And, even if the army managed to evict the guerrillas from the villages around the town of Kumanovo, the fighters might later pop up elsewhere.
Tightening the noose
Meanwhile, Western officials have also been tightening the diplomatic noose around the guerrillas.
On a visit to Tirana on Thursday, Nato's Secretary-General George Robertson said that the alliance would provide further military assistance to Macedonia.
The Macedonian administration's decision to refrain from a large-scale assault may not in itself make much difference.
Indeed, it could leave in place the status quo - skirmishes between the two sides - for quite a while.
Negotiations needed
However, Western diplomats believe there may now be a chance for a breakthrough - that is, persuading the ethnic Albanian fighters to halt their operations.
But for this breakthrough to happen, there would almost certainly need to be signs of progress at the negotiating table.
In other words, leaders on the two sides of the ethnic divide need to show a readiness to strike a bargain that would increase the ethnic Albanians' collective rights.
Otherwise, the militants might renew their activities, as well as their demand - which few Macedonian or international officials would want to concede - that the guerrilla groups should be recognized as a negotiating partner.
Statement on the FYROM by the Council to the European Parliament delivered by State Secretary Lars Danielsson on 16 May 2001 Posted May 17, 2001
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/5fff0b017f3c84b5c1256a4f0048f5c2?OpenDocument
Source: European Union
Date: 17 May 2001
Statement on the FYROM by the Council to the European Parliament delivered by State Secretary Lars Danielsson on 16 May 2001
Madam President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament,
At the end of February Albanian extremists occupied the village of Tanusevci on the border between Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), resulting in the outbreak of intense fighting between extremists and FYROM's army and police forces. In the middle of March the unrest spread to the town of Tetovo in western FYROM, where uniformed men occupied villages north of the town and then bombarded the town without compunction. FYROM's army launched a counter-offensive against the occupied villages which was completed on 1 April. However, later in April, the extremists resumed fighting in villages north west of the town of Kumanovo and that fighting is continuing. It is therefore evident that there is an imminent danger of outright civil war, which the EU has been making great efforts to avert.
The European Union reacted almost immediately to the fighting around Tanusevci and Tetovo, issuing statements condemning the attacks and urging all the parties involved to stop the violence at once. Intense diplomatic activity began in Skopje to support FYROM's government and the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Locally, the Presidency established close contacts with the most important players. FYROM's government was urged to show restraint in its actions against the extremists; the leaders of the main Albanian parties were called on openly to distance themselves from and isolate the extremists; and the Slav Macedonian opposition parties were urged not to take advantage of the situation to whip up nationalist feeling against the Albanian minority. From the beginning, a major effort was also made to reach out to the general public with, through the country's media, the EU's message of repudiation of the extremists.
Within a short time, intensive shuttle diplomacy also began. Foreign Minister Kerim was invited to discussions with the EU Presidency and with High Representative Solana in the margins of the General Affairs Council on 19 March. The following day the troika of Political Directors travelled with High Representative Solana to Skopje, and at the end of the same week the troika of ForeignMinisters and High Representative Solana visited Skopje and Pristina to show their support for the Government and to condemn the extremists' actions. One result of that visit was that the troika obtained the signature of Albanian leaders in FYROM and Kosovo to statements in which they openly distanced themselves from the violent methods of the extremists, urging them instead to put forward their demands in political fora and in a democratic manner. As a further symbol of theEU's support for FYROM's political leadership, President Trajkovski was invited to the European Council meeting held in Stockholm on 23 March.
To provide financial backing for this political support, the EU's current aid effort for FYROM was reviewed, and intensive efforts were made by the both the Commission and EU Member States, in particular to cover the funding shortfall for the new Albanian-language University in Tetovo, to take speedy measures to rebuild houses which had been destroyed in the villages north of Tetovo, and to support other projects to strengthen inter-ethnic solidarity in the country.
On Monday 9 April, following discussions lasting nearly a year, FYROM was the first country in the Western Balkans to sign a Stabilisation and Association agreement with the EU. The agreement is a central step in FYROM's association with the EU, and the signature was an important symbol of the EU's support for the country. FYROM is now regarded - as are other countries in the WesternBalkans - as a potential candidate for EU membership.
However, the unrest in FYROM has made clear that there is a manifest need to improve the position and rights of the Albanian and other minorities in the country. In connection with the signature of the SAA, the Government of FYROM launched an action plan for reforms to press ahead with the urgent changes needed under the SAA and also to intensify inter-ethnic dialogue and strengthen the position of the minorities.
Unfortunately concrete work on reform has gone slowly. To date the only results have been to prevent a state of war being declared, to postpone the census to October, to set the date for fresh parliamentary elections on 27 January 2002, but above all - after intensive discussions and pressure from the international community - to establish a broad-based coalition Government to function as a political base and platform for the necessary but difficult decisions which have to be taken in the near future.
There are measures which the Government should and must implement immediately. These include (i) launching a third State television channel, for the minority languages (ii) adopting the law, which has long been delayed, on strengthening local self-government, and (iii) ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In the medium term, and before next year's election, the Government must also push through the necessary changes to the Constitution to level the differences between the position of the Slav Macedonians and of the minorities in the country, and take the necessary measures to increase the representation of the minorities in the administration. The troika of EU Foreign Ministers is visiting Skopje today (16 May) to put this message across, and to invite the new coalition government to report on its progress and future action plans in the margins of the General Affairs Council on 25 and 26 June.
In other words, FYROM is facing a difficult but necessary process of reform, and time is short to avert a new civil war. It is important to highlight that responsibility for this process rests in the hands of FYROM's leadership. The EU has an important supporting role to play and the Council, with High Representative Solana and not least the Presidency both centrally and locally, intends to continue its support for this process. We also believe that there is an important role for the Parliament and its party groups. Between now and the end of June the coalition government will need support and encouragement, but also pressure, to be able to implement the necessary reforms while holding the fragile governing coalition together. In our opinion, it would be very valuable if the party groups in the European Parliament could make contact with their counterparts in FYROM and support them through this process. The possibility of avoiding full-scale civil war in FYROM still exists, and we should make sure that we grasp it.
EU WARNS MACEDONIA AGAINST 'EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE Posted May 17, 2001
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 94, Part II, 17 May 2001
website: http://www.rferl.org/newsline/
EU WARNS MACEDONIA AGAINST 'EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who currently holds the rotating EU chair, said in Skopje on 16 May: "Our message to the Macedonian government is that we welcome the new coalition government. We are willing to support the new coalition government, but the new government has to show restraint concerning the violence, the proportionate violence used [against] the Albanian extremist groups." She added that "it is now also important that we will, as soon as possible, also see steps forward concerning the Albanian minority situation in Macedonia, and here, I think the new government has a big responsibility," RFE/RL reported. She also referred to the ethnic Albanian guerrillas as "armed thugs." Chris Patten, the EU commissioner for foreign affairs, argued that the guerrillas' goals are more "criminal than political," AP reported. PM
Fighting in northern Macedonia Posted May 17, 2001
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/05/16/macedonia010516
Fighting in northern Macedonia
WebPosted Wed May 16 17:25:05 2001
SKOPJE - Ethnic Albanian rebels attacked Macedonian troops in two northern villages on Wednesday. The action came ahead of a ceasefire deadline declared by the country's new unity government.
The militants shelled army units besieging the village of Slupcane and fired machine guns at police outside the nearby community of Opaje. The government ordered its troops to stop attacking the rebels and only to respond when fired upon.
Officials call it a final deadline and warn that unless the rebels leave the area they will be eliminated.
Meanwhile, 80 suspected ethnic Albanian guerrillas surrendered to NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo. They took advantage of an amnesty designed to avoid bloodshed in the neighbouring Presevo Valley area of Serbia.
The suspects, some wearing military uniforms, crossed into eastern Kosovo in two groups a few hours apart.
U.S. troops confiscated two pistols, four knives and three radios.
The peacekeepers announced that rebels will not be detained if they cross into Kosovo during the next eight days, as long as they are not suspected of serious crimes.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Macedonia Deadline Expires, Truce Extended Posted May 17, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010517/wl/balkans_guerrillas_dc.html
Thursday May 17 9:26 AM ET
Macedonia Deadline Expires, Truce Extended
By Douglas Hamilton
SKOPJE (Reuters) - A noon deadline for ethnic Albanian guerrillas to quit rebel-occupied villages passed on Thursday with Macedonia promising to observe an indefinite truce in its confrontation with ethnic Albanian gunmen.
In an official statement, President Boris Trajkovski said the current cease-fire was producing results, as ethnic Albanian civilians were leaving villages and more were preparing to move.
But the decision not to launch a threatened army assault should not be taken as any sign of hesitancy.
``We have analyzed the situation in the conflict zone near Kumanovo and we believe that the cease-fire is producing results,'' he said.
``A significant amount of villagers have left their homes in some areas and others are preparing to do the same.''
He said the armed forces were ready to respond immediately to any provocation by the guerrillas, warning the ``terrorists'' sought to divide the population and provoke civil war.
``It should be clear that we will not allow the terrorists to grab part of the territory of Macedonia. They should lay down their weapons because they will not win,'' Trajkovski added.
Civilians who have been sheltering in their basements during nearly two weeks of army bombardment of the cluster of mountain villages had also been urged to leave by the 1000 GMT deadline, and several groups were spotted on the roads.
Government sources said 740 villagers had left Opaje and Nikustac overnight -- about three times the number taken out by the International Red Cross in the past two weeks of fighting.
Macedonia has accused the rebels of holding several thousand villagers as human shields.
All told, official sources said on Thursday, nearly 1,500 had left since Wednesday and more were on the move.
A UNHCR spokeswoman said over 9,000 ethnic Albanians had reached Kosovo from northern Macedonia since May 3. In March, some 10,000 fled into Kosovo from fighting in Macedonia's Tetovo region.
PRESEVO VALLEY
Across the border in Serbia, about 3,000 ethnic Albanian civilians had fled the restive Presevo Valley since Sunday and crossed into Kosovo, the refugee agency's spokeswoman added.
A NATO (news - web sites) official there said Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas had agreed on Thursday to pull out of two villages in the valley bordering Kosovo province.
Shawn Sullivan, the chief NATO representative in Yugoslavia, said the demilitarization was expected to be completed during the day in the two villages on the fringes of a five km (three-mile) wide buffer zone around Kosovo. ''The document was signed by both sides and its implementation -- the demilitarization of Lucane and Turija -- has to be ended by 1500 (9 a.m. EDT) today,'' Sullivan told reporters in the village of Konculj, a guerrilla stronghold.
Ensuring free movement of people and building confidence in the two villages is part of efforts to reduce the risk of a serious conflict on May 24 when Yugoslav Serb forces are due to move into an area of the buffer zone now held by ethnic Albanian fighters.
Despite threatening a war with the Yugoslav army when it returns to the rebel-infested no-go zone skirting Kosovo from next Thursday, 80 guerrillas surrendered on Wednesday.
NATO peacekeepers said on Thursday at least 45 more ethnic Albanian guerrillas had laid down their weapons and left southern Serbia for Kosovo.
The KFOR mission in Kosovo was distributing leaflets at its boundary checkpoints with a photograph of a crouching guerrilla, asking: ``Aren't you tired of this?''
In Skopje, Macedonian government and Western diplomatic sources said as the deadline approached that the movement of civilians and the wish to avoid casualties meant a full-scale armor and infantry offensive against guerrilla strongholds on Macedonian territory was unlikely.
A Reuters photographer saw four tractors with trailers filled with people moving out of the area an hour before the deadline was due to expire. More carloads were on the road.
An army spokesman said there had been constant exchanges of fire overnight around the villages of Slupcane, Orizare and Opaje.
A guerrilla source confirmed the fighting, saying the big village of Lipkovo, whose population has been swollen by displaced locals, had been shelled for the first time. There were no casualties, the source said.
Both sides have come under intense international pressure to step back from the brink of a major clash. Late on Wednesday the French and German foreign ministers urged that the Macedonian ``cease-fire must be extended.''
On Wednesday Trajkovski issued a final appeal to frightened ethnic Albanian civilians to move to safety, saying international observers would be on hand at police and army checkpoints to ensure their correct treatment.
Macedonia's new emergency government has to balance demands from the country's Slav majority for an overwhelming strike with ethnic Albanian pleas for a total cease-fire to avoid civilian deaths. Failure to get it right runs the risk of civil war.
``They can be defeated in one or two days. But this is not just a military problem, so every measure taken should lead to a more long-lasting solution. The goal is to avoid unnecessary bloodshed,'' Trajkovski said in Thursday's statement.
Civilians at risk as Macedonia plans strong attack on rebels Posted May 16, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010516/3/pe7b.html
Thursday May 17, 7:25 AM
Civilians at risk as Macedonia plans strong attack on rebels
By Daniel Simpson
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia plans decisive army action on Thursday to evict ethnic Albanian guerrillas from its northern hills.
It intends to blame any civilian casualties on rebel forces smarting from an abrupt defeat in neighbouring Serbia.
Warned by the West to use controlled force, Macedonia's president urged villagers to flee rebel-held territory by midday. But many of the thousands huddled in homes battered by artillery and without electricity may have missed his sombre TV address.
After restricting itself to largely ineffective long-range shelling for the past two weeks, Macedonia is unlikely to send in tanks and infantry for the sort of house-to-house operation elite Serb forces used to storm a rebel-held village on Tuesday.
Its new emergency government has to balance demands from the country's Slav majority for an overwhelming strike with ethnic Albanian pleas for a total ceasefire to avoid civilian deaths. Failure to get it right runs the risk of civil war.
Treading a fine line after consulting visiting Western officials, President Boris Trajkovski sad his forces would do their best to minimise civilian loss of life but had to accept the risk to make an all-out assault possible.
"True responsibility lies with those who intentionally choose to shield themselves with civilians," Trajkovski said.
There is a chance, however, that troops will find their rebel targets melt away into the bush -- just as they did in March when Macedonia launched a ground offensive against them in the mountains above the western city of Tetovo.
The National Liberation Army (NLA) guerrillas have made the hills bordering Kosovo their home since they first popped up in February and warn they are likely to reappear again elsewhere.
GUERRILLAS WARN OF REPERCUSSION
"Surely there will be repercussions if the army attacks," NLA political leader Ali Ahmeti told Reuters by telephone.
The NLA's cousins just over the Serbian border look less resilient. Despite threatening a war with the Yugoslav army when it returns to a rebel-infested no-go zone skirting Kosovo from next Thursday, 80 of them surrendered on Wednesday.
Kosovo's top NATO commander promised an amnesty to any others who followed their example of crossing into the U.N.-run Yugsoslav province and surrendering within the next week.
Serb forces claimed to have captured 80 more when they retook the Presevo Valley village of Oraovica on Tuesday, but the rebels said those arrested were civilians.
Macedonia has so far failed to advance on rebel positions, hampered, it says, by NLA use of ethnic Albanian villagers as human shields. The rebels deny the charge, saying civilians have nowhere else to go and fear losing their homes if they leave.
Just 28 people took advantage of a Red Cross relief visit on Wednesday to evacuate from Slupcane, one of a cluster of 10 guerrilla-occupied hamlets just off the Athens-Belgrade highway.
Residents contacted by telephone said conditions in Slupcane, shelled heavily for days, were deteriorating badly. A government plan to drop thousands of printed leaflets on Wednesday urging residents to leave was apparently abandoned.
Like Macedonia, Serbia has pledged to use restraint to avoid a bloodbath when it re-enters the Kosovo buffer zone.
"Our desire is to do this with the least possible casualties, or if possible, no casualties at all," Yugoslav Defence Minister Slobodan Krapovic said.
The rebels in Serbia's Presevo Valley are effectively bottled up in an area of less than 175 square km (65 square miles), with NATO border task forces at their backs.
EU envoys hail Macedonian unity govt, urge restraint Posted May 16, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010516/1/pdiv.html
Thursday May 17, 2:13 AM
EU envoys hail Macedonian unity govt, urge restraint
SKOPJE, May 16 (AFP) -
A high level EU delegation hailed Macedonia's new government of national unity Wednesday, but urged it to show restraint in its campaign against ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
"We are here on behalf of the European Union to express our support for the new coalition government, which we really welcome," said Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, whose country holds the EU presidency.
"We think the new coalition government gives a key message that the armed extremists and thugs that are trying to destroy the country are isolated. The NLA (guerrillas) must withdraw," she said, after meeting local leaders.
"Of course the new government now has a heavy responsibilty to ensure that the military response will be proportional," she added.
The national unity government was set up on Sunday following international pressure to sideline extremists and unite Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian parties to find a negotiated solution to the crisis.
On Tuesday the government announced that the guerrillas, who have seized a swathe of territory north of the capital and attacked security forces, would face a military assault if they did not surrender by mid-dayThursday.
A western diplomat based in Skopje told AFP that international diplomats had been putting pressure on the government not to risk the government's fragile unity or civilian casualties by a frontal assault.
More than 1,000 civilians are trapped in the villages on the frontline which bore the brunt of government fire in bombardments last week, and ethnic Albanian members of the ruling coalition have warned they could quit the government if civilians are killed.
But as well as calling for restraint, the EU envoys also gave the government their full support and attacked the rebels demanding that they leave Macedonia.
"The extremists offer misery and bloodshed," External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said.
"There's a simple message to them ... get out. They have nothing but hardship to offer, they don't have a political purpose, their purposes are very different," he said.
Following the meetings the envoys were to head on to Tirana late Wednesday for a formal dinner at the Conference on Balkans Stability.
Macedonia braced for new fighting as deadline for army assault nears Posted May 16, 2001
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Thursday May 17, 9:48 AM
Macedonia braced for new fighting as deadline for army assault nears
SKOPJE, May 17 (AFP) -
Macedonia was braced for a fresh round of fighting Thursday as government troops geared up to launch an offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels despite appeals for restraint from the international community.
On Tuesday Macedonia's new government of national unity sent the rebels an ultimatum to lay down their arms by mid-day (1000 GMT) Thursday or face a new offensive.
But senior European leaders, fearing that civilian casualties in Albanian-populated villages held by the rebels would drive ethnic Albanian parties out of the new coalition, urged Skopje to back off.
"The ceasefire should be prolonged, civilians should be spared, political dialogue is the only way to ensure stability," said foreign ministers Hubert Vedrine of France and Joschka Fischer of Germany, in a joint statement.
As the ministers met in Paris, their Swedish counterpart Anna Lindh and EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten were in Skopje to urge restraint on the Macedonians.
A western diplomat based in Skopje told AFP that foreign representatives were urging the government to forget the deadline, which has increased fears about the fate of more than 1,000 civilians trapped in frontline villages.
Aside from the risks to the civilians, who have been sheltering in cellars since Macedonian army tanks, helicopters and artillery started battering rebel positions on May 3, any renewed assault would have political fall-out.
Arben Xhaferi, leader of Macedonia's largest ethnic Albanian party, told AFP Wednesday: "I'm against this deadline. Flexing your muscles will do no good."
"If they are casualties among the civilians, it will be very difficult to continue this coalition," he warned, "We must be conscious that the civilians are not guilty, they are victims."
But Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said Skopje "will not allow the terorrists to win."
In a television address he insisted that the government forces have been ordered to avoid any risk to civilians, but warned that the troops would "deal decisively" with the guerrillas.
"We will not allow violent and undemocratic forces to act freely, to occupy territories and to govern them," Trajkovski said in a statement issued by his office.
The unity coalition was formed at the weekend by the two main parties representing Macedonians and the two main ethnic Albanian groups, in a bid to present a united front to the rebels and prevent extremists exploiting ethnic tensions.
Were it to collapse, or lose its ethnic Albanian component, it would be seen as a disaster for the fragile ex-Yugoslav republic, which both local and international leaders have said is on the brink of civil war.
Radmila Severinska, vice-president of the mainly-Slav Social Democratic Union, warned that if the deadline passed without action the government would look weak, but insisted that ministers were looking for other options.
Sporadic shelling and shooting erupted again Wednesday, with both sides blaming each other for provoking the fighting.
The rebels, led by former commanders from the Kosovo Liberation Army, claim to be fighting for the rights of Macedonia's Albanian minority.
The government has branded them "terrorists" bent on destabilising the state, and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski angered Albanian leaders even as they agreed to join his coalition by calling the rebels "a cruel enemy who must be crushed."
Two weeks ago a strong guerrilla force took control of a 400 square kilometre (150 square mile) swathe of territory, including a dozen villages, in hills just north of Skopje.
More than 1,000 civilians are thought to be trapped in the five villages closest to the fighting, and Red Cross officials say conditions in the overcrowded cellars in which they are sheltering are deteriorating.