[ALBSA-Info] West hopes Macedonians will hold their fire

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

West hopes Macedonians will hold their fire

By Philippa Fletcher

ABOVE TANUSEVCI, Macedonia, March 2 (Reuters) - Diplomats and military 
attaches plied a snowy mountain track between Macedonia and Kosovo on Friday, 
hoping to prevent nervous Macedonian forces responding to what they say are 
provocations from Albanian guerrillas inside their territory. 

Troops from the NATO-led KFOR Kosovo peacekeeping force were also on the 
road, officially on routine logistical work to back up the contingent over 
the border. 

Whether deliberately or not, they were also keeping an eye on things and 
encouraging the Macedonians, who have shouted louder and louder for help 
since shooting first broke out in the area on Monday, to feel they are not 
alone. 

"There's been a lot of equipment going up there," one Belgian soldier said of 
the Macedonians, who announced on Thursday they had reinforcements in place. 

"We've seen seven or eight armoured cars," he added. 

At the top of the mountain, overlooking the village of Tanusevci where the 
Macedonians say up to 100 guerrillas are holed up, special troops held their 
guns across their chests and would not allow reporters to approach their 
positions. 

An armoured personnel carrier nestled in a dip in the hillside, its gun 
pointed towards houses on the other side of the valley which police said were 
part of the village. 

Shortly before, a small group of Macedonian journalists, taken by helicopter 
to see a military watchtower the army says was hit by a grenade on Wednesday, 
retreated after hearing two bursts of machinegun fire from the village. 

FIVE-HOUR EXCHANGE OF FIRE 

The Defence Ministry said it did not shoot back when the grenade hit on 
Wednesday afternoon, but later acknowledged that a five-hour exchange of fire 
had followed. 

This is exactly what NATO, whose U.S. KFOR contingent is stationed just over 
the border, is desperate to prevent. 

The main problem is that no one seems to know exactly who is in the village 
or what they want. 

The Western military attaches who visited the area on Friday weren't talking, 
and other envoys say it is not very clear. 

"I think they are Albanians, I think they are people who have had links to 
military formations, engaged in activities before," said one Western diplomat 
in Skopje. 

Some diplomats say heavy-handed Macedonian border patrols boosted tension in 
an area where local Albanians are isolated from the Macedonian political 
mainstream, in which Albanians, uniquely for ex-Yugoslav republics, play a 
big part. 

Others say Macedonia's signing of a border agreement with Yugoslavia three 
days before the shooting broke out encouraged some of Kosovo's 
independence-minded Albanians to show Macedonia that the border is theirs, 
not Belgrade's. 

NATO sent an emergency mission to Macedonia on Wednesday in response to 
appeals for help in resolving a crisis Skopje said could destabilise both 
Macedonia and Europe. 

Mission members urged the Macedonian government not to respond. A response 
could radicalise the large Albanian minority in Western Macedonia which has 
so far shown few signs of wanting to break away. 

MACEDONIA ACCUSES KFOR 

Macedonia has accused KFOR of not doing enough to prevent arms and equipment 
getting through its side of the border and said that if NATO did not do more, 
it would have to use force. NATO has said it is doing what it can to increase 
patrols and cut the guerrillas off. 

Diplomats say the idea is to try to cut off supplies to the isolated village 
to make life so uncomfortable for the guerrillas, without firing at them or 
moving in, that they get tired of sitting there and leave. 

But one Macedonian soldier on duty overlooking the village said he had seen 
civilians there recently for the first time in a few days, apparently 
bringing in supplies along routes used by the Kosovo Liberation Army during 
the 1998-9 Kosovo conflict. 

Despite the outburst of fire on Friday, the situation seems to have settled 
into an uneasy stalemate for the time being. 

"On the one hand it's good," another Western envoy in Skopje said. "On the 
other, it may encourage the gunmen to become more confident."