[ALBSA-Info] Macedonian Albanians propose Kosovo Corps patrols

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Macedonian Albanians propose Kosovo Corps patrols

SKOPJE, March 7 (Reuters) - The biggest Albanian political party in Macedonia 
has suggested allowing the predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo Protection 
Corps to patrol the Kosovo side of its troubled border along with NATO-led 
peacekeepers. 

Albanian newspapers in Macedonia said Menduh Thaci, deputy leader of the 
Democratic Party of Albanians, made the proposal to Greek Foreign Minister 
George Papandreou, who visited the country on Tuesday. 

They said Thaci also told Papandreou the armed men who have emerged in the 
Albanian-populated border village of Tanusevci and battled Macedonian 
security forces for the past week did not have political backing from 
Macedonia's large Albanian minority. 

"They have not found support from any Albanian political structures, starting 
from the government of Albania to the smallest political parties," the 
private Fakti daily quoted Thaci as saying. 

He suggested that the Kosovo Protection Corps, a civilian emergency force set 
up to take the place of the Kosovo Liberation Army which fought Serb rule in 
the province, could play a role in helping KFOR international peacekeepers. 

"I proposed to Papandeou a mixed option for the protection of the border from 
the Kosovo side where the Kosovo Protection Corps, together with KFOR forces, 
would protect the border because I think the KPC knows the terrain better and 
I think that together with KFOR they will be much more efficient." 

The Corps was established after KFOR replaced Serb security forces in the 
region as a civilian, mulit-ethnic body tasked with helping to rebuild the 
shattered province and providing services like fire-fighting. 

The international community saw it as a way of steering former guerrillas 
from the separatist KLA towards more peaceful activities. Many former KLA 
guerrillas joined the force. 

Thaci's Democratic Party of Albanians has five ministerial posts in 
Macedonia's Slav-led government, but it was not clear whether the proposal 
had the support of its other members. 

It is likely to encounter stiff opposition from Belgrade, where many 
officials see the KPC as just a continuation of the KLA -- a group they 
viewed as a terrorist organisation. 

It may also cause concern among NATO allies, who have long insisted that the 
Corps should have no military role. 

The leading Kosovo Albanian daily Koha Ditore echoed Thaci's proposal in its 
Wednesday edition. 

"Although such a thing would sound impossible to many, there are many very 
simple persuasive arguements that there are realistic chances it would be 
successful," it said.