[ALBSA-Info] U.S. Forces at Macedonia-Border

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

U.S. Forces at Macedonia-Border

By DANICA KIRKA

  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - U.S. peacekeepers pushed to the edge of Kosovo's 
border with Macedonia on Thursday - a move that places them in the midst of a 
new Balkan conflict - after ethnic Albanian rebels fled one of their 
strongholds. 

Ethnic Albanian villagers said the Americans crossed into Macedonia to take 
over positions held by the rebels, who have been battling Macedonian forces. 
U.S. officials denied those claims but acknowledged that there is confusion 
about the border. 

The controversy over the Americans' location underlined the danger that U.S. 
soldiers may become more involved in border disputes and the deep-seated 
historical animosity between ethnic Albanians and Slavs. 

In another move that could anger ethnic Albanians, NATO agreed Thursday to 
allow Yugoslav forces to help keep ethnic Albanians in Macedonia from 
crossing into Serbia, Yugoslavia's main republic. 

U.S. peacekeepers took over a hillside elementary school being used as a base 
for ethnic Albanian insurgents fighting Macedonian troops, cutting off a key 
supply base for rebels in northern Macedonia. U.S. officials said the school 
was in the Kosovo village of Mijak. 

U.S. Brig. Gen. Kenneth J. Quinlan, commander of the U.S. peacekeeping 
contingent, said his troops ``were very careful to delineate this border 
between us and Macedonian authorities.'' 

But residents said the school was in Tanusevci, Macedonia. 

``I've been living here for more than 50 years and this place was called 
Tanusevci and this is Macedonia,'' said Bajram Sinani, as he showed his 
Macedonian identification card and Macedonian currency. 

He also said that Yugoslav guards who used to man the border would never 
allow them to go shopping in Kosovo - even though it was right next door. 

Meanwhile, violence flared after nightfall when ethnic Albanian rebels fired 
on a government convoy near Tanusevac, 15 miles north of Macedonia's capital, 
Skopje, police spokesman Stevo Pendarovski said. A car was hit by a rocket, 
killing its driver, he said. 

Pendarovski said that senior officials with the convoy were never in danger 
because they were inside a police station in the village of Brest when the 
incident occurred. Police and army units later secured the area, and the 
shooting stopped, he said. 

The Americans are part of a multinational effort to curb the flow of weapons 
and fighters from Kosovo into northern Macedonia. 

The present border between Macedonia and Yugoslavia was decided only last 
week. For a decade, the placement of the border remained the only unresolved 
issue between the two countries following Macedonia's peaceful split from the 
former communist-run Yugoslavia in 1991. 

After Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in October, the new 
president, Vojislav Kostunica, and Macedonian leader Boris Trajkovski agreed 
to resolve the dispute. 

The deal was ratified in Macedonia's parliament last week despite protests by 
ethnic Albanians who said they do not recognize it because Kosovo's ethnic 
Albanians had not been consulted. 

In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the situation 
along the Kosovo border was ``relatively stable.'' He acknowledged that 
peacekeeping was risky but added that shooting in the area had been 
``relatively minor.'' 

Although the rebels have not spelled out their goals, they have issued 
statements indicating they want more rights for the largely ethnic Albanian 
areas of Macedonia bordering Kosovo. Albanians make up about 25 percent of 
Macedonia's population of 2 million. 

The Americans moved into the disputed area after 20 to 40 insurgents packed 
up their mules and horses and left. U.S. peacekeepers fired no shots and made 
no arrests, describing their capture of the area as a triumph in the effort 
to prevent Kosovo from being used as a staging area for rebellion. 

The U.S. version of events differed from that offered by the Macedonian 
government, which said fighting in Tanusevci started before dawn when 50 
ethnic Albanian insurgents attacked Macedonian troops. The insurgents 
unleashed horses ahead of them to see if the area was mined, Defense Ministry 
spokesman Blagoja Markovski said. Macedonian troops responded ``with force,'' 
Markovski said. 

American peacekeepers, however, said mortar rounds and gunfire echoed through 
the valley, after the rebels had left. 

Hours later, no Macedonian soldiers were visible in Tanusevci.