[ALBSA-Info] Rebels in Macedonia's Woods Unsettle Region

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Rebels in Macedonia's Woods Unsettle Region 

By CARLOTTA GALL


GUSINCE, Macedonia, March 13 — A voice called through the trees, a clink of 
weapons sounded, and three men in camouflage appeared on the dirt track, the 
red insignia with the black eagle on their sleeves. 

In these woods, a mile or so beyond this village in the mountains of 
Macedonia, is the forward position of the National Liberation Army, the 
Albanian rebel force that appeared in Macedonia just a few weeks ago. 

The rebels appear to be copying an insurgency in Albanian-populated areas in 
southern Serbia to the east of Kosovo. The armed activity has increased the 
instability of the entire region, causing anxiety for the NATO-led 
peacekeepers in Kosovo, whose goal has been to protect the Albanians.

The rebels control the mountains for several miles to the north, to the 
border with Kosovo, encompassing a number of villages and hamlets.

There is the wreckage of a police car that the rebels say they blew up last 
week, killing one Macedonian policeman and leaving a crater in the road. 
Since then, no police officers or soldiers have advanced up the road. 
Instead, several Macedonian police officers operate a checkpoint on the road 
several miles down the valley.

About a dozen rebels were guarding the road here today, spread out through 
the trees and up the rocky hillsides. They had no vehicle, just three horses 
with wooden saddles. But they carried mobile phones, which they used almost 
like walkie-talkies, checking in with their commander about their visitors.

Shelling sounded intermittently from Malino, a village two miles away. As the 
heavy explosion of a mortar sounded through the hills, the second in command, 
who uses the nom de guerre Commander Mjekrra, arrived from across the river. 
Bearded and fit-looking, the commander, 27, wore binoculars around his neck, 
a walkie-talkie in one breast pocket and a cell phone in another.

The shelling lasted most of the morning. It was the Macedonian military 
firing on rebel positions in the village of Malino, he said. "I have based 
myself in a house up there," pointing to the top of a steep crag, and a 
mortar shell came near it, "within 10 yards," he said.

According to a senior Macedonian official, government forces were mounting an 
attack to push the rebels out of Malino and Brest, a nearby village, back 
toward the border. But the rebel commanders said they were not bothering to 
retaliate.

Commander Mjekrra said the Macedonian Army was firing from two army posts in 
the area. They were using an antiaircraft gun that was probably acquired from 
the Serbian military, he said. "I know because I am an expert by now," he 
said. "I have been fighting Serbs since 1991." He fought for four years in 
Croatia against the Yugoslav Army, then several years in Kosovo, in the last 
year in the Presevo Valley of southern Serbia and now in his native 
Macedonia, he said. 

He said that he commanded 700 men, mostly from Macedonia and many from the 
immediate area along the mountainous border. "They took the women and 
children down the valley and then came back to take up arms," he said. "We 
are waging war for the liberation of the Albanian population in Macedonia. We 
are not trying to change frontiers. We are just fighting for the rights of 
Albanians here." 

His superior, known as Commander Hoxha, made similar demands in an interview 
today by cell phone, arguing that Albanians represent the largest ethnic 
group in Macedonia and deserve proportional representation in government. 
Macedonian Slavs say they are the largest ethnic group, with 60 percent of 
the population.
Commander Mjekrra warned that the war would continue and intensify until the 
Macedonian Slavs, who dominate the government and power structure, recognized 
the Albanian demands. "We are not going to put down our arms until we get 
equality," he said.

In Skopje, the Macedonian capital, about 10,000 Albanians marched for peace. 
The march was led by Arben Xhaferi, who heads the Democratic Party of 
Albanians, the largest ethnic Albanian party in the country, but who has 
condemned the rebels' action. Mr. Xhaferi said at a news conference afterward 
that the Albanians wanted representation in government bodies proportional to 
their population, and their language to be designated an official language in 
the country.

Whatever the government does, the rebels seem determined to block out the 
Macedonian army and police, taking control of Albanian-populated areas to 
create a zone where the central government no longer rules.

The villagers of Gusince appear unsure about the rebels, but they have 
nothing good to say about the government, or the police. They say they have 
spent a year trapped between the police stationed below the village and 
military units posted above, on the border. 

"It is not going to calm down," one said. "It is going to get more and more 
tense."