[ALBSA-Info] Albanian show of force in Skopje, Tetovo

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Albanian show of force in Skopje, Tetovo
Militants claim state 'terrorism'

By Stavros Tzimas
Kathimerini

SKOPJE - Ethnic Albanians of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia staged 
a peace march yesterday from the town of Tetovo to Skopje, as one of the 
initiatives some Albanians are taking to try overturn the image that they 
have acquired internationally as a destabilizing force in the region. But at 
the same time, fighting continued in the border region and militant groups 
are planning a rally in an ethnic Albanian stronghold today, warning that 
they "have no choice but to take up arms."

The government of FYROM reported fierce skirmishes with armed Albanian rebels 
near the border villages of Malino Malo and Brest yesterday. Prime Minister 
Ljubco Georgievski told the visiting leader of Greece's Left Coalition, Nikos 
Constandopoulos, that he rejected the demand by the rebels for a federal 
state. He blamed their campaign on outside intervention.

About 10,000 people took part in yesterday's march, which ended in Skopje's 
Macedonia Square. Democratic Albanian Party leader Arben Xhaferi, who is part 
of FYROM's ruling coalition, said that his people had peaceful intentions. 
But he avoided condemning the extremists.

Political observers said that yesterday's rally could not be taken as 
representative of the climate in the ethnic Albanian strongholds of Tetovo 
and Gostivar. 

Focus has now shifted to today's rally in Tetovo (about 30 kilometers west of 
Skopje). Among the organizers is the National Democratic Party, which appears 
to be the political wing of the armed extremists and which is supported in 
secret by the parties opposed to the government and Xhaferi. As the militant 
president of the illegal ethnic Albanian university in Tetovo, Fadhil 
Suleymani, told Kathimerini, the rally is aimed "at showing the true feeling 
of our people." 

This feeling has been expressed in a pamphlet that has been distributed as 
far as Greece. "This is the last time that we inform the international 
community that the Albanians who live in Macedonia are not terrorists. We 
want education and human rights," it said. "It is the Macedonian state, their 
army and their police who keep killing Albanians, chasing them out of their 
border villages. We are not terrorists but we are determined to defend our 
threatened national existence by any means. The Albanians of Macedonia, faced 
by Macedonian state terrorism, have no choice but to take up arms and defend 
themselves."