[ALBSA-Info] NATO peacekeepers vow action against rebel threat

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

NATO peacekeepers vow action against rebel threat
  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, March 18 (Reuters) - The NATO-led peacekeeping force in 
Kosovo told ethnic Albanian guerrillas on Sunday it would respond with force 
against any threat to its logistics base in neighbouring Macedonia. 

KFOR's commander, Lieutenant General Carlo Cabigiosu, said in his strongest 
statement so far that his troops were taking robust measures to seal the 
border between Kosovo and Macedonia in close coordination with the Skopje 
government. 

"The Albanian extremist groups need to understand that their actions may harm 
the stabilisation of the whole area and that this is not in the interests of 
the ethnic Albanian communities," he said in a statement. 

NATO has no peacekeeping role in Macedonia, but there are some 3,000 KFOR 
logistics troops based in the republic. Its German base in Tetovo came under 
crossfire on Saturday and Cabigiosu said that the Macedonian government had 
given it the right to respond to any further threat. 

"I warn the Albanian extremist groups that KFOR will not tolerate or allow 
any attacks against KFOR soldiers in the FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia)," he said. "Our self-defence actions will be with proportionate 
force and we will respond with determination to any threat."