[ALBSA-Info] Albanians Seek Refuge Across Border

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Albanians Seek Refuge Across Border

By MERITA DHIMGJOKA

  
QAFE THANE, Albania (AP) - Driven from his home by the fighting in Macedonia, 
Beki Jonuzi and hundreds of other ethnic Albanians sought refuge Monday just 
across the border. 

But Albania isn't home, and Jonuzi said he'll do whatever it takes to go back 
to his village of Pallatice, just north of Tetovo where the fiercest battles 
have been waged. 

``We will take the women and children to a safe place, and then will return 
to our homes,'' said Jonuzi, 35. ``Our land is there. Our property is there. 
And we'll die for it, if there's no other solution.'' 

The Macedonian government has been unleashing artillery and mortar strikes in 
the wooded foothills outside Tetovo, Macedonia's second-largest city, in an 
effort to repel ethnic Albanian rebels seeking greater rights and 
recognition. 

Scores of ethnic Albanians have fled across the border, mainly women and 
children. Most live in or near Tetovo. Although the fighting has been 
centered there, many fear the conflict soon will spread throughout the former 
Yugoslav republic. 

Some of the refugees said tensions were rising between ethnic Albanians, who 
make up at least a quarter of Macedonia's 2 million people, and the Slav 
majority. 

``A group of Macedonians beat up two of my girlfriends last week,'' said 
17-year-old Albana Mehmeti, one of about 50 ethnic Albanians who fled the 
Macedonian capital, Skopje. The refugees said they were afraid to use public 
transportation and their children had dropped out of school for fear of 
attacks. 

Albanian authorities have called on ethnic Albanians in Macedonia to refrain 
from violence and concentrate on political negotiations. 

They fear an escalation of the violence in Macedonia could lead to a flood of 
refugees similar to the crush in 1999, when about half a million Kosovo 
Albanians crossed borders into Albania. 

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was monitoring the 
situation at the Qafe Thane border crossing, though agency officials said 
those arriving were not refugees in the usual sense. ``They don't ask for 
political asylum, for shelter or humanitarian assistance,'' said Zakaria Kawi 
of the UNHCR. 

Some of those who crossed the border said they planned to go to Kosovo, where 
they had relatives. Others said they would stay in Albania with their 
families and friends. 

Few knew much about the rebel National Liberation Army. But they said they 
would be willing to join if their homes and lives in Macedonia were 
threatened. 

``We have paid for the Macedonian army and police these last 10 years,'' said 
Zeni Ramadani, 21, a medical student at Pristina University in Kosovo, who 
was visiting his parents in the town of Kumanovo when the border crossing 
back was closed. 

``Now, they are shooting us,'' he said, ``and we will not sit and watch.''