[ALBSA-Info] Kosovo Albanians rally for ethnic kin in Macedonia

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Kosovo Albanians rally for ethnic kin in Macedonia

By Beth Potter

  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, March 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of ethnic Albanians 
gathered in the Kosovo capital Pristina on Wednesday night in support of 
their kin in neighbouring Macedonia and a peaceful solution to the crisis 
there. 

Members of the crowd also chanted "UCK," the initials for both the ethnic 
Albanian guerrilla group fighting in Macedonia and the Kosovo Liberation Army 
on which it is modelled and which fought Serb rule in the province in the 
1990s. 

The demonstrators in the city centre, estimated by police to number at least 
4,000, carried banners with slogans such as "Stop Macedonian terror against 
Albanians." 

The guerrillas said on Wednesday evening they had declared an unlimited, 
immediate ceasefire to allow talks for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. 

The Macedonian government said it did not want to comment on the rebel 
ceasefire. It earlier said it had planned a military onslaught if the rebels 
did not lay down their weapons or withdraw by midnight local time. 

The new guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, has emerged in the 
past few weeks, saying it is fighting for greater rights for Macedonia's 
ethnic Albanian minority. 

Macedonian authorities have branded them terrorists and major diplomatic 
powers have rallied behind the government, saying there is no cause for an 
insurgency and Albanian grievances can be resolved peacefully. 

Albanians at the protest complained their ethnic kin were treated as 
second-class citizens and subjected to repression by the ethnic Macedonian 
majority. 

It was unclear who was behind the rally. Rajon Morina, a 21- year-old student 
in the crowd, said he had not known the protest was going to take place. 

"I looked out the window and thought I'd like to join people supporting 
Albanians in Macedonia. There's brutal repression by Macedonian police," he 
said. 

Another protester, 20-year-old Kudret Selmani, said he was worried by seeing 
ethnic Albanian refugees who had left Macedonia. "This is starting the same 
was as it did two years ago in Kosovo," he said.