[ALBSA-Info] Kosovo Albanians must condemn uprising – Fischer

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Kosovo Albanians must condemn uprising – Fischer

  
BERLIN, March 22 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was 
quoted on Thursday as urging Kosovo Albanian leaders to condemn the uprising 
by rebels in northern Macedonia. 

"The entire Albanian political leadership must decide whether they wish to be 
a part of this region which is moving in the direction of Europe, or whether 
they wish to stay on the sidelines," Fischer told the Frankfurter Allgemeine 
newspaper, which said the call was specifically directed at Kosovo leaders. 

While noting "the Albanian question was both virulent and open," he said any 
moves to create a greater Albania would be strongly resisted. "The 
international community will not permit any alteration of borders by force." 

The German government was disappointed that Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim 
Rugova, in Berlin last week for talks with Fischer and others, markedly 
failed to condemn the uprising by ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia. 

In an apparently concerted counter-attack, Macedonian forces began on 
Thursday pounding rebel ethnic Albanian positions in the hills above the 
northern city of Tetovo despite a guerrilla offer of a unilateral ceasefire. 

German troops serving with the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo 
exchanged fire with arms smugglers on the border with Macedonia in the early 
hours of Wednesday, according to the German defence ministry.