[ALBSA-Info] ANALYSIS-Macedonian anti-insurgency tactics questioned

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

ANALYSIS-Macedonian anti-insurgency tactics questioned

By Douglas Hamilton

  
SKOPJE, March 30 (Reuters) - Macedonia's tactics for countering an ethnic 
Albanian insurgency came into question on Friday following cross-border 
shelling which killed two civilians in Kosovo, one a British journalist. 

The tacit observer role played by NATO peacekeepers in the latest Macedonian 
army operations also raised further doubts about their ability to control 
events on Kosovo's borders. 

Associated Press television producer Kerem Lawton was killed by shrapnel when 
shells exploded in the hilltop village of Krivenik, a mile (over one km) 
inside Kosovo. Baki Krasniqi, a 19-year-old Kosovo Albanian villager, also 
died. 

NATO said it would seek the facts. Macedonia denied responsibility, but said 
it would investigate. The rebels said NATO must know who fired the shots 
because it was watching. 

NATO Secretary General George Robertson, apparently unaware of Thursday's 
deaths at Krivenik, again praised the Macedonian forces for restraint. 

"I commend their success against armed insurgents. I commend the restraint 
with which they use military power against those who would use the bullet 
instead of the ballot box," he told reporters during a visit to Warsaw. 

WATCHING FOR DAYS 

Macedonia, a 10-year-old independent republic of just two million people, has 
very limited military and intelligence capabilities and its troops have no 
experience of counter-insurgency combat. 

The security forces, who have lost seven men killed in rebel landmine and 
sniper attacks, got NATO surveillance data to help counter the insurgency. 
But appeals for the assistance of alliance troops have been resolutely turned 
down. 

Last Sunday, Macedonia dismayed western powers by ignoring appeals for 
restraint and launching a ground offensive to drive the guerrillas out of the 
mountains behind the city of Tetovo, after pouring heavy fire onto suspected 
positions for 12 days. 

Although there was considerable damage to houses, reported casualties were 
remarkably light. Robertson, faced with a fait accompli, praised the 
Macedonian operation, although diplomatic sources said it had made NATO 
extremely nervous. 

After four days of tank and mortar shelling aimed at guerrilla targets around 
a village called Gracani, quite close to the capital, the Army on Wednesday 
announced another "final operation" and brought up more heavy weapons. 

A Macedonian police source on Thursday said the guerrillas near Gracani were 
still fighting, adding that "we estimate we face numbers ranging from 10 to a 
respectable force." 

"DISPROPORTIONATE" FORCE 

NATO has strongly criticised both Serbia and Russia in the recent past for 
using "disproportionate" military force against lightly-armed rebels. 

While casualties in Macedonia bear no comparison with Kosovo or Chechnya, the 
NATO allies have felt the risk increasing here of major "collateral damage" 
that could tip the ethnically divided republic into civil war, diplomats 
said. 

Officials at NATO headquarters earlier this week said they were unaware of 
the new flashpoint, although heavy detonations were audible in the capital, 
Skopje, where their Kosovo KFOR peace mission maintains a major rear base. 

Reuters reporters on Wednesday watched U.S. and Polish KFOR troops in the 
heights above the village of Krivenik observing the Macedonian shelling and 
helicopter attacks. 

A NATO official in Skopje denied KFOR had knowledge of it. 

KFOR has been strongly criticised by Serbia and Macedonia for failing to stop 
Kosovo Albanian extremists infiltrating their territory to start separatist 
conflicts. 

Despite worries about a possible repeat of past heavy-handed tactics, NATO 
recently authorised the return of Serbian troops to part of a no-go zone 
exploited by the guerrillas as a safe haven to help bring the situation under 
control. 

The NATO alliance leads a force of 38,000 troops in Kosovo, and it is acutely 
aware that they could become targets if NATO itself is seen to take sides 
against ethnic Albanians and their aspirations for independence.