[AMCC-News] Ethnic Albanian girl dies as Macedonian violence flares

[Mentor Cana]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010723/1/19mj9.html Tuesday
July 24, 12:38 AM

Ethnic Albanian girl dies as Macedonian violence flares

TETOVO, Macedonia, July 23 (AFP) -
A 12-year-old ethnic Albanian girl was killed in heavy fighting and 16
people were injured, including five members of the security forces, in
Tetovo in northwest Macedonia on Monday, the director of Tetovo hospital
told AFP.

The explosion of violence came a day before US President George W. Bush
made his first visit to the UN-run province of Kosovo across the northern
border and as Western envoys stepped up efforts to revive stalled talks on
political reforms to end the six-month conflict.

Ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the self-styled National Liberation Army
(NLA) fought a pitched battle with Macedonian security forces, lobbing
mortar bombs on to an army barracks on the edge of town.

The army said the guerrillas had opened fire first and that their troops
had responded.

The young girl killed was identified as Jehina Saliu. She died from
injuries received in the rebel-held village of Poroj on the eastern edge of
Tetovo, said hospital director Rahim Thaci.

The defence ministry also said a soldier was killed at an observation post
on the western border with Albania.

Among the wounded in Tetovo were four soldiers and one police officer,
Thaci said. One of the soldiers was critically injured and was transferred
to a hospital in the capital Skopje, 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the east.

Two soldiers were also slightly injured Sunday when fighting erupted on the
edge of Tetovo.

The flare-up was the heaviest since NATO brokered a tense truce between the
two sides on July 5 to allow talks to continue between Macedonian Slav and
ethnic Albanian political leaders to hammer out reforms giving the large
Albanian minority greater rights.

US and EU envoys James Pardew and Francois Leotard, who met President Boris
Trajkovski to find a way to restart the political dialogue, issued a joint
statement condemning the renewed fighting.

"We are very disappointed by the outbreak of violence in the area of Tetovo
and we strongly condemn those attacks and any use of violence. We urge
those responsible for these actions to respect the ceasefire," the
statement said.

One Western diplomat said the international community was "very worried by
these clashes which will increase hostilities."

"We don't know where this will lead, but it will certainly raise pressure"
on talks to find a political settlement, said the official.

The fighting started at 11:35 am (0935 GMT) was still underway six hours
later, with the army firing on the rebel-controlled village of Gajre on the
hills overlooking Tetovo, an AFP journalist on the scene said.

Heavy mortar and artillery fire could be heard, Western officials said.

The renewed combat dealt a severe blow to Western efforts to quell the
conflict, which started in February when the NLA launched an armed campaign
demanding more rights. Heavy fighting rocked Tetovo in March when the
guerrillas occupied the hills above above the town.

The government says the rebels used the ceasefire to reinforce their
positions around Tetovo, going as far as setting up their own checkpoint
near the town stadium, just a few hundred metres (yards) from a police
checkpoint.

The slow-moving political talks ground to a halt last Thursday when leaders
of the two ethnic Albanian parties in the government walked out, accusing
their Macedonian Slav coalition partners of trying to start the discussions
over from scratch.

The Macedonian Slavs rejected their demands for Albanian to be given the
status of second official language after Macedonian, and for more powers to
be devolved to local police.

Government officials in Skopje said it was possible, but not confirmed,
that Trajkovski would meet President Bush when he makes his first visit to
Kosovo on Tuesday, where he is due to address US troops in the NATO-led
peacekeeping force.

They said the meeting could either take place at Skopje airport or at the
US headquarters of Camp Bondsteel in southeast Kosovo.