[AMCC-News] "burned our school": Albanians Say Macedonian Troops Empty, Burn Hamlet": "and they burned the mosque and the cattle"

[Mentor Cana]

      "Arjeta Kamberi, a 19-year-old student, told Reuters there
       were no armed insurgents of the self-styled National
       Liberation Army (UCK) in Runica, which was suddenly filled
       with troops at around 4 A.M. Monday.

     ``The [Macedonian] soldiers all wore black clothes and masks.
       They smashed our windows when everyone was asleep and dragged
       us out. Then they poured petrol on buildings and set them on
       fire,'' she said.

     ``They burned our school which was built for us by (Italian
       charity) Caritas, and they burned the mosque and the cattle
       and horses in their stalls.''

NOTE: The following are few excerpts from the Reuters' article "Albanians
Say Macedonian Troops Empty, Burn Hamlet", By Douglas Hamilton

Full article at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010522/wl/balkans_guerrillas_village_dc_1.html
Tuesday May 22 1:26 PM ET

CERKES, Macedonia (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanians on Tuesday alleged that
masked Macedonian troops attacked their remote mountain hamlet in a
pre-dawn raid, evicted them and set fire to their homes, mosque and school.
...
The United Nations (news - web sites) refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kosovo said
on Tuesday that 43 civilians from Runica had arrived in Kosovo late Monday
night after trekking over the mountains.
``Some of them are wounded,'' UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort
told Reuters. The civilians said they had fled because of shelling.
...
Arjeta Kamberi, a 19-year-old student, told Reuters there were no armed
insurgents of the self-styled National Liberation Army (UCK) in Runica,
which was suddenly filled with troops at around 4 A.M. Monday.
``The soldiers all wore black clothes and masks. They smashed our windows
when everyone was asleep and dragged us out. Then they poured petrol on
buildings and set them on fire,'' she said.
``They burned our school which was built for us by (Italian charity)
Caritas, and they burned the mosque and the cattle and horses in their
stalls.''
...
``This is the first time I hear something like that. I have no information
about anyone burning houses,'' army spokesman Colonel Blagoje Markovski
told Reuters.
...
Defense Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov Tuesday told Reuters seven
civilians had been evacuated by helicopter -- the only apparent detail in
which the stories coincide.
``I have no intention of commenting on what these so-called refugees are
saying,'' he said. ``This is like the accusations made during the Kosovo
crisis about us kicking their teeth out.''
...
Family members around him said he had been badly beaten by soldiers, one of
whom pushed the barrel of his Kalashnikov rifle into Ahmedi's mouth while
another kicked him, demanding he tell all he knew about the movements of
the guerrillas.

Ahmedi's 31-year-old son Shukri, displaying bruises to the ribs, said
soldiers had doused him with petrol and were going to set him alight. But
his sisters and mother Advie, whose undershirt was stained with blood,
prevented them.
``There were no UCK in our village,'' said Kamberi. ``And our village has
never been attacked.''
....
According to the Ahmedi family, around 10 ``grenades'' were fired at Runica
at the start of the alleged army assault.
...
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that roughly
10,000 civilians are still living in a cluster of villages west of Kumanovo
that are held by the UCK and subject to attack by government security
forces.
...
Asked why they did not leave to escape army bombardment by tanks and
artillery -- as the government has repeatedly urged them to do -- Stamm
said: ``There is no single, unique answer.''
``We cannot exclude some pressure by the armed men, or that some others are
staying in solidarity, and a certain number are not leaving because they do
not feel like encountering the Macedonian army.''