Tetovo 27-03-01
¦¦¦ DWH ® ¦¦¦
Tetovo on Tuesday, urging ethnic Albanian guerrillas to lay down their arms
and fight for their rights in the political arena.
Solana held talks with local Albanian political leaders and gave a news
conference in the central square, beneath scenic hills where Macedonian
forces pushed back the rebels in a weekend assault.
"I think a country has a right to control its territory," the Spanish
diplomat said when asked whether he supported the military action. "It has
to do so in a manner that is proportionate."
Asked if the crisis was over, Solana said he hoped so.
"The battle to stabilize the Balkans goes on. We still have a lot to do," he
said.
Solana is the first senior Western official to visit Tetovo since fighting
between the guerrillas and Macedonian forces began two weeks ago in the
hillsides above the town.
Tetovo was calm on Tuesday morning. The only sign of military activity was a
truckload of soldiers driving through.
In a sign of normality of sorts returning, people started trickling back to
houses that had been in the line of fire at the foot of the hills above
Tetovo.
FORBIDDEN VILLAGE
But in the capital Skopje residents said they heard detonations in the
distance coming from an area near Macedonia's northern border with Kosovo,
east of Tetovo.
Asked about the report, a defense ministry official told Reuters that
guerrillas had shot at army positions near the village of Gracani, which was
occupied by the rebels last week after a battle with police and has been
sealed off ever since.
The official said the army had responded but gave no details. Reporters are
prevented from investigating.
Solana said he was in Macedonia's unofficial ethnic Albanian capital to
support the Macedonian people and promote an end to violence that triggered
fears of a new Balkan war.
"An important message to rebels is that the best thing they can do is to lay
down their weapons and start a political life," he said.
He held talks with Arben Xhaferi, leader of Macedonia's moderate Albanian
party, the Democratic Party of Albanians, and later walked through the
square arm-in-arm with the town's mayor, Murtenzan Ismaili, looking up at
the hills.
Mainstream Albanian leaders have denounced the rebels but also strongly
criticized the army offensive.
In neighboring Kosovo on Tuesday, a UN spokesman said international police
in the province had arrested 17 ethnic Albanian men from Macedonia for
possession of illegal weapons and ammunition.
Sixteen were arrested in the mountainous region of Zapluzje, said UN police
spokesman Dmitry Kaportsev.
The area is just across the border from Macedonia, directly north of Tetovo.
Macedonia argues that the guerrillas have been supplied and supported by
their ethnic kin from Kosovo.
NOW TAKE POLITICAL HIGH GROUND, NATO URGES
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and Solana held two hours of talks
with the Macedonian leadership late on Monday.
Robertson praised Macedonia for what he said was commendable restraint in
the weekend assault to flush out the rebels. The government had taken the
physical high ground, he said, and now it was time to take the political
high ground by intensifying talks with Albanian leaders.
Macedonian government officials earlier said rebel-held villages and all key
positions had been captured in Sunday's ground offensive carried out by
tanks, artillery and infantry.
Diplomatic sources said there had been "considerable dismay" among NATO
allies at Macedonia's decision to send the army into the Tetovo hinterland.
But NATO sources said on Tuesday the allies were relieved at the very low
level of casualties.
"I strongly commend the government of this country for the firm but
restrained way they have reacted to the provocations of the last few weeks,"
Robertson said late on Monday.
The rebels say they are fighting to improve the rights of Macedonia's large
ethnic Albanian minority, many of whom feel they are treated as second-class
citizens.
Macedonia denounces the gunmen as terrorists from ethnic Albanian-dominated
Kosovo seeking to expand the UN-ruled Serbian province into Albanian parts
of Macedonia to create a Greater Albania.
Macedonia's ambassador to Bulgaria said his country had no plans to invite
foreign troops, "especially at a time when we believe that the military part
of the crisis is coming to an end".
But Ljubisa Georgievski added after talks with Bulgarian President Petar
Stoyanov that some "minor skirmishes" could be anticipated, possibly carried
out by urban guerrillas.
June R Harton
Fyrom Slavs are not Macedonians, and Fyrom is NOT 'Macedonia'.
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/single_image/0,5716,4461+asmbly_id,00.html
Map from "Report of the International Commission To Inquire
into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars" 1914.
Country: VARDAR
ALL citizens: VARDARNS
Languages: VARDAR SLAVIC
VARDAR ALBANIAN
ONE nation BEFORE it is too late!
From: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
(using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek