MACEDONIA: ETHNIC ALBANIAN REFUGEES RETURN TO THEIR HOMES IN VILLAGE OF ARACHINOVO

Record ID: 275174

  • Title: MACEDONIA: ETHNIC ALBANIAN REFUGEES RETURN TO THEIR HOMES IN VILLAGE OF ARACHINOVO
  • Date: 29th July 2001
  • Summary: (W4) ARACINOVO, MACEDONIA (JULY 29, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: PERSON CYCLING ALONG ROAD 0.05 2. PAN: GROUP OF ETHNIC ALBANIANS WAITING TO RETURN HOME 0.12 3. SV: ETHNIC ALBANIAN MAN SMOKING 0.18 4. CU: POSTER ON STREET 0.22 5. SV: MAN IN CAR BUYING POSTER FROM MAN IN STREET 0.32 6. MV: MACEDONIAN SOLDIERS
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ARACHINOVO, MACEDONIA
  • Country: Macedonia
  • Reuters ID: LVA5L9Y4UEK7CWPZGQUGPZYSFV8U
  • Story Text: Ethnic Albanian refugees have started to return home to
    Aracinovo after leaving their homes in the Macedonian village
    which has been a flashpoint in an ethnic Albanian rebellion
    and the target of heavy shelling by Macedonian forces last
    month.


    Ethnic Albanians returning home to Aracinovo on Sunday
    (July 29) surveyed the scale of destruction to the village's
    homes and businesses from a three-day barrage by Macedonian
    government forces last month.

    Members of the Asani family were among those to return to
    find their home destroyed.

    Aguivar Asani said bitterly that it had taken his family
    50 years to create his home and yet Macedonian forces had
    destroyed it in a matter of minutes.

    Except for a handful of people, Aracinovo's 10,000
    inhabitants fled the village after the arrival of ethnic
    Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA).

    A shaky truce in force in June was shattered after
    government forces launched an all-out assault on the village
    with artillery, tanks, rockets and helicopter gunships after
    political talks between the divided communities hit a
    deadlock.

    The rebels had threatened to lob mortar bombs at the
    capital Skopje, just 10 kms (six miles) away, the nearby
    airport and the main highway between the two.

    The NLA says it is fighting for the rights of ethnic
    Albanians in Macedonia.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register