- Title: MACEDONIA: ALBANIAN REBELS RELEASE SEVEN MORE MACEDONIAN CAPTIVES.
- Date: 28th August 2001
- Summary: TETOVO, MACEDONIA (AUGUST 27) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS HEADQUARTERS IN TETOVO 0.02 2. MV: RED CROSS DELEGATE CAROLINE DOUILLEZ SPEAKING TO RELATIVES AWAITING ARRIVAL OF PRISONERS 0.07 3. GV/CU: RELATIVES WAITING (2 SHOTS) 0.14 4. GV/PAN: CONVOY OF RED CROSS VEHICLES APPROACHING 0.26 5. MV: DOORS BEING OPEN, PRISONERS COMING OUT 0.53 6. MCU: FAMILIES HUGGING AND KISSING, CRYING/ CLOSE OF RELEASED PRISONER/ PRISONERS SURROUNDED BY RELATIVES/ RELEASED PRISONER TAKING TO RELATIVE (3 SHOTS) 1.26 7. GV/PAN: RELEASED PRISONER GREETED BY ICRC DELEGATE 1.37 8. GV/PAN: RELEASED PRISONERS WALKING INTO RED CROSS BUILDING 1.47 9. MCU: SOUNDBITE (MACEDONIAN) RELEASED PRISONER (WHO WANTED TO REMAIN UNIDENTIFIED) SPEAKING: "I am saying nothing." 1.53 10. MV: GROUP OF RELATIVES TALKING ON MOBILE PHONES, NOTIFYING FAMILIES THAT THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS WERE RELEASED. 2.01 11. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) CAROLINE DOUILLEZ, ICRC DELEGATE: "It is important not to forget that in this crowd here today there were people who had been waiting for their relatives and who did no see them coming back. We have had a commitment from the NLA to give the ICRC access to all the people who are held and we still have people who are remaining reported by their families as missing and we will continue to ask for access and for information on these people." 2.27 12. GV: RELEASED PRISONERS WITH FAMILIES IN FRONT OF ICRC HQ 2.34 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th September 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TETOVO, MACEDONIA
- Country: Macedonia
- Reuters ID: LVA7L0OLQPB5VN4KTSQXUJRETXQ7
- Story Text: Seven Macedonian men have been released by ethnic
Albanian rebels taking to 15 the total number of captives
handed over by the National Liberation Army (NLA) in the last
two days.
The captives were on Monday (August 27) handed to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the area of
Tetovo, a large Albanian-majority town close to the front line
of recent fighting between the NLA and Macedonian government
forces.
"The ICRC have just brought out seven persons who had been
released but there are still people who remain reported as
missing by their families and we will continue asking for
access to them," said ICRC delegate Caroline Douillez who
assisted the handover of the prisoners to the International
Red Cross.
She said that according to provisional information all
were captured at the end of July.
The Red Cross has given the NLA rebels a list of 26
Macedonians reported missing by their families. By Sunday, the
NLA had only supplied information on the fate of around half
that number.
The handover of the seven captives coincides with the NLA
yielding its first weapons to NATO under a plan to disband the
rebel movement in return for greater civil rights for the
ethnic Albanian minority living in Macedonia.
Parliament is due to begin debating constitutional changes
favouring the Albanians on Friday, by which time NATO hopes to
have gathered one third of its target for the 30-day mission
of 3,300 guerrilla weapons.
The ICRC is also involved in trying to return people to
villages and towns they fled during six months of fighting
largely quelled by a ceasefire and political agreement
thrashed out earlier this month.
While ethnic Albanians were beginning to return to their
homes in the Tetovo and Kumanovo regions, the movement of
Macedonians back to areas where the NLA is still operating has
been slower.
cah/
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