YUGOSLAVIA: WESTERN AND RUSSIAN POWERS EXPRESS ALARM OVER MACEDONIA'S DECISION TO ACT AGAINST ARMED GROUPS OPERATING ON ITS BORDER WITH KOSOVO
Record ID:
647216
YUGOSLAVIA: WESTERN AND RUSSIAN POWERS EXPRESS ALARM OVER MACEDONIA'S DECISION TO ACT AGAINST ARMED GROUPS OPERATING ON ITS BORDER WITH KOSOVO
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: WESTERN AND RUSSIAN POWERS EXPRESS ALARM OVER MACEDONIA'S DECISION TO ACT AGAINST ARMED GROUPS OPERATING ON ITS BORDER WITH KOSOVO
- Date: 27th February 2001
- Summary: DEBELDE VILLAGE, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (FEBRUARY 27, 2001)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF SNOW-COVERED VILLAGE 0.05 2. VARIOUS: TRACTOR CARRYING FAMILY AND BELONGINGS IN VILLAGE THROUGH HEAVY SNOW (3 SHOTS) 0.22 3. VARIOUS OF REFUGEES WASHING CLOTHES, COOKING (2 SHOTS) 0.32 4. VARIOUS OF REFUGEE CHILDREN (3 SHOTS) 0.49 5. PAN: INTERIOR VIEW FINANI FAMILY (ALBANIAN), 43 MEMBERS, SITTING IN ROOM 0.58 6. SV: WOMAN WITH BABY 1.03 7. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Albanian) HAMDI FINANI, REFUGEE: "Ever since Albanians exist there (in Macedonia) they have been under pressure. We were harassed and maltreated, but we were surviving. Now they (the Macedonian army and police) started killing and beating us and even shooting at us." 1.25 8. SV: WOMEN AND CHILDREN SEATED IN ROOM 1.30 9. LV: EXTERIOR VILLAGE/ VARIOUS HOUSES 1.35 10. MV: ANOTHER REFUGEE FAMILY IN FRONT OF BUILDING 1.40 11. LV: THREE GIRLS WALKING DOWN MOUNTAIN ROAD/ HILL IN BACKGROUND IS THE BORDER BETWEEN KOSOVO AND MACEDONIA 1.45 12. LV: U.S. K-FOR SOLDIERS ON ROAD ON FOOT PATROL 1.50 13. SLV: U.S. K-FOR OBSERVATION POST 1.55 14. VARIOUS OF U.S. K-FOR SOLDIERS (2 SHOTS) 2.04 15. SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) MAJOR BILL BURLESON, US KFOR: "K-for patrol came here in order to assist and ascertain if there are a number of refugees here as a result of the firing which occurred yesterday (February 27) in the hills. Our forces are here right now, just as they are in the rest of Kosovo, to provide a safe and secure environment, to conduct patrols and establish observation posts." 2.34 16. VARIOUS OF U.S. K-FOR PATROLLING (5 SHOTS) 3.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th March 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DEBELDE VILLAGE AND PRISTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVABXO1PGU9N9DJU87U5NKM54OAF
- Story Text: The Macedonian government said on ready to act against
armed groups operating on its border with Kosovo while Western
powers and Russia expressed alarm over the stability of the
Balkan state. The Macedonian Defence Ministry has described
the groups as ethnic Albanian "terrorists".
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and Defence
Minister Ljuben Paunovski have prepared a letter on the
crisis, which will be sent to the United Nations and NATO
later on Tuesday (February 27), officials told a closed
briefing for Macedonian journalists.
"The situation cannot stay like this forever; eventually
we have to attack with military force," said a senior defence
official who declined to be named.
Another senior government official said the NATO-led KFOR
peacekeeping force in ethnic Albanian dominated Kosovo was not
doing a good enough job of securing the border.
"We have asked KFOR to step up patrols many times. Now we
are asking the international community to support Macedonia in
dealing with the issue," the official said.
The strong government response is likely to further alarm
diplomatic powers, which had expressed concern about
Macedonia's stability after a gunbattle lasting several hours
erupted in a border area on Monday (February 26).
Macedonian officials said the fighting broke out between
security forces and armed ethnic Albanians after a joint army
and police patrol came under fire from inside Kosovo near the
village of Tanusevci north of Skopje on Monday.
A Reuters reporter in the area on Monday said the gunfire
all appeared to be coming from the Macedonian side of the
boundary. There were no reports of casualties.
Macedonian authorities said the border was calm on
Tuesday. A Reuters photographer on the Kosovo side of the
frontier -- in the village of Debelde across from Tanusevci --
also said it was quiet and heavily patrolled by NATO-led KFOR
troops.
Over 300 ethnic Albanian refugees have crossed over the
border from Macedonia into Kosovo with stories of intimidation
and harassment from Macedonian the police and army.
Macedonia borders Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia proper
and Kosovo. Since the country became independent in 1991, an
uneasy co-existence has prevailed between a Slav majority and
ethnic Albanians who make up around a third of the population.
The government coalition consists of parties which
represent ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.
"We have constitutional duty to protect the territorial
sovereignty of our country, but at the same time we should be
careful not to destroy the delicate balance of ethnic
relations," the government official said.
A Balkan-EU summit last week urged immediate action to
prevent violence in and around Kosovo from spreading and KFOR
pledged to step up its patrols near the boundary.
The rising tension on the three-way border of the Presevo
Valley in southern Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia also featured
at the first NATO foreign ministers meeting with the new U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"There will be a political and military mission
immediately to Skopje to see what the situation is on the
ground," NATO Secretary General George Robertson told a news
conference.
Russia also expressed its concern at the situation in a
foreign ministry statement on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear what has triggered increased
tension on the Kosovo-Macedonian border.
Macedonia's Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski was quoted
by the MIA news agency as saying last week's signing of a
border demarcation agreement between Macedonia and Yugoslavia
was "the main irritator for these terrorist groups".
Many observers believe that some in the Albanian community
in Macedonia, Kosovo and southern Serbia would see the
agreement as a barrier to both family ties and to cross-border
business, including highly lucrative smuggling.
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