YUGOSLAVIA/MACEDONIA: NATO TO STEP UP PATROLS ON KOSOVO SIDE OF BORDER WITH MACEDONIA AS HEAVY FIRING BREAKS OUT BETWEEN MACEDONIAN SECURITY FORCES AND ALBANIAN GUERILLAS IN VIILAGE OF TANUSEVCI

Record ID: 647405

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA/MACEDONIA: NATO TO STEP UP PATROLS ON KOSOVO SIDE OF BORDER WITH MACEDONIA AS HEAVY FIRING BREAKS OUT BETWEEN MACEDONIAN SECURITY FORCES AND ALBANIAN GUERILLAS IN VIILAGE OF TANUSEVCI
  • Date: 5th March 2001
  • Summary: NEAR DEBELDE, MACEDONIA-KOSOVO BORDER, YUGOSLAVIA (MARCH 5, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF THE BORDER AREA (2 SHOTS) 0.05 2. GV: MACEDONIAN POSITIONS, MACEDONIA OBSERVATION POINT 0.09 3. VARIOUS: KFOR SOLDIERS AT THE BORDER, WATCHING THE BORDER / HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD (5 SHOTS) 0.34 4. LV/SLV: KFOR HEAVY MILITARY VEHICLES ARRIVING AT THE BORDER (2 SHOTS) 0.48 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) SERGEANT BRYAN THOMAS, KFOR SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "Well, after the actions of yesterday on the other side of the border we want to increase our presence here to let the Macedonian people know that we are going to, in the border area, considerably watch the border on this side." 0.58 6. GV/LV: KFOR HELICOPTERS HOVERING OVER THE AREA (2 SHOTS) 1.12 POBOJIE, (15 KMS FROM SKOPJE, MACEDONIA (MARCH 5, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. TRAVELLING SHOT: FROM INTERIOR OF VEHICLE APPROACHING SECURITY CHECKPOINT 1.24 8. GV: HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD 1.31 SCOPJE, MACEDONIA (MARCH 5, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. WIDE OF DEFENCE MINISTRY PRESSER 1.50 10. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) DEFENCE MINISTRY SPEAKER GEOGI TRENDAFILOU SAYING: "There is a certain degree of mobilisation of reserve forces at the moment. It means that the HQ decided that there is necessity for reservists and this is a fact now... Unofficially we have some information that last night there were movements with torches in the dark and the terrorists have buried weapons and uniforms in pits on Kosovo territory." 2.22 DRACHEVO, MACEDONIA (MARCH 5, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. PAN: EXTERIOR CHURCH 2.30 12. LV: INTERIOR CHURCH 2.35 13. TV'S/SV: PEOPLE KISS BODY OF MACEDONIAN SOLDIER TEODOR, WHO WAS KILLED ON SUNDAY (4 SHOTS) 3.05 14. SCU: WOMAN CRYING 3.12 15. SV: COFFIN IN CHURCH 3.16 16. MV: COFFIN IS CARRIED TO FRESHLY DUG GRAVE IN CEMETERY / MAN KISSES BODY (2 SHOTS) 3.25 17. VARIOUS: COFFIN PLACED IN GRAVE AS MOURNERS WATCH (4 SHOTS) 3.49 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOCATION NEAR DEBELDE, NEAR THE MACEDONIA-KOSOVO BORDER, YUGOSLAVIA/POBOJIE, SKOPJE AND DRAHCEVO, MACEDONIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVABHQXZBSTPUPSWZWF493DKIV01
  • Story Text: After calls from Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski
    to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Oganisation) Secretary-General
    George Robertson, NATO said it was stepping-up patrols on the
    Kosovo side of the border between Yugoslavia and Macedonia.

    Heavy firing broke out on Monday between Macedonian
    security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas occupying a
    village of Tanusevci inside Macedonia, according to a Reuters
    reporter.


    Balkan governments and NATO officers watched anxiously
    as Macedonia tried to snuff out a pocket-sized conflict on its
    border with Kosovo on Monday (March 5), fearing it could
    ignite new turmoil in the region.

    Gunmen were seen apparently pulling out of the ethnic
    Albanian border village of Tanusevci after exchanging fire
    with Macedonian troops, U.S. peacekeepers across the frontier
    in Kosovo said.

    The gunmen headed towards Kosovo but stopped short of U.S.

    peacekeeping troops who have reinforced their positions on the
    Kosovo border and say they will detain anyone who tries to
    cross.

    The retreat did not seem to mark an end to a crisis, which
    Macedonia's Slav-led government said was triggered when ethnic
    Albanian fighters in the isolated mountain village began
    attacking its forces a week ago. It escalated dramatically on
    Sunday with the killings of three Macedonian soldiers.

    One third of tiny Macedonia's population is ethnic
    Albanian, like the majority in strife-ridden neighbouring
    Kosovo, and the impoverished country has long been seen as a
    potential flashpoint in the Balkans.

    Macedonian army chiefs had consulted overnight with NATO
    on how to flush out the gunmen. Western officials had earlier
    urged Macedonia not to use force to end the crisis but on
    Sunday abruptly changed their tune and announced they would
    understand if it did so.

    NATO is worried the gunmen, emboldened by the success of
    the armed struggle in Kosovo, might extend it into Macedonia,
    a fragile ex-Yugoslav republic that escaped recent Balkan
    wars.

    KFOR spokesman Bryan Thomas explained NATO's reinforcement
    at the border by saying: "Well, after the actions of yesterday
    on the other side of the border we want to increase our
    presence here to let the Macedonian people know that we are
    going to, in the border area, considerably watch the border on
    this side."
    One of the three Macedonian soldiers killed on Sunday
    (identified as Teodor) was buried in his home town of
    Drachevo.


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