Posted on 09/02/2003 10:41:38 AM PDT by Destro
Posted on Tue, Sep. 02, 2003
Macedonian Troops, Rebels in Standoff
GARENTINA KRAJA
Associated Press
SKOPJE, Macedonia - Macedonian authorities say they will not withdraw troops encircling a northern village until they capture a fugitive rebel leader - ignoring demands by a shadowy ethnic Albanian militant group to end the siege.
Hundreds of ethnic Albanian villagers have fled from their homes in Vaksince since the operation began Sunday, fearing clashes similar to those that shook the tiny Balkan nation in 2001.
The clashes between government forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents ended in a Western-brokered peace plan, but tensions persist.
Troops and police have used helicopters, trucks and roadblocks to surround Vaksince, about 10 miles northeast of the capital, Skopje.
"There will be no negotiations, no consideration of any demands or ultimatums with the self-styled rebel commanders," said Saso Colakovski, Macedonia's government spokesman. "The government is determined to carry on without any compromise in a struggle to isolate these criminals."
Macedonian forces have massed troops around Vaksince in the search for Albanian militant, Avdil Jakupi. It was not clear if Jakupi was in the area, but reporters visiting Vaksince on Monday saw armed men in the almost empty village.
Jakupi is believed to be a leader of the self-styled Albanian National Army, or ANA, which has taken responsibility for several armed attacks in Macedonia since the peace agreement took force.
Fears of clashes have risen in recent weeks, following grenade attacks on government buildings in Skopje.
Late Monday, ANA issued an ultimatum to the Macedonian police forces to withdraw from around Vaksince.
In statement posted on its Web site, ANA gave a 24-hour ultimatum, expiring Tuesday afternoon, to Macedonian troops to pull out or its members would "use any means available to accomplish a patriotic duty."
The group said in a fresh statement Tuesday that its forces were on standby for the "liberation of (ethnic Albanians) ... and unification of ethnic Albanian lands in a single state."
International officials in Macedonia, meanwhile, searched for a solution to defuse the standoff.
Ethnic Albanian parliament members and deputies from the northern Kumanovo region, where Vaksince is located, agreed to accompany representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to Vaksince to negotiate an end to the standoff.
Hey, international officials--why don't we let the Muslim terrorists get killed they way nature intended?
Hide and seek behind the acronyms.
They are 'rebels' while everywhere else Al-Qaeda allies are terrorists. Why, when Albanias ARE part of Al-Qaeda terrorist network. They trained in Al-Qaeda camps, Albanian terrorists were captured in Afghanistan and so on.
U.S. fights terrorism worldwide while overtly and covertly supporting Muslim terrorism in the Balkans.
There will be no victory in W.O.T. until there is a sharp detour from Clinton's foreign policy in the Balkans.
As of today, there is none.
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