U.S. sending observation aircraft to Macedonia

U.S. forces patrol the border between Kosovo and Macedonia on Saturday to prevent weapons smuggling by ethnic Albanian rebels

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States will send unmanned reconnaissance planes to Macedonia to aid government troops in a border conflict there, President Bush announced.

That news came Friday in Bush's first statement about the growing tensions in Macedonia, the former Yugoslav republic where government troops are battling an ethnic Albanian insurgency.

U.S. agencies already are supplying government forces in Macedonia with surveillance information, Bush said. The United States will supply additional help with the Predator, an unmanned "drone" aircraft capable of photographing terrain and transmitting the data to a ground station.

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Bush condemned the violence, voicing support for the Macedonian government's efforts to "uphold democracy" and urging all those who hope to bring about political change "to work through the democratic political process."

"The United States joins its allies and the United Nations in strongly condemning the violence perpetrated by a small group of extremists determined to destabilize the democratic, multi-ethnic government of Macedonia," the president said.

An administration official said the White House hopes the president's statement has a "calming effect" in the region and said the statement "makes it clear" to the Albanian extremists that "we do not support their bid to destabilize Macedonia."

"It obviously wasn't clear ... so now we are making it clear," said the official, who did not want to be identified.

Macedonia was the only Yugoslav republic to break away from Belgrade in the early 1990s without bloodshed. Bush praised the Macedonian government for trying to "uphold democracy and the rule of law."

"We encourage the government to act with restraint and to work closely with elected representatives of the Albanian community to address legitimate concerns, while taking the necessary steps to prevent further violence," said Bush, who officials say is "closely" monitoring the situation.

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Macedonian Government
European Union
NATO
United Nations

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