NATO urges Macedonian restraint

KONCULJ, Yugoslavia -- NATO has urged Macedonia not to use force to oust gunmen from a village on the border with neighbouring Kosovo.

The Macedonian Government has threatened to launch a military strike against the settlement of Tanusevci, 40 kms (25 miles) north of Skopje, which they say is being used as a base by ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

But NATO officials warned that any military action by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia could shatter the fragile relations between ethnic Slavs and Albanians, and seriously destabilise the region.

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Peace in the Balkans

Macedonian Defence Ministry spokesman Georgi Trndafilov said "The army has completed deployment of reinforcements. It is positioned along the border to stop further penetration of terrorists into the country."

Macedonia, which experienced a massive influx of ethnic Albanian refugees during the Kosovo war of 1999, remains acutely susceptible to spillover violence from the troubled Serb province.

Daniel Speckhard, deputy assistant to NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, said: "This must be solved by political means.

"Solving it by other means may solve the short term problem, but it can create larger problems for the inter-ethnic relations in your country. A military response is not the best mechanism to use."

Macedonia has repeatedly complained that the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo is failing to secure the border on its side, thereby allowing violent elements to infiltrate Macedonian territory.

NATO is aware of the problem, and this week dispatched a high-level team to Macedonia to discuss the situation.

Speckhard said: "We have people with guns creating lawlessness in a small area and we have to find a solution to that.

"But we want to find a solution that stresses the multi-ethnic society and not to cause divisions."

Sporadic gunfire

Tanuscevi is located near the Presevo Valley in southern Serbia, a security zone where there have been constant clashes between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serb police.

"The majority of the armed groups have infiltrated the village from Kosovo," said a senior western diplomat who refused to be named.

"They have taken over the village and asked the people to leave. It is a small number of people, 100 at most."

The village has been completely cordoned off by Macedonian police, and there has, according to Macedonia's interior ministry, been sporadic shooting between Macedonian troops and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

On Thursday a missile fired from the village narrowly missed a Macedonian watchtower.

"From a military point of view they (the guerrillas) are easy to overcome," said the diplomat, "But politically it will have negative consequences."

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February 26, 2001
Balkans summit seeks end to violence
February 21, 2001

Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
NATO

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