Macedonia closes volatile border

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia has closed its Kosovo border for the second time in a week after a policeman was killed in an attack on a government convoy.

The gunmen who attacked the convoy in the village of Brest are presumed to be ethnic Albanian gunmen based near the town of Tanusevci on the border with Kosovo.

They killed the police driver by blowing up his jeep with a shoulder-launched grenade.

The convoy, which included Macedonian government officials -- among them the country's deputy interior minister -- came under attack late on Thursday and was effectively trapped until early on Friday when it managed to withdraw and was reported to be on its way back to the capital.

A Reuters Television crew said they saw some 30 jeeps and up to 15 trucks, some carrying police, heading toward Skopje.

AUDIO Lord Robertson of NATO: The strategy is to ensure that violence doesn't spill over neighbouring areas 919 KB/85 sec. AIFF or WAV sound There's a new NATO-Belgrade relationship 589 KB/55 secs. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Chris Burns: Macedonian ethnic Albanian leaders do not want a major KFOR operation 584 KB/54 secs. AIFF or WAV sound

"The convoy has been taken out of (the village of) Brest. All policemen and civilians are safe," police spokesman Stevo Pendarovski said.

In another incident on Friday, a Serb policeman was killed in a rebel attack in the southern Serbian village of Lucane, close to the volatile boundary with Kosovo, Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic said.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic described the latest attack in southern Serbia as "very serious."

"A large-scale attack is under way on the outpost in Lucane and our police have been forced to respond in self-defence," he said.

The Macedonian-Kosovo border was first closed on Sunday after three Macedonian soldiers were killed near a border village occupied by ethnic Albanian gunmen.

That closure cut off supplies to Kosovo, caused long queues of trucks inside the U.N.-governed province and stranded in Macedonia dozens of international personnel working in Kosovo. Skopje re-opened the crossings on Wednesday.

Earlier on Friday, Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjam Kerim urged NATO to deploy troops all along its Kosovo border to prevent attacks.

Skopje blames what it calls "Albanian extremists" for the surge of violence on its border that has stirred international concern, but stresses it does not blame Kosovo's ethnic Albanians as a whole.

Kerim asked NATO for "the immediate establishment of a ground safety area along the entire Macedonia-Yugoslavia border from the Kosovo side, by KFOR and by countries willing to make their contribution if necessary."

It was virtually the same proposal he made to the United Nations in New York earlier in the week, which was dismissed by NATO.

"I don't think another ground safety zone, frankly, is the answer here," said NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson.

"Robust patrolling" of the Macedonian border by KFOR was NATO's preferred solution to preventing infiltrations, he said.

But Kerim said it did not matter how the action was labelled, as long as NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo took effective action to prevent any further "spillover" of armed Albanian extremists from Kosovo.

"Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are definitely not in danger," Kerim said. "We don't insist on forms we insist on effective measures. And it doesn't matter how we will define that. What matters is that we have effective measures on the borderline."

Kerim said he was not seeking a NATO deployment in his own country. But he appeared to leave open the possibility of bilateral agreements by which willing countries could help by sending troops to patrol inside Macedonia.

"I don't believe we need help inside our country. What I firmly believe is that coordination between KFOR actions and actions of Macedonian security" can be effective, Kerim said.

"As far as deployment of troops of other countries along the border is concerned this is a decision which depends on their government and on what NATO will decide," he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Fighting traps Macedonia minister
March 9, 2001
Ethnic tension simmers in Macedonia
March 9, 2001
Bulgaria offers troops to Macedonia
March 5, 2001
Macedonia: A Balkan time bomb?
March 1, 2001
Crisis talks on Kosovo tension
March 7, 2001
Gun battle on Kosovo border
March 7, 2001
NATO considers Macedonia fears
March 7, 2001

Macedonian Government
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
KFOR
OSCE
United Nations
NATO

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.