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U.S. troops, Albanians clash
Two rebels wounded in incident near Kosovo-Macedonia border,
raising heat in Balkans
ALAN FREEMAN
Globe And Mail
Thursday, March 8, 2001
LONDON -- Tension in the Balkans rose yesterday after U.S. peacekeepers clashed with ethnic-Albanian rebels in a village near Kosovo‘s border with Macedonia, injuring two of the gunmen.
The incident, the first armed skirmish involving international peacekeepers since they began reinforcing the border last week, raised fears that the still-simmering Kosovo conflict could spill over into neighbouring Macedonia and other countries in the region.
"It‘s potentially a very dangerous situation because it‘s inflaming the passions of three players" -- the Serbs, the Macedonians and the Kosovo Albanians, said Brenda Pearson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, a think tank that studies the Balkans.
Yesterday‘s clash took place in the hamlet of Mijak, just across the border from the Macedonian village of Tanusevci, where Macedonian soldiers and ethnic-Albanian guerrillas fought for two days earlier this week. Three Macedonian soldiers were killed on Sunday and several hundred ethnic Albanians fled over the border into Kosovo.
Yesterday, the U.S. troops, part of the KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo, opened fire after they encountered a group of five or six men who pointed their weapons at them. One of the injured was detained while the other one fled across the border with the rest of the group.
"We will not allow Kosovo to be a safe haven for armed groups," KFOR spokesman Richard Heffer said. "I think the incident today shows that where necessary KFOR will take robust action against illegal activity on our side of the border."
Adding to the tensions, two Yugoslav soldiers were killed and two others were injured yesterday when a land mine destroyed their vehicle 10 kilometres to the northeast.
Two years ago, the international community intervened on the side of the Kosovo Albanians against the army of Yugoslavia‘s former president Slobodan Milosevic. Now it is Kosovo Albanian insurgents who are seen as the troublemakers, and the newly democratic Yugoslav government is regarded as more reasonable.
Initially, the trouble was concentrated on the border between southern Serbia and Kosovo, where the ethnic-Albanian rebels control several villages in the Presevo Valley and have had running battles with Yugoslav forces.
The spillover of tensions into Macedonia is of particular concern because of the volatile ethnic mix in this former Yugoslav republic of two million people that gained independence a decade ago. Ethnic Albanians, who are Muslims, make up about one-quarter of the population, which is primarily Macedonian Slav and of the Eastern Orthodox faith.
"Now that the Albanian KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] is moving into Macedonia, this means that the international community, including the U.S., can no longer stand by and watch," said Jacques Rupnik, a Balkan specialist and research director of the Paris-based Centre d‘Études et de Récherches Internationales.
"Macedonia is a state whose stability the international community considers crucially important for the region," he continued. "If the internationals don‘t look after this problem, others will."
Already, there are signs that Belgrade is moving closer to the Macedonian government. And in a further sign of support for Macedonia, Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said yesterday that his government will send military supplies, including ammunition, to Macedonia beginning today.
"We clearly state that we do not accept the terrorist activity in the region . . . as it undermines efforts for finding a lasting peaceful solution to the whole knot of problems in Kosovo," he said.
It is unclear what the ethnic-Albanian rebels from Kosovo want, although there are those who believe in a greater Albania, which would encompass enclaves in Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia as well as Albania proper.
Mr. Rupnik said what the rebels are worried about is losing Western support and their dream of an independent Kosovo now that Mr. Milosevic has been overthrown. They are telling the international community that "any talk of bringing Kosovo back into Serbia will only bring you unrest and violence," he said.
Mr. Rupnik said it‘s essential to clamp down on the insurgents to reassure the new government in Belgrade that it is being integrated into the West.
"Everybody understands that if you want to help Serbia revert to nationalism, just allow this to continue," he said. "This is the time to show clearly to the Kosovo Albanians what the limits are."
Two rebels wounded in incident near Kosovo-Macedonia border,
raising heat in Balkans
ALAN FREEMAN
Globe And Mail
Thursday, March 8, 2001
LONDON -- Tension in the Balkans rose yesterday after U.S. peacekeepers clashed with ethnic-Albanian rebels in a village near Kosovo‘s border with Macedonia, injuring two of the gunmen.
The incident, the first armed skirmish involving international peacekeepers since they began reinforcing the border last week, raised fears that the still-simmering Kosovo conflict could spill over into neighbouring Macedonia and other countries in the region.
"It‘s potentially a very dangerous situation because it‘s inflaming the passions of three players" -- the Serbs, the Macedonians and the Kosovo Albanians, said Brenda Pearson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, a think tank that studies the Balkans.
Yesterday‘s clash took place in the hamlet of Mijak, just across the border from the Macedonian village of Tanusevci, where Macedonian soldiers and ethnic-Albanian guerrillas fought for two days earlier this week. Three Macedonian soldiers were killed on Sunday and several hundred ethnic Albanians fled over the border into Kosovo.
Yesterday, the U.S. troops, part of the KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo, opened fire after they encountered a group of five or six men who pointed their weapons at them. One of the injured was detained while the other one fled across the border with the rest of the group.
"We will not allow Kosovo to be a safe haven for armed groups," KFOR spokesman Richard Heffer said. "I think the incident today shows that where necessary KFOR will take robust action against illegal activity on our side of the border."
Adding to the tensions, two Yugoslav soldiers were killed and two others were injured yesterday when a land mine destroyed their vehicle 10 kilometres to the northeast.
Two years ago, the international community intervened on the side of the Kosovo Albanians against the army of Yugoslavia‘s former president Slobodan Milosevic. Now it is Kosovo Albanian insurgents who are seen as the troublemakers, and the newly democratic Yugoslav government is regarded as more reasonable.
Initially, the trouble was concentrated on the border between southern Serbia and Kosovo, where the ethnic-Albanian rebels control several villages in the Presevo Valley and have had running battles with Yugoslav forces.
The spillover of tensions into Macedonia is of particular concern because of the volatile ethnic mix in this former Yugoslav republic of two million people that gained independence a decade ago. Ethnic Albanians, who are Muslims, make up about one-quarter of the population, which is primarily Macedonian Slav and of the Eastern Orthodox faith.
"Now that the Albanian KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] is moving into Macedonia, this means that the international community, including the U.S., can no longer stand by and watch," said Jacques Rupnik, a Balkan specialist and research director of the Paris-based Centre d‘Études et de Récherches Internationales.
"Macedonia is a state whose stability the international community considers crucially important for the region," he continued. "If the internationals don‘t look after this problem, others will."
Already, there are signs that Belgrade is moving closer to the Macedonian government. And in a further sign of support for Macedonia, Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said yesterday that his government will send military supplies, including ammunition, to Macedonia beginning today.
"We clearly state that we do not accept the terrorist activity in the region . . . as it undermines efforts for finding a lasting peaceful solution to the whole knot of problems in Kosovo," he said.
It is unclear what the ethnic-Albanian rebels from Kosovo want, although there are those who believe in a greater Albania, which would encompass enclaves in Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia as well as Albania proper.
Mr. Rupnik said what the rebels are worried about is losing Western support and their dream of an independent Kosovo now that Mr. Milosevic has been overthrown. They are telling the international community that "any talk of bringing Kosovo back into Serbia will only bring you unrest and violence," he said.
Mr. Rupnik said it‘s essential to clamp down on the insurgents to reassure the new government in Belgrade that it is being integrated into the West.
"Everybody understands that if you want to help Serbia revert to nationalism, just allow this to continue," he said. "This is the time to show clearly to the Kosovo Albanians what the limits are."