STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "They want to ethnically cleanse the village. There is no way for us to go back there." All but a handful of the village's 10,000 inhabitants, from both sides of Macedonia's ethnic divide, fled after the rebel National Liberation Army took control and threatened to shell the capital.... They would face a similar situation to minority Serbs in Albanian-dominated Kosovo, who live in enclaves guarded [sic] by heavily armed NATO-led peacekeepers.... "They are not fighting for rights, they are fighting for territory." 18 Jul 2001 00:00 Macedonians scared to return to flashpoint village By Fredrik Dahl (Reuters) - Macedonians who last month fled from ethnic Albanian guerrillas on Skopje's outskirts said on Wednesday they were too afraid to go home even though government forces have retaken control of their village. Sitting in the shade outside their temporary home in a drab student building in the capital, a group of men from Aracinovo said former neighbours were among the "terrorists" who ordered them to leave the predominantly Albanian village in early June. The fears of many majority Macedonians that parts of their country are being taken away from them at gunpoint have reduced political talks on a peace deal to stalemate as their leaders refuse to contemplate key concessions to the Albanian minority. "They want to ethnically cleanse the village," a 50-year-old called Dragi said. "There is no way for us to go back there." Although Macedonian policemen have taken the place in Aracinovo of the guerrillas, whose five-month rebellion in the name of minority rights has dragged the country towards civil war, others agreed. Bobi, a 27-year-old who like the others gave only his first name, said his eviction was supposed to be final. "They told me: 'This is the last time you're in Aracinovo, don't ever come back'," he told Reuters. "One of them was my neighbour." All but a handful of the village's 10,000 inhabitants, from both sides of Macedonia's ethnic divide, fled after the rebel National Liberation Army took control and threatened to shell the capital, just 10 kms (six miles) to the east. Tens of thousands like them have been uprooted during five months of sporadic warfare which erupted in February in the tiny Balkan country, among them 60,000 Macedonian Albanians who have fled to join friends and relatives in neighbouring Kosovo. DESERTION Aracinovo's battered homes are now largely deserted after NATO, in a deal aimed at calming tensions, evacuated NLA fighters late in June. Their departure followed a failed three-day government assault, which decimated the village with tanks and helicopter gunships and brought peace talks to a halt. "We had a house. Now we have nothing," said Angele, 53. During a visit this week, stray goats and cows searched for food in the eerie silence of Aracinovo's empty streets. Burnt-out cars and tractors littered the roadside. Armed policemen sought shelter from the sweltering heat, some of them sitting talking and drinking beer in a square. But their presence is cold comfort to the Macedonians, despite an announcement by Aracinovo's Albanian mayor last week that refugees could start returning soon. Those going back home would need protection, said another Macedonian man. They would face a similar situation to minority Serbs in Albanian-dominated Kosovo, who live in enclaves guarded by heavily armed NATO-led peacekeepers, he added. "The police and army can't stay forever," he said. On the other hand, the presence of Macedonian forces makes some Albanians reluctant to come back to the village. The men's bitter words reflect a widening divide between the two communities in the only former Yugoslav republic to leave the old socialist federation a decade ago without bloodshed. Such talk makes concessions to Albanian demands tough to agree under a peace plan designed to persuade the NLA to quit. "They have more than enough rights," said one Macedonian man from Aracinovo. "They are not fighting for rights, they are fighting for territory," another said. (With additional reporting by Kole Casule) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
