Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [Heading to the brothels and pool halls for some rest and recuperation, preparatory to resuming their attacks in Macedonia, Southern Serbia and beyond.] U.N. Says 140 Ex-Macedonia Rebels Enter Kosovo PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - About 140 ethnic Albanians identifying themselves as former rebel fighters in Macedonia have crossed unarmed into neighboring Kosovo since Thursday afternoon, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday. It was the biggest such inflow since NATO troops began last Monday collecting weapons voluntarily handed in by the guerrilla National Liberation Army (NLA) in Macedonia as part of an alliance mission to disarm the rebels. The latest arrivals had valid Macedonian passports and were not detained, unlike many others who crossed into Kosovo over the last week, U.N. spokesman Andrea Angelli said. Since last Friday, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo has detained more than 250 suspected NLA members after they tried to cross illegally into Kosovo from Macedonia. Spokesmen of the KFOR peace force have said most of them were unarmed, adding it was a good sign if the guerrillas were not fighting anymore and were leaving the conflict zone. They have also said there were no signs the NLA suspects had tried to move weapons into Kosovo to hide them. Unlike earlier arrivals, Angelli said the 140 who arrived between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning crossed into the province from Albania, which borders both Kosovo and Macedonia. It was not immediately clear why they came that way. "They were in civilian clothes, but declared themselves as former combatants," he said. Angelli said only knives and NLA badges were found when they were searched, adding he presumed they were all men. "The majority of them were in their twenties." KFOR increased border surveillance earlier this year after the Macedonian government complained that many of the insurgents battling government forces had come from Kosovo. The NLA says it has been fighting for more rights for the country's one-third ethnic Albanian minority. Macedonians say the guerrillas want to hive off part of the former Yugoslav republic. NATO decided last week to deploy 4,500 troops in Macedonia to collect NLA arms in order to preserve a cease-fire agreed by the rebels and the government as part of a peace deal. Although the guerrillas were not party to the peace accord granting Macedonia's Albanians greater civil rights, they agreed to disband in return for political reforms. NATO officials have estimated the group's strength at 3,000-3,500 members. Kosovo was placed under U.N.-led administration in June 1999 after NATO's 11-week bombing campaign to halt Belgrade's repression of the province's ethnic Albanian majority. � __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
