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1)http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2002/p02-105e.htm [Background information follows below.] NATO Online Updated: 16-Sep-2002 NATO Press Releases Press Release (2002) 105 16 Sep. 2002 Statement by NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, following the elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1) The people of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1) voted yesterday in free and democratic legislative elections. These elections, held in a generally peaceful environment, were largely conducted in accordance with international standards. Across the whole country, large numbers of citizens from all ethnic communities voted. In doing so, they strongly expressed their will to take an active part in shaping their common future. The people of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1) and their political leaders have demonstrated political maturity and have set an example for the region as a whole. They have given themselves the power to build a dynamic, prosperous and peaceful society. The work is not finished yet and there will be more hard work ahead and many more challenges but these elections are a decisive step in the right direction and a clear rejection of the violence which tarnished the last months. By voting in such large numbers, the people of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1) delivered a clear and positive message: they want a strong, multi-ethnic and democratic society. They want to leave behind the past and they are resolutely turned towards the future, their future. And that future is within the mainstream of the Euro-Atlantic community. I commend the efforts of the OSCE, the European Union and other international observers as well as of the soldiers of Task Force Fox who worked with dedication and professionalism, contributing to a smooth and peaceful voting. I want to assure the people and political leaders of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(1): NATO and the international community will stand by your side and will continue supporting the consolidation of peace and stability in the country. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ag/Qmacedonia-vote-ahmeti.ROsS_CSG.html Ali Ahmeti, once a rebel, now a politician -He returned [to the Serbian province of Kosovo] to help set up and organise the the National Liberation Army (UCK) in Kosovo to take up arms against the forces of the former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic.... -He slipped over the border into Macedonia and helped revive the UCK in February last year to fight....there in a conflict which claimed between 70 and 150 lives, and nearly brought down the government of the former Yugoslav republic. -About three weeks ago the government announced that an arrest warrant had been issued against Ahmeti for alleged "genocide" and war crimes. MALA RECICA, Macedonia, Sept 16 (AFP) - Ali Ahmeti, whose party swept the ethnic Albanian vote in Macedonia's parliamentary elections, is a clean-cut one-time guerrilla turned politician who is still seen by many as a "terrorist" because he once took up arms against the Skopje government. His new Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) formed only last June and based in Mala Recica near the western town of Tetovo, has fared better than other more established Albanian parties on the political scene in the southernmost former Yugoslav republic. Now he is set to become the undisputed symbol of inter-ethnic rapprochement in Macedonia. It has been a long journey. Smallish, clean-shaven, close-cropped, and usually turned out in a jacket and tie, Ahmeti looks the studied opposite of a former revolutionary warlord. Born in the predominantly Albanian Kicevo district of western Macedonia in 1959, he went to Pristina, capital of the neighboring province of Kosovo, where the population is mainly Albanian, to study philosophy. >From the 1980s, he started protesting for years against successive governments in Belgrade and later Skopje, which he said, sought to "stifle" the rights of the mainly Muslim Albanians, people they regarded as "second tier" citizens. He said he spent two years in hiding and served time jail. Such was the pressure, he said, that in 1986, he fled to Switzerland where two years later, he was granted the status of a political refugee. >From his Alpine exile, he said, he constantly petitioned the United Nations and Western embassies about the discrimination against the Albanian community. He returned to help set up and organise the the National Liberation Army (UCK) in Kosovo to take up arms against the forces of the former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, now on trial for war crimes in The Hague. After the NATO aerial blitz of Kosovo in 1999 forced the withdrawal of Serbian forces, political agreements led to the disbanding of the UCK in June that year. He slipped over the border into Macedonia and helped revive the UCK in February last year to fight for Albanian rights there in a conflict which claimed between 70 and 150 lives, and nearly brought down the government of the former Yugoslav republic. He became a wanted man. But under the terms of the Ohrid peace accord, which guaranteed his quest for better rights for Albanians who make up nearly a quarter of the population of two million, the UCK disarmed and he was amnestied. About three weeks ago the government announced that an arrest warrant had been issued against Ahmeti for alleged "genocide" and war crimes. Despite its obviously political motivation, Ahmeti said he was not concerned. "Such measures will never be applied. I am too well protected, as much as by my entourage as by the Albanian citizens," he said. Ahmeti not only calls for restraint on the part of his adversaries, but also seeks to quash dreams of a Greater Albania or Greater Kosovo which are shared by some of his fellow ethnic-Albanians. "I am only interested in opening the borders for the free circulation of people and goods," he said. Today, he insists, his goal is that of a resolute European. ------------------------------------------------------- 3)http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/29/31465.html Pravda.ru June 29, 2002 "SPEAK FREELY, ONLY THE AMERICANS LISTEN TO WHAT WE SAY" An investigative journalist from the Dutch media house 'VPRO' obtained some scandalous documents from European intelligence services, which confirm that the USA was deeply involved in last year war in Macedonia and that they supplied Ali Ahmeti;s 'Uckas' with telecommunications devices and provided them with military training," writes Dnevnik's Friday edition. The documents that the "VPRO" has can be divided in three groups - documents for the UCK leaders, schemes for organizational positioning of the "NLA" and daily records for the events on the front. The first group of documents clearly shows that Ali Ahmeti was receiving orders directly from Hasim Thaci. The journalist Hub Jaspers confirms the claims of the Macedonian security forces that the "NLA" is not "local" terrorist organization, but that it was established and led by centers in Kosovo. The "VPRO" cannot integrally publish the documents in order not to harm its sources. "The reports that we received have been developed by intelligence services for several European governments. They include warning to the governments to prepare themselves to answer to some very unpleasant questions regarding the war in Macedonia," Hub Jaspers told Dnevnik. The two parties from the Dutch ruling coalition have already asked from the government to comment the claims of the "VPRO", to which the Dutch ministry of defense rejected the claims that the USA was involved in the urging of the war in Macedonia. Rob de Vijk, former advisor in the Dutch army staff, was called to see the documents. On Thursday he confirmed that the documents were authentic and developed by intelligence services of several European countries. He did not want to name the countries whose services developed the documents. Jaspers claims that the documents confirm that the disarmament of the UCK in 1999 in Kosovo was only symbolical. The Albanian extremists have kept most of the weapons in warehouses in Kosovo and the same weapons were used in the combats in Macedonia. there is also an information that before the "Essential Harvest" operation huge quantities of weapons were transferred to Macedonia from Pec, and later this weaponry was handed over to the NATO troops. The documents do not say it that weaponry was old as the local media claimed, however it was brought it order the number of 3,500 pieces to be achieved. The documents also point out that the "NLA" was helped by the USA with logistic support and weapons. "Speak freely, only the Americans listen to what we say. OK, perhaps the Russians can hear us as well," this is a quote from a conversation between two "NLA" commanders during the conflict last year. The information that Jaspers received shows that the USA have equipped the "NLA" commanders with communication devices so they can communicate during the clashes without to be heard. However, the UCKas did not know that their conversations were recorded by intelligence services of several other European NATO member countries, and Jaspers obtained these recordings. "According to these information, 70% of the weapons that the NLA had was produced in the USA," Jaspers says. One of the most shocking news is that in the village of Arachinovo, together with the commander Hodza's UCKas, also 17 American military instructors from the mercenary MPRI went in. "The European intelligence services were surprised when 17 Americans exited from the buses with which they pulled out the Albanian terrorists from Kosovo. It is not certain if they fought on the side of the "NLA" but they have certainly trained them for combat," Jaspers says. Similar claims were also published in the Greek "Kathimerini" and the German "Hamburger Abenblat." The MPRI is an organization established by retired American officers or officers who after the training simply see more profit in working as mercenaries than as officers in the US Army, Dnevnik writes. Washington has to approve its engagement. Yesterday the MPRI issued an announcement claiming that its employees were never pulled out or saved by the American Army or some international organization. Jaspers' documents indicate that the European intelligence services did not know before the offensive that there were MPRI men in the village. It cannot be determined if the strong pressure from the international community for termination of the offensive in Aracinovo was due to the need these people to be saved. MIA http://www.mia.com.mk/webang.asp __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
