-Caveat Lector- From http://www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/archive/200108/For20010829b.html }}>Begin Macedonia Rebels Surrendering Too Few Weapons, Analyst Says By Beth Kampschror CNSNews.com Correspondent August 29, 2001 Sarajevo (CNSNews.com) - The number of weapons ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia are scheduled to hand over to NATO troops as part of a peace deal is too low, a military analyst warned Wednesday. "It's a ridiculously low figure," said Richard Bennett of the 3,300 weapons NATO expects to collect from the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA). "It's a figure that has been given to NATO by the Albanians themselves. It's probably about 10 percent of what they've actually got in their possession," added Bennett, a senior analyst with the UK-based Armed Forces Intelligence (AFI) Research. The NLA is supposed to turn over the weapons as part of NATO's Operation Essential Harvest, which is aimed at keeping Macedonia from sliding into civil war. The rebel group began its insurgency in February, saying they were fighting for more rights for Macedonia's sizeable ethnic Albanian minority. The government believes the rebels were trying to carve out an Albanian mini-s tate and charges that the trouble has been imported from neighboring Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are in the majority. The Macedonian government puts the number of NLA weapons as high as 85,000. Bennett said in a phone interview that sounded like a more accurate figure. "I doubt they have actually got that in their hot little hands," he said, but added that all the NLA has to do is cross the relatively open border into Kosovo to find all the weapons they need. There are also concerns that the NLA is keeping back its most effective weapons and giving NATO its oldest and least effective ones. Macedonian government spokesperson Antonio Milososki said earlier the operation should be called "Museum Harvest" because of the age of the several hundred weapons already turned in to the British-led NATO force. "I wouldn't disagree with that for a second," Bennett said. "The NLA is getting rid of arms that are no use to them. NATO's basically doing a dustman's job - a garbage removal job for the NLA." Bennett said that the NLA, like all guerrilla organizations, doesn't want weapons that are difficult to maintain or to hide. A tank, for instance, would be of no operational value in this case but would give NATO somethin g to show to the media, he said. "[The valuable weapons] will either be buried or be taken safely back across the border into Kosovo for further use," he said. Bennett said NATO had a "golden opportunity" to disarm the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo when the alliance took over the province in 1999, after its air campaign against Yugoslav forces. But neither disarmament nor demobiliz ation took place, with dire consequences for Macedonia. "It's shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted," he said. Earlier, defense analyst Philip Mitchell of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London said the success of the NATO mission would have to be judged on the quality and quantity of weapons surrendered. "Even then, given the fact that entire region is awash with weapons ... however many weapons are handed in, it's true to say they could quickly be replaced by what is hidden in the mountains of Kosovo, just over the borde r," he said. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson is in Macedonia Wednesday to inspect Essential Harvest, though tensions in the country have not subsided. The state news agency reported that a bomb went off at an ethnic Albanian primary school after midnight last night. No casualties were reported. The NLA agreed to disarm only if political changes granting ethnic Albanians in Macedonia more rights were imminent. An agreement reached earlier this month aims to give the Albanian language semi-official status and to ethnically balance the country's police forces. Parliament is expected to begin debating the changes Friday. See also: NATO's Latest Balkans Mission May Exceed Time Limit (Aug 23, 2001) End<{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
