[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2001 1:02 PM Subject: Scores Flee Macedonian Capital [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scores Flee Macedonia's Capital by MISHA SAVIC Associated Press Writer June 9, 2001 SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- Scores of people fled Macedonia's capital Saturday as police blocked roads around a suburb to stop ethnic Albanian militants from seizing control of territory dangerously close to Skopje. ''We are closely watching every movement in Aracinovo,'' police spokesman Stevo Pendarovski said, adding that only civilians who want to leave the mostly ethnic Albanian suburb were being allowed through checkpoints. As fear spread that Macedonia's ethnic conflict has come to within striking distance of the capital, just four miles away, about 200 ethnic Albanians from Skopje crossed into neighboring Kosovo. They said they were leaving as a precaution. Local relief agencies who met them at the main border crossing at Djeneral Jankovic fed them and worked to reunite them with family members who had crossed into Kosovo earlier. The European Union's security affairs chief, Javier Solana, held talks Saturday in downtown Skopje with top leaders of Macedonia's majority Slavs and minority ethnic Albanians in an attempt to avert a new escalation of the crisis. Fighting erupted in February when militants from the country's sizable ethnic Albanian community took up arms, saying they were fighting for broader rights. The government, which contends they are separatists bent on dividing the country, launched an army offensive to drive them out of villages in the north of the country where the rebels are based. On Friday, Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski pledged to defeat the militants ''both politically and militarily.'' He said the Slav-dominated government would place the army and police under a single command to increase efficiency and speed up ''the neutralizing of the terrorists.'' Government forces on Saturday resumed their shelling of a rebel stronghold about 20 miles northeast of Skopje, currently the worst battle zone spreading over several ethnic Albanian villages not far from the border with Kosovo. But the rebels have resisted the government offensives, and the appearance of uniformed members of the rebel National Liberation Army has triggered panic in Aracinovo, where most of the 1,000 Slavic residents also have fled, Pendarovski said. Western governments have condemned the insurgents and have urged both sides to avoid an all-out war. Macedonia, which is about the size of Vermont, was formed when the former Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s. Until this year, it was the only former Yugoslav republic to have avoided bloodshed. In his speech Friday in the 120-seat assembly, with the ambassadors of several EU and other countries in attendance, Trajkovski acknowledged that force alone would not end the insurgency. He pledged to jump-start dialogue with ethnic Albanian political leaders, who are part of the government but largely at odds with their Slavic coalition partners. The president also mentioned a blueprint for a peace plan that would give amnesty to fighters who have not committed serious crimes. Officials said it envisages the deployment of international monitors, a greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state institutions and the ''reintegration into society'' of rebels who disarm. ''We must give them a chance to get out of the grip of the gang leaders'' who want to create a ''Greater Albania,'' Trajkovski said. ''The entire Republic of Macedonia is at stake.'' __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
