[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 3:22 PM Subject: Macedonia: Fighting Reaches Capital, Citizens Mobilized [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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday June 13, 9:52 PM Shooting near Skopje as Macedonians arm: govt SKOPJE, June 13 (AFP) - Ethnic Albanian rebels fired on Macedonian police positions from a village on the edge of Skopje overnight, the first time that fighting has broken out so close to the capital, an interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Sporadic shooting, including sniper fire, targetted police checkpoints in the villages of Stracinci and Brnjarci, just over a kilometre (half a mile) from the rebel-held town of Aracinovo, spokesman Stevo Pendarovski said. The guerrillas moved into Aracinovo on Friday without being opposed by police, who quickly put roadblocks around and sealed off the area. No one was injured by the occasional firing, which went on through the night, Pendarovski said. He also said the police were giving out weapons to reservists as part of a mobilisation to tackle the growing crisis, which for four months has dragged the multi-ethnic country closer to another Balkans war. Asked about the move, Pendarovski told a news conference: "Yes, the people are arming, but only according to the plan of the general mobilisation of reserve units of the police." Pendarovski said Monday that a group of Macedonian villages in Stajkovci, which neighbours Aracinovo, had tried to form an armed group to defend their village from the nearby rebels. He said police had stopped them doing so but had promised to mobilise reservists. The self-proclaimed National Liberation Army, which says it is fighting for more Albanian rights, also holds several villages in hills further to the north of Skopje. An aid convoy with food and medication was blocked from entering the battle-scarred area under rebel control for a second day Wednesday, as the authorities and guerrillas squabbled over the presence of journalists in the convoy. An ethnic Albanian government minister said the rebels insisted on having the media on the convoy, while the interior ministry had refused. The humanitarian mission also aims to allow engineers into the area to restore water supplies to the nearby city of Kumanovo, which has been without water for eight days as temperatures soared to 35 degrees Celsius. Government spokesman Antonio Milososki appealed to international aid groups and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to pressure the rebels into allowing engineers in to inspect two reservoirs supplying the city. He said the WHO should "use their authority to restore water to Kumanovo, where 100,000 people have been brought close to a humanitarian catastrophe by those who say they are fighting for human rights." Kumanovo's citizens are having to line up for water from tanker trucks brought in by neighbouring Bulgaria and NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo. __________________________________________________ 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]
