[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 6:51 AM Subject: Macedonian Slavs Abandoned As Rebels Close In [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Have you visited eBayTM lately? The Worlds Marketplace where you can buy and sell practically anything keeps getting better. From consumer electronics to movies, find it all on eBay. What are you waiting for? Try eBay today. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://sg.news.com/010706/1/18wg.6.html He said that he had come to express the "anger" of the Macedonian Slavs, a minority in the region, who believe that they have been abandoned both by their own government and the international community. Tetovo Macedonian Slavs Feel Abandoned As Rebels Close In LESOK, Macedonia, July 6 (AFP) - Macedonian special police scan the thick vegetation crawling up the hillside as a convoy of armoured troop carriers trundles through this hamlet: to judge by appearances, at least, the ceasefire is holding despite heavy shooting late into the night. Sitting in a circle in a shady garden, a group of men chew the fat over the explosion of violence in Lesok, a village of 800 people, nearly all of them Macedonian Slavs. In the past week the men have seen the ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the self-proclaimed National Liberation Army (NLA) moving ever closer to their homes. "The police saw them getting closer, but they did nothing. On Thursday evening, 90 percent of the shooting was coming from the terrorists," said one Macedonian Slav villager, who wished to remain anonymous. He said he was ready to use his hunting rifle "to defend the village." By his side, a neighbour recalls how he was mobilised into the police reserve two week ago, giving up his job as a surveyor to practise for the first time in his life shooting an assault rifle. In just a few days, incidents broke out throughout the region as the rebel force edged visibly closer to Tetovo, which they spectacularly attacked in March, bringing their war to international attention before being chased off. As well as inching closer to the northwest town of Tetovo, the unofficial ethnic Albanian "capital" of Macedonia, the rebels have also opened a new front around Radusa in the mountains between Tetovo and the capital Skopje, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east. Shooting erupted all around Tetovo on Thursday, with mortars clattering out of the mountains towering above the the town to injure several civilians in the downtown area itself. Rebels even ventured into the town and attacked a police checkpoint near the stadium. Several hours later, as a NATO-brokered ceasefire was due to come into effect, the firing blazed on, with both sides accusing the other of provoking an armed response. On Friday the mortars, Kalashnikovs and artillery had fallen silent, and the town resumed an almost normal look, although with slightly fewer people in the streets than usual. Except for a roadblock made hastily out of felled tree trunks, no trace of the previous day's violent combat was visible on the road leading northeast out of the town toward the villages of Poroj, Neprosteno, Lesok and Slatino. At the entrance of Lesok, police at a checkpoint made of sandbags allowed traffic to pass freely. But Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski admitted, during a quick visit to Tetovo's barracks, that his forces "do not entirely control" certain zones in the area, while he accused the rebels of using the ceasefire to "consolidate their positions" near Tetovo. "Automatic weapons fire was coming from three different sectors, they have established their positions close to the exit of the village," said one Lesok villager, convinced that the fighting would start again despite the truce. "People are scared, they don't know what will happen this evening," said Tomislav Stoyanovski, leader of the small Democratic Party of Macedonia, leading a group of people driven out of their villages who have come to see US ambassador Michael Einik. He said they had come to express the "anger" of the Macedonian Slavs, a minority in the region, who believe they have been abandoned by both their government and the international community. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
