STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK Deutsche Welle English Service News May 29th, 2001, 16:00 UTC Macedonia's army has shelled a northern village where rebels are said to be in control as NATO tries to persuade parliament's slav majority to make concessions to minority ethnic Albanians. The army said 800 Albanian civilians had fled the area around the village of Matejce. The UNHCR says in recent months 27,000 people have been displaced. The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana has briefed NATO foreign ministers in Hungary's capital Budapest on the lingering crisis. He's due to return to Skopje shortly in a bid to get Macedonia's splintered parliament to resolve the conflict. At NATO's Budapest meeting, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer reiterated calls that Macedonia stay intact. Otherwise, the whole Balkans region would plunge into a catastrophe, Fischer said. From NATO's Budapest meeting there are reports that the alliance plans to reduce its SFOR peacekeeping force in Bosnia by 10 percent. Currently, SFOR has 21,000 soldiers. A decision is due next week when NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels. Meanwhile, NATO member Turkey has reiterated its objections to the formation of a European Union rapid reaction force that would draw on NATO's planning resources. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said Turkey, which so far has been denied EU membership, would not accept discrimination. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson echoed U.S. demands that European nations to take on larger burdens within the trans Atlantic alliance. Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
