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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- And the jackals grin: "If all our demands are met and they are guaranteed by the international community, the United States, the European Union and NATO, then we will accept such a plan," rebel leader Ali Ahmeti told the ethnic Albanian Fakti newspaper." June 14, 2001 Leaders Stress Support for Macedonia by MISHA SAVIC Associated Press Writer SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- Ethnic Albanian rebels on Thursday demanded a deployment of NATO peacekeepers in Macedonia before accepting any peace proposal offered by the government to end the crisis threatening to tear apart this Balkan country. The demand came as Macedonian Slav and key ethnic Albanian political leaders prepared to consider a peace plan drafted by President Boris Trajkovski. The agreement calls for a cease-fire, partial amnesty for rebels who disarm voluntarily, and better inclusion of the sizable ethnic Albanian minority into state bodies and institutions. The rebels, who call themselves the National Liberation Army, insist that NATO guarantee the proposed cease-fire and that a political agreement be policed by NATO troops. They also want to take part in negotiations on the deal. ''If all our demands are met and they are guaranteed by the international community, the United States, the European Union and NATO, then we will accept such a plan,'' rebel leader Ali Ahmeti told the ethnic Albanian Fakti newspaper. Macedonia's leadership has not sought direct NATO intervention in Macedonia, asking instead that the alliance pressure the rebels to disarm and disband. Trajkovski wants NATO, however, to consider taking on the task of supervising a weapons handover if the peace deal can be put into place. ''We are not entirely convinced that all the terrorists will lay down their arms,'' Trajkovski said. NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson admitted that the alliance would have to take a greater role in ending the crisis, but stopped short of offering additional troops to police any peace deal. Still, he promised to take Trajkovski's request for help in decommissioning under consideration. ''I will take that back to NATO headquarters and see what we can do,'' he said. Robertson pledged Thursday to fully support a Macedonian government plan, deploying teams of experts to advise the leadership on the making the deal work. Violence erupted in Macedonia in February when ethnic Albanian militants took up arms in a fight they say is for broader rights. Macedonian authorities have led several offensives to dislodge the rebels from their strongholds, contending they are separatists bent on carving up the country. While refusing to negotiate with the rebels, Trajkovski and other top officials representing the majority Slavic population are to start negotiations on the peace plan this week with political leaders of the restive ethnic Albanian community, which accounts for nearly a third of Macedonia's 2 million people. Meanwhile, sporadic clashes continued. Mortars hit a Macedonian army barracks and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the country's second-largest city, Tetovo. Gunfire exchanges also were reported Thursday near Aracinovo, an ethnic Albanian stronghold on the outskirts of Skopje. No injuries were reported on the government side in the overnight exchange in Tetovo as the army ''responded fiercely, destroying a terrorist group,'' army spokesman Blagoja Markovski said. The U.N. refugee agency in Kosovo, a province bordering Macedonia, said Thursday that it had registered about 42,000 refugees from Macedonia. That figure includes 22,000 people in the last six days, said Astrid van Genderen Stort, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. � __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
