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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -The rebels were allowed to leave with their weapons, despite Macedonian objections. -Macedonian residents of Aracinovo - who fled their homes when the rebels arrived two weeks ago - were demanding to know why he [President Trajkovski] stopped the attack and allowed the 'terrorists' to leave. -The rebels in Aracinovo appear to have scored a victory by draging in NATO negotiators.... Tuesday June 26, 1:46 AM West evacuates ethnic Albanian rebels out of Skopje suburb SKOPJE, June 25 (AFP) - NATO and European officials monitored the withdrawal of hundreds of ethnic Albanian rebels from a town on the edge of Skopje Monday in a bid to remove a direct threat to the Macedonian capital and allow peace talks to resume. But even as the both sides observed a nervous ceasefire north of Skopje, police said heavy fighting broke out around the flashpoint northwest town of Tetovo after a mortar attack on a police checkpoint near the town stadium. A convoy of four buses wound its way out of the battered town of Aracinovo carrying the rebels back to villages they control in the Black Mountains after the fighters resisted a three-day army attack which ended in an EU-brokered truce Sunday. The buses later returned and were due to fill up with more fighters after NATO and EU negotiators arranged for a pull-out during the ceasefire, which was interrupted by brief bursts of firing. Police estimated that up to 700 rebels were in the town, which was hit by army helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks on Friday in the most concerted attack on the guerrillas since the insurrection began five months ago. A US embassy official was slightly injured when the convoy of observers he was riding with came under fire from an unidentified source, the State Department said in Washington. The rebels were allowed to leave with their weapons despite Macedonian objections, police said. They were waiting in the hill village of Nikustak, which is not rebel-controlled, before being transported on to an undisclosed destination inside Macedonia. "It was a difficult operation but successful," said one Western diplomat, adding that a rebel demand that no police or army presence should be visible on the ground during the evacuation had been granted. He said the evacuation should be finished by nightfall. As the rebels piled on to buses and headed out, political leaders from Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders in the precarious emergency coalition were gathering at the office of President Boris Trajkovski to the stalled political dialogue. The talks, aimed at redressing ethnic Albanian claims of widespread discrimination and changing the constitution, broke down last week among mutual recriminations, with Trajkovski accusing the Albanians of trying to create two separate ethnic federal units. The government's efforts to cut a political deal -- seen by the West as the only way of ending the crisis -- were criticised by EU foreign ministers meeting with their Macedonian counterpart, Ilinka Mitreva, in Luxembourg. Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said the results from the talks were "disappointing." Telma television said the Skopje meeting was delayed as Trajkovski met with angry Macedonian residents of Aracinovo -- who fled their homes when the rebels arrived two weeks ago -- who were demanding to know why he stopped the attack and allowed the "terrorist" to leave. A Western observer overseeing the evacuation of ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) fighters said many houses in the centre of Aracinovo were untouched by shelling but said the "periphery is badly hit." Four servicemen were killed in the attack and 27 injured, 19 of whom were still in hospital. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana brokered a ceasefire Sunday to allow the evacuation, but the truce was marred by sporadic fighting near Nikustak and appeared to be crumbling fast as heavy fighting broke out near Tetovo. A mortar attack on a police checkpoint caused no casualties, police said, and the security forces responded with heavy artillery. Tetovo was the scene of serious combat in March when the NLA moved into hills overlooking the mainly Albanian town. The attack came as the rebel leader in Aracinovo, Commander Hoxha, pledged a "long-term ceasefire." Macedonia has seen a long series of fragile truces as the security situation steadily degenerates towards civil war. Trajkovski has offered the rebels a partial amnesty if they lay down their weapons. NATO is waiting for a political deal on reforms and a lasting ceasefire to be agreed upon before sending in troops to disarm the rebels, as part of Trajkovski's peace plan. The rebels appeared to have scored a victory in Aracinovo by dragging in NATO negotiators for the first time, despite the alliance chief George Robertson having previously refused to deal with "murderous thugs." The EU decided at a meeting in Luxembourg Monday to name former French defence mininster Francois Leotard as its special envoy to Macedonia. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
