Macedonia Eyes Fighters' Funds
Macedonia asked the United States and its allies Tuesday to help stop the influx of money and weapons sent by ethnic Albanian emigres to fund the ethnic Albanian insurgency.
The appeal was delivered by Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a stopover after his visit to Ukraine.
"We have asked the United States to use all its influence, especially with West European countries, to stop the financial and other support for the rebels," defense ministry spokesman Gjorgji Trendafilov said.
Some 500,000 ethnic Albanians from Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo live in Western Europe and hundreds of thousands more in the United States.
They actively supported Kosovo's battle to slip from Yugoslavia's control and saw most of their goals achieved when NATO and the United Nations took over the province in 1999, following NATO's bombing campaign against Serb-led Yugoslav forces.
The emigres also are believed to be involved in channeling funds and weapons for the rebels in Macedonia.
Fighting erupted there in February between government troops and the rebels, who claim that Macedonia's ethnic Albanian community — about one-fourth of the population — is not treated fairly.
The United States and its allies have condemned the violence and urged the Slav-led government and ethnic Albanian leaders to work out their differences peacefully.
Faced with Western pressure, Macedonian leaders have signaled in the past few days that they are ready to offer concessions to the ethnic Albanians.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski's offered amnesty last week to ethnic Albanian militants if they lay down their weapons.
Trajkovki's proposal for a partial amnesty resembled a similar plan that, with the help and approval of NATO, helped defuse an ethnic Albanian uprising in neighboring southern Serbia.
Mainstream ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi said the plan involved demilitarizing the rebels and reintegrating them into society. Another ethnic Albanian leader, Imer Imeri, said the plan included amnesty for those who haven't committed criminal acts or organized the rebellion.
A special corridor reportedly would be formed with the help of NATO to allow for the most radical militants to cross into neighboring Kosovo.
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said last week that his government could change the country's constitution to upgrade the status of the ethnic Albanians — a key demand by the rebels.
Tense areas were quiet for most of the day Tuesday, but in the evening, state television reported fresh clashes just outside the second-largest city, Tetovo. It said three policemen were wounded.
The flare-up came just hours after interior minister Ljuben Boskovski warned that the rebels were regrouping and getting more weapons to launch even stronger attacks."
© MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report