Скачать или смотреть KFor attempt to evacuate ethnic Albanian rebels from Aracinovo.

(25 Jun 2001)

1. Various of bus convoy
2. Wide of villagers looking at Kfor convoy
3. close up Kfor plate
4. Various of soldiers and Kfor unit negoitationg
5. Refugees being told to get back
6. Villagers and soldiers
7. Armoured humvee goes though line of villagers
8. Gunshots and soldiers
9. Kfor Soldier gets into humvee
10. Soldiers and villagers arguing
11. Close up soldiers in armoured humvee
12. Clash between villagers
13. Soldier anbd villagers
14. Soldiers talking to U-N officials
15. Soldiers and officials
16. Night shot soldiers and armoured vehicle
17. Buses entering village

STORYLINE:

Ethnic Albanian militants pulled out of a strategically important suburb near the capital Monday.

The NATO-brokered deal sparked riots by thousands of Slavs, some chanting "Gas chambers for the Albanians," as they demanded that the rebels be destroyed.

Buses headed out of Aracinovo carrying ethnic Albanian rebels hunkered down for days, said U.S. Maj. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers.

NATO-led peacekeepers are in Macedonia to provide logistical support to forces in Kosovo.

The alliance then sent at least four trucks to the village to take out the weapons belonging to the rebels.

The rebel withdrawal came just days after government forces began an offensive against ethnic Albanian militants holed up in the suburb not far from the country's airport.

But de-escalation of Macedonia's crisis was short lived. New
fighting, near Tetovo, cast a pall at the success of the negotiated end to the Aracinovo standoff, and tensions rose as thousands of angry Slavic Macedonians demanded a more hard-line approach against the rebels.

Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said rebels attacked police positions on the outskirts of the city and government forces returned fire, with fighting then moving away from Tetovo and near the village of Gajre in the hills overlooking the city.

Talks had broken down last week after President Boris Trajkovski declared that ethnic Albanian negotiators were unwilling to budge on key sticking points in the negotiations.

The lack of progress has dismayed European Union leaders, who have been trying for months to persuade the Macedonian Slav leadership and ethnic Albanian political leaders to compromise and avert civil war.

To back up that point, the EU told the country's foreign minister on Monday not to count on new financial aid unless the government and ethnic Albanian opponents settle their differences.

The EU foreign ministers held 45 minutes of talks with their Macedonian counterpart, Ilinka Mitreva, who pleaded for help.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten reiterated that was only possible if progress is made in national reconciliation talks.
NATO-led peacekeepers are in Macedonia to provide logistical support to forces in Kosovo. It was not immediately clear which NATO countries were taking part in the operation.
Trajkovski has appealed to all political leaders to return to the bargaining table to reconsider his peace plan. The plan calls for amnesty for most rebels who disarm voluntarily and greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions. Talks on the plan resumed in parliament
Monday but were broken off after the crowd gathered outside.
Ethnic Albanian parties seek more rights under the constitution. Macedonian Slav parties reject that as a threat to the nation's survival.
Fighting broke out in Macedonia in February, when militants began taking over villages near the border with Kosovo to demand more rights for ethnic Albanians.

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