Скачать или смотреть Macedonia: Rebels: Ethnic Albanian rebel forces near the border

(11 Mar 2001) Eng/Albanian/Nat
XFA
Ethnic Albanian rebels fighting Macedonian forces near the border with Kosovo showed their faces for the first time on Sunday.
Members of the National Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Kosovo Liberation Army, escorted APTN on an arduous, four-hour hike through narrow valleys and over steep hills to a guerrilla encampment in a collection of mud-brick houses scattered somewhere along the border between Macedonia and Kosovo.
The circuitous route was taken to avoid detection of the ethnic Albanian rebels by American and other NATO-led peacekeepers trying to cut their supply lines from Kosovo into Macedonia.
NATO's new, robust moves to cut off supplies of weapons into both Macedonia and the nearby Presevo Valley of southern Yugoslavia have raised fears that American and other peacekeepers could be dragged into a new Balkan conflict.
However, ethnic Albanian guerrillas here emphasised repeatedly that their fight is with the Macedonian government.
They claim the government in Skopje, only 20 miles south but a world away, has discriminated against the country's large ethnic Albanian minority. The sense of exclusion is particularly strong, they say, among ethnic Albanians who eke out a marginal living in this area without decent roads or public services.
They live a gruelling pastoral life where Macedonia and Kosovo meet.
Commander Hoxha, a senior U-C-K fighter, said that the ethnic Albanian villagers in places like Tanusevce, Brest and Malina are not recognised as Macedonian citizens, denying them their basic rights and leaving them vulnerable to maltreatment by the Macedonian security forces.
SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
Q: "Why does the UCK (National Liberation Army) exists today in Macedonia?
"Macedonia for the last ten years had time to improve the rights of the Albanians. But up until now they have not taken a single step in that direction. Ten years after the disintegration of Yugoslavia they had time to improve the rights of the Albanians, but they failed to do so. This is one of the reasons for our existence."
Q: What are the goals of the UCK?
"We want to show to Macedonia and the world that Albanians in Macedonia, who make up 45% of the population should have the right to be a constituent nation. Our aim is not to change the borders in the Balkans, and not to commit violence against civilians, be they Serbs, Macedonians or Albanians. So our goal is the rights of the Albanians in Macedonia."
SUPER CAPTION: Sokol, NLA rebel
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"All the populations of Brest, Malina, and Tanusevce don't have the right of citizenship of Macedonia. They have been stopped by the Macedonian army and asked for their IDs and of course they don't have any....(interrupted by loud burst of gunfire)
SUPER CAPTION: Commander Hoxha, senior rebel commander

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