(New York Times) West Is Alarmed as Warfare Grows in Balkans Again

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/17/world/17YUGO.html?searchpv=nytToday&pagewanted
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March 17, 2001

West Is Alarmed as Warfare Grows in Balkans Again

By CARLOTTA GALL

TETOVO, Macedonia, March 16 - Fierce fighting has broken out in this
Balkan nation, which until now has escaped the ethnic carnage of Kosovo
to the north.
    Today, for the third day, police forces fired for several hours at
ethnic Albanian rebels taking cover in the hills above the city. The
insurgents are trying to claim parts of Macedonia that are
overwhelmingly Albanian, and the population is quickly dividing between
Slavs and Albanians, just as in Kosovo.
    One Macedonian Slav in town said today of the rebels: "The only
solution is for them to lay down their arms, or we will have to kill
them all. It's the only way."
    German troops, stationed here as a backup for a NATO-led
peacekeeping mission at a base guarded by Macedonians, came under attack
today from the rebels, perhaps inadvertently.
    These early stages of war are causing alarm in the West, though so
far the allies show no intention to intervene. The NATO secretary
general, Lord Robertson, said the alliance would not allow "a small
number of extremists" to destabilize Macedonia. But on a visit to
Athens, he said NATO, which devoted immense resources to defending the
Albanians in Kosovo against Serbs, had no military mandate to move into
Macedonia and did not believe that the government wanted it to.
    In Washington, Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, made
similar comments, saying, "We are indeed very concerned about the
extremist violence in Macedonia," but added, "There has at this point
not been any kind of decision to move troops from Bosnia to Kosovo or in
any way across the border."
    He said a senior American diplomat, James Pardew, met with
Macedonian leaders this week to "express our strong support for the
Macedonian government and its response to these provocations."
    Anxiety was also expressed at the United Nations. Ruud Lubbers,
chief of the United Nations refugee agency, said, "We simply cannot
afford another humanitarian tragedy in the Balkans."
    And Carl Bildt, the United Nations envoy for the Balkans, said he
was reminded of the spiral of events that led to the wars in Bosnia and
Kosovo. "I am very alarmed," he said in London at a seminar at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies. "This is one of the worst
pieces of news to come out of the Balkans for many years." If the
conflict takes root, it could upset Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and
Yugoslavia. Mr. Bildt arrived today in Skopje, the Macedonian capital,
to express support for the government. He said of the Albanian
separatists: "You cannot talk of politics with weapons in your hands.
That is not what democracy is."
    Despite the expressions of support, little practical help is being
offered to the Macedonian government, which is taking more forceful
measures against the rebels both in the north, near Kosovo, and west,
near Albania.
    With the fighting at the fringes of Tetovo, the nation's second
largest city, just 25 miles from the capital, the government held crisis
meetings all day, and Parliament called a closed session to consider
forming a government of national unity and imposing a state of emergency
on the Tetovo region.
    The main opposition parties were in negotiations to form a
government together with the ruling coalition, uniting Slavs and
moderate Albanians. The aim is to unite all political parties in
Macedonia, a fragile nation that broke from Yugoslavia a decade ago and
since has made progress toward democracy. But a unified government would
bring together some strange partners.
    Arben Xhaferi, leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians, said he
would leave the government coalition if a state of emergency was
declared in Tetovo, where he has his party headquarters.
    As the day wore on, it appeared that neither the government nor the
police on the ground in Tetovo had any swift solutions to the
insurgency. Mistrust between the two ethnic groups is increasing.
    Macedonian Slavs living in the western quarter of Tetovo, just
beneath the wooded hill where rebels have dug in, were demanding tougher
action from the government.
    Sitting in the walled courtyard of his cafe-bar, Zivko Gagrovski,
80, had a perfect view of the white television station building 300
yards above where rebel snipers were supposed to have lodged.
    "The police are trying to push them off the ridge, but they keep
coming back," he said. "They need to bring in helicopters to finish them
off. The government has to do something, whether they bring in a state
of emergency or whatever else."
    He dismissed any thought of negotiating with the rebels. "No
chance," he said. "These men have deserted their country."
    Outside, armored vehicles maneuvered down the cobbled street that
runs along the base of the hillside between two Orthodox churches, St.
Nikola and St. Cyril. Men hugged the doorways and alleys, in the din of
mortar and machine gun fire. Just the men remained to guard their
properties, residents said. The women and children had been sent away.
    Someone opened fire from a roof of a nearby house, blasting single
shots from an automatic weapon into the hills. Later several mortar
shells landed in the deserted main square, the first missiles to land in
the city center.
    Mistrust between the mainly Albanian population and the police is
increasing, a police officer warned today, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
    Tetovo is 80 percent Albanian, yet the police force is 90 percent
Macedonian Slav. The police chief, Rauf Ramadani, is an ethnic Albanian,
but he has been sidelined in the operation against the rebels, and the
talk is that he has been suspended.
    Mr. Ramadani denied the rumors but appeared deeply worried about the
situation.
    He called the rebels "criminals and pseudo-patriots" whose aim was
not to penetrate the city, but to stir up tensions among the population.
"The situation is not that bad, but the psychological ripple effect of
the rebel action is very bad," he said.
    "What is very disappointing is that people are leaving town," he
added.
    Other police officers said there was growing mistrust between the
Albanian and Macedonian police officers in Tetovo. Slavic policemen have
been accusing the Albanian police of siding with the rebels, although
three of the seven policemen wounded Wednesday were Albanian.
    Albanian police officers have said Slavic policemen were responsible
for the few civilian injuries in the last few days. A Slavic policeman
was reported to have fired at a car carrying four elderly Albanians on
the edge of town today, one officer said.
    No one was hurt, but it is the sort of incident that the police
chief dreads. "A single bit of craziness, if reflected in the state
institutions, is not a good thing," Mr. Ramadani said.
    Reflecting the insurgency in Macedonia, the commander of the NATO-
led peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Carlo Cabigiosu, said today
that he wanted to change the type of peacekeeping forces stationed in
Kosovo, since the task is no longer to oppose the Yugoslav Army. Now, he
said, it is to contain the Albanian insurgencies outside Kosovo.

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company