Macedonia: Politics: wave of violence by ethnic Albanian rebels

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Albanian/Nat xfa Attacks by ethnic Albanian insurgents in both Macedonia and southern Serbia have raised fears of a new Balkan conflict. The unrest around Kosovo's borders has also raised concern about the stability of Macedonia, an impoverished, landlocked country of 2 million people, 25 percent of them ethnic Albanians. In response to the wave of violence by ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia and along her borders, the Bulgarian Prime Minister met with the President of the Democratic Party of Albanians on Friday. The Democratic Party of Albanians forms part of Macedonia's coalition government. The meeting has led to the Bulgarian parliament appealing to the international community to prevent the destabilisation of Macedonia. The request came as the Bulgarian prime minister, Ivan Kostov, continued talks with the Macedonian leadership in Skopje. On Thursday, Bulgaria began shipping military supplies to Macedonia, believed to contain mainly artillery spare parts and demining equipment. Correspondents say events in Macedonia are acutely felt in Bulgaria, with the two countries sharing strong cultural and linguistic links. The attacks have prompted Macedonia to close its border with Kosovo, cutting off the main supply route for the province's 2 million people. Meanwhile, heavy detonations echoed along the boundary with Kosovo on Friday, as a fresh wave of fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb police engulfed the region. A Serb policeman was killed and three were wounded. The fighting was the heaviest in weeks. It came amid NATO-mediated efforts at peace talks and a day after NATO decided to allow the Yugoslav army to return to the southern part of the so-called ground safety zone near the border with Macedonia. Serb security forces were banned from entering the buffer by a peace agreement which ended NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia. The decision to allow them back in is a sign of support to Yugoslavia's pro-democracy authorities and an attempt to cut the rebel supply routes. SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian) "I believe this is possible continuation of the border situation. I believe that if the situation continues on the border of Macedonia, Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia, it has potential of developing in parallel with the situation in southern Serbia. I believe that such a problem civil unrest in Macedonia may arise." SUPERCAPTION: Ivan Kostov, Bulgarian Prime Minister SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "It is important to continue on the democratic path and that we move towards Westernisation and it is very important that we all come together for the democratic project." SUPERCAPTION: Arben Jhaferi, President of the Democratic Party of Albanians SOUNDBITE: (Macedonian) "I am incredibly disappointed. I don't see a way out of the situation. I'm disappointed with the foreign forces KFOR, NATO who are deaf and blind witnesses to the situation on the border region." SUPERCAPTION: Resident of Skopje SOUNDBITE: (English) "The last clashes that we can see on the Kosovo-Macedonian border, that's not a solution. See Bosnia and Kosovo, we have had so much pain and we don't want to feel that. Dialogue is the only way to peace in the future." SUPERCAPTION: Young Albanian man SOUNDBITE: (Macedonian with English translations) talking about the situation over the border in Kosovo "The first group, or rather the two that were originally spotted, was involving about seven to 10 persons and carrying arms on all these horses - horses loaded with arms. And the second group involved about 14 to 15 people that were actually accompanying a tractor full of arms". SUPERCAPTION: Giorgi Trendafilov, Defence Ministry Spokesman You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/034fb4072e254dfc45bc2b5338fae43b Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork