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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Lacelle who wrote (17424)	2/26/2001 8:22:56 PM
From: George Papadopoulos	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Don't you love these guys? Greater Albania, the mafiosi central of the Balkans, err, excuse me, they are allied with NATO, they must be freedom fighters... Fighting Erupts on Kosovo-Macedonian Border By Elisaveta Konstantinova POBOJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonian security forces exchanged fire with gunmen firing from ethnic Albanian- dominated Kosovo on Monday in an incident likely to intensify fears of violence spreading in the Balkans again. A spokesman for Macedonia's Interior Ministry told Reuters a joint patrol of army and police came under fire from inside Kosovo at around 3.30 p.m. EST near the village of Tanusevci, in a largely Albanian area north of Skopje. The patrol, accompanied by a Macedonian general, returned fire and there were no reports of casualties. Macedonia's Defense Ministry said firing, which ended at 5.45 p.m., also came from houses inside Tanusevci. The incident highlighted the danger of escalating violence in Albanian-dominated Kosovo and Serbia's Presevo Valley spreading to Macedonia, where one third of the population are ethnic Albanians. ``There is a tendency to worsening of the situation in southern Serbia, which can have a negative effect on the stability of Macedonia,'' President Boris Trajkovski said in televised remarks. ``No one should doubt our firm commitment to maintain the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Macedonia.'' Heavily armed Macedonian police later cordoned off the area about nine miles around Tanusevci and denied access to reporters coming north from the Macedonian capital. A Balkan summit in Macedonia last week, attended by top European Union (news - web sites) officials, called for urgent measures to halt the violence in and around Kosovo. Refugees Flee From Macedonia To Kosovo The U.N. refugee agency in the Kosovo capital Pristina said about 300 people had fled Macedonia into the province in the last several days. Many took shelter in the mountain village of Debelde just over the boundary in Kosovo, some complaining of maltreatment in Macedonia. People there said Monday was the worst day of shooting so far in the region. ``It is the first day of real heavy fighting,'' one villager said. One villager in Debelde contacted by phone later on Monday evening said the situation had calmed down. He said about 100 soldiers of the NATO (news - web sites)-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo had arrived at the village in six vehicles. ``They told villagers of Debelde not to go out after eight p.m. because they will patrol in the village during the night,'' the villager said. Macedonian authorities have reported that groups of 20-30 armed men in camouflage or black uniforms paraded last week along the Kosovo side of the border near Tanusevci. ``We heard it could be a new organization that is called the National Liberation Army,'' Stevo Pendarovski, spokesman for Macedonia's department for internal affairs, told Reuters earlier on Monday. ``We understand it was formed in Switzerland in 2000, and it could be active in Macedonia in the near future,'' he said. Macedonia's borders with Serbia and Kosovo are porous and the army is not equipped to patrol the whole frontier.