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

To: robnhood who wrote (10918)	6/1/1999 7:25:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Macedonia waits for NATO reply on money for troops 03:05 p.m May 31, 1999 Eastern By Mircela Casule SKOPJE, May 31 (Reuters) - Macedonia said on Monday it was waiting to hear from NATO about its demand for financial help in exchange for allowing more alliance troops in the country. Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov told reporters after a cabinet meeting that NATO had not yet given Macedonia the guarantees it wanted. ''We have asked for...separate guarantees about the non-offensive character of these forces, guarantees for the security and integrity of (Macedonia), and also we asked for additional financial arrangements,'' he said. NATO has asked Yugoslavia's southern neighbour for permission to station another 14,000 troops in the tiny country, bringing the number of soldiers up to 30,000. The troops are officially part of a peacekeeping force for Kosovo, should an agreement be reached to end hostilities, but would be the obvious spearhead for a ground attack if one was to be authorised. Macedonia said on Friday that it wanted more money from NATO countries if it was to allow the new troops to be stationed on its soil. A NATO spokesman said Secretary General Javier Solana would be sending a reply to Macedonia soon. He was confident that the reply would satisfy the impoverished Balkan country. Macedonia, buckling under the burden of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo refugees which have poured across its borders since the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia began in March, has bitterly complained it has not received enough financial support from the West. It has also said it does not want any troops on its territory to be used in an offensive manner against Yugoslavia, of which it was once part. Many Western analysts, however, believe that Macedonia's desire to join both the European Union and NATO would prevail over any disagreements with the West. More than a quarter of a million ethnic Albanians have fled what the West calls systematic ethnic cleansing in Kosovo to Macedonia since the start of the war, straining its struggling economy. Nearly 100,000 are sheltered in overcrowded refugee camps around the country. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.