Tension rises in Macedonia after troops
evacuate insurgents from besieged town
From staff and wire reports
SKOPJE, Macedonia — An ethnic Albanian threat Tuesday to march into major cities
heightened tensions left by rioting in Macedonia’s capital, touched off after
American and other troops evacuated insurgents from a besieged town.
The leadership also sounded a tough tone. President Boris Trajkovski said his
government’s aid was to "eliminate the terrorists from Macedonia." But he
pledged that government forces will do so "with as little loss of human life as
possible."
Rioting enveloped Skopje on Monday after NATO-led peacekeepers, including U.S.
soldiers, intervened in the conflict for the first time, brokering a deal designed to end
fighting in Aracinovo, a town on the outskirts of the capital.
The Pentagon’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, said Tuesday that 81 U.S.
soldiers from Camp Able Sentry, the U.S. logistical base in Macedonia that is located
right outside the city of Skopje, provided security for 21 contractors from Brown &
Root to transport 100 Macedonia Liberation Army fighters and 250 civilians from Aracinovo
to Umin Dol, an Albanian enclave 11 miles away. The fighters were allowed to transport
their weapons with them to the new location, Quigley said.
After the convoy delivered the fighters at 8 p.m. local time, it attempted to return to
Able Sentry.As it was making its way back to camp, the convoy enountered a Macedonian
government checkpoint near Kumanovo, a town near Umin Dol.
Gathering around the checkpoint was a large crowd that blocked the road, preventing the
empty buses from moving.
"A crowd started to gather and weapons were visible," Quigley said.
The U.S. commander on the scene decided to turn the convoy around and seek another
route, rather than attempt to go through the crowd, Quigley said.
A Hunter unmannded aerial reconnassiance vehicle from Camp Able Sentry was sent in
advance of the convoy to seek a clear road. When the Hunter detected another checkpoint
and crowd at the alternate route chosen by the commander, the convoy once again changed
direction and found a third alternative route.
The third route was clear and the convoy finally was able to return to camp at 5 a.m.
local time, Quigley said.
The U.S. involvement in the withdrawal outraged thousands of Macedonian Slavs, who
gathered outside parliament Monday evening demanding harsher action against the rebels.
The anti-Albanian mood at the protest added to tensions and led to a warning by the
insurgents that they would move into key cities to protect their kin if they were attacked
by mobs.
The threat was made by Commander Sokoli, a rebel leader, in a phone call from an
undisclosed location. He said "two brigades in the outskirts of Skopje" and
fighters from other areas stood ready to make good on the warning and "protect the
Albanians if they become targets of violence."
Quigley justified the U.S. participation in the convoy, saying that the United States
supports "anything that will bring about a political solution" to
Macedonia’s problems.
"In this particular case, we had the concurrence of the rebels, the EU, [the
Macedonian government] and NATO ... [that this was] an action to defuse a very volatile
situation," Quigley said.
The U.S. involvement in the Macedonian situation, while "a new encounter" for
U.S. troops, does not signify a new role for U.S. troops in the region, Quigley said.
"We’re talking about 81 soldiers and four Humvees," Quigley said.
"I’m reluctant to predict this as a harbinger of new activity on the part of
U.S. forces."
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