FYR Macedonia: Albanians rally for independent Kosovo

[masolord]

B92 - News - Region - Macedonia: Albanians rally for independent Kosovo
Macedonia: Albanians rally for independent Kosovo
19 October 2007 | 13:18 | Source: B92, Beta
SKOPJE -- Two Albanian parties in Macedonia will stage a rally of support for Kosovo's independence Friday, reports say.

Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) will gather in Tetovo's central square to pledge support to "Kosovo independence and Macedonia's admission to NATO and EU," according to Makfax news agency.

DPA called on supporters and the members of another Albanian party, Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), to join the rally.

But Ali Ahmeti's DUI qualified the rally as an attempt to undermine the authority of the DUI leader.

The students of the Tetovo University and the SEE University are expected to show up at the event.

DPA leader Menduh Tachi said on Thursday that he had met with Kosovo President and Prime Minister Fatmir Sejdiu and Agim Ceku in Priština "to discuss Macedonia’s support for the Kosovo plan created by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari for international-supervised independence."

The head of the Islamic Community in Macedonia also encouraged participation in the rally, the agency said.

Meanwhile, a Skopje-based Albanian language daily Lajme writes that the police in that country have recently found weapons "in a home belonging to a member of the Czar Lazar Guard."

Quoting unnamed sources in the police, the daily said that the arms were found in the home of 32-year-old Predrag D. from Kumanovo, who is allegedly a member of the obscure organization of Serb nationalists.

The daily added that the Guard recently stated it had sympathizers and supports in Macedonia as well.

However, a police spokesman in Skopje said there were no indications that the weapons recently seized in Kumanovo belonged to the Guard, or that this organization had any activity in Macedonia.

Simultaneously, Macedonian language daily Večer printed an article under the headline, “Residents of Tanuševac are moving to Kosovo,” in which a former commander of the Albanian National Liberation Army in Macedonia, Dzezair Shakiri, said that "all of the residents of the bordering village will hold a referendum for joining Kosovo on November 28."

“Villagers are still moving to Kosovo. A portion of the resident have left the village when it was clear that there were armed groups in Tanuševac under my control,” Shakiri said, adding that he scheduled a referendum on the issue because of “the intolerable behavior of the Macedonian government towards the local residents.”

According to sources, Shakiri tried to instigate conflicts with police on several occasions in September by simulating alleged police attacks on the village and residents.

The Macedonian police have yet to take any action, and residents have not confirmed the claims made by Shakiri.

[masolord]

it is good how they rally to support Macedonia to enter in Nato and EU. i wonder why they are not trying to break off from us like in kosovo.

[Orphic_Hymn]

Envoys to Try to Avoid Stand - Off At Kosovo Talks



By REUTERS
Published: October 22, 2007

Filed at 7:20 a.m. ET



VIENNA (Reuters) - International envoys mediating in talks on the future of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo on Monday will try to stop them immediately coming to a standstill on the independence issue, the European Union's envoy said.

The envoys have until December 10 to bridge the chasm between Serbia's offer of broad autonomy for the province and the Kosovo Albanian demand for statehood after eight years under U.N. stewardship.

Speaking before a meeting of leaders of Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, Wolfgang Ischinger said the three envoys would stress points of potential agreement rather than risk a stand-off over independence.

"Without some real help from the Contact Group and the international community the two sides on their own steam would not be able to reach agreement," the German diplomat told reporters.

Ischinger and his American and Russian colleagues have drafted 14 points of potential agreement between the two sides, to be discussed at the third round of talks.

The document says Belgrade "will not govern" Kosovo. But it avoids reference to independence, which is the Albanians' non-negotiable demand.

Russia, principal backer of Serbia, disputes the December 10 deadline. But Washington is pushing the European Union to stand firm and recognize Kosovo independence in the likely absence of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Ischinger said he remained realistic about the prospect of finding a deal where 13 months of U.N.-led negotiations this year and last had failed. "I would be very surprised if it would be very easy," he said.

NATO ON ALERT

Serbia and its ally Russia say the December deadline stacks the deck in favor of the Albanians, who feel they can simply wait out the clock and declare independence, leaving the Serbs to carry out their threat of diplomatic reprisals.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed for 11 weeks to drive out Serb forces killing and expelling Albanian civilians in an indiscriminate bid to crush a guerrilla insurgency.

It dropped off the international agenda for years until Albanian riots in 2004 persuaded the West that legal limbo was not sustainable and work started on an independence solution, only to be thwarted by Serbia backed by Moscow.

NATO, leading a force of 16,000 troops in Kosovo, is now braced for violence if frustrated Albanians lose patience and take matters into their own hands.

A revolt in the Serb-dominated north, where the U.N. mission has failed to stamp its authority, might also trigger violence in Albanian areas of Macedonia and southern Serbia's Presevo Valley, analysts warn.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey twice last week said Washington favored supervised independence for Kosovo if no agreement could be arrived at by December 10. The 27-member European Union is split over how to act.

Citing EU sources, the Kosovo daily Koha Ditore reported on Monday that U.S. envoy Frank Wisner had told European ambassadors at the United Nations to prepare for "important decisions" on Kosovo in January.

[Makedonia25]

Yep.. Looks like the sh*t is going to hit the fan..