Albanian officials slam Macedonia’s first encyclopedia

[Risto the Great]

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United+Kingdom+%26+Europe&month=September2009&file=World_News2009092303755.xml

SKOPJE: US and ethnic Albanian officials condemned Macedonia’s first encyclopedia yesterday over its description of an inter-ethnic conflict in 2001 and the history of the country’s Albanian presence.

Macedonia was on the brink of a civil war in 2001 when the ethnic Albanian rebel movement, the National Liberation Army (NLA), fought Macedonian security forces for seven months.

The encyclopedia, published by the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, says the NLA was an “armed formation trained in camps in Albania and Kosovo by American and British officers and paratroopers.” An official at the US Embassy in Skopje, who asked not to be named, dismissed the claims as ridiculous.

“Allegations that American officers trained the former NLA soldiers are baseless and outrageous,” the official said. “We are disappointed that this institution would put its name on such a ridiculous claim,” the official added.

NLA leader Ali Ahmeti was described in the encyclopedia as “a refugee, (guerrilla) supreme commander accused of war crimes by the Republic of Macedonia. He is leader of the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI).” The DUI party is the ethnic Albanian partner in the ruling coalition dominated by the Macedonian conservative VMRO-DPMNE. DUI, as well as a number of ethnic Albanian non-governmental organisations, protested the descriptions and demanded them to be changed. “Every institution in Macedonia should be careful with publishing articles that could impact inter-ethnic relations.” said Deputy Prime Minister Abdulacim Ademi

Why would the US Official ask not to be named? If they believe there is an error in relation to this matter, then it must be addressed in an open and forthright manner. Otherwise, we are seeing noise that does not exist.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Is this anonymous donkey actually denying the assistance that Albanians have received during the previous 2 decades from Americans?

[George S.]

How can they ignore the facts & truth,It was in the press that the albanians were being assisted & trained by the americans.
Antiwar.com

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso46.html

European Intelligence: The US Betrayed us in Macedonia

by Christopher Deliso in Skopje

June 22, 2002

SKOPJE - The US government was accused today of subsidizing and training Albanian paramilitaries in Macedonia, in a secret European report leaked to Dutch National Radio.

The furor over a clandestine connection- frequently alleged, but never proven- further worsens transatlantic relations that have already been strained by an ongoing trade war. The Dutch report comes at a particularly sensitive time for President Bush, who is currently seeking to solidify international support for a wider war on terror. The US Embassy in Skopje was not aware of the charges by late Friday evening, and could not yet make an official statement.

Because specific details were not permitted to be leaked, the report was filtered through the Klingerdaar Institute (a respected Dutch military analysis firm). Klingerdaar in turn gave the salient information to Dutch Radio, which also interviewed several individuals who had been involved in Macedonia. The investigation centered on several controversial episodes, including the battle of Arachinovo (26 June 2001), and the “Essential Harvest” weapons collection mission in September.

Even before this new report, American involvement had long been suspected at the three-day battle in Aracinovo, a heavily Albanian town northeast of Skopje. As the battle progressed, the Macedonians claimed to be on the verge of eliminating NLA forces. Yet suddenly they were given the order to pull back, and NATO buses rolled in to escort the heavily-armed Albanians out. At the time, NATO claimed that this intervention was vital, because the Albanians were coming dangerously close to victory, and mediation was needed.

The story from many witnesses, however, was very different. German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt reported that 17 American military advisors from MPRI (the Virginia-based private military company) were also evacuated with the Albanians. This, Macedonians declared, was the real reason for NATO’s intercession. But while MPRI had an official contract as Macedonian Army advisors, suggestions of a similar presence with the Albanians were vigorously denied.

The Dutch report confirms the link, however, and quotes the German reporter who filed the original story. Apparently one of the MPRI men had been captured by the Macedonians. He panicked, and, waving his US passport, shouted “diplomatic immunity!” Through heavy US intercession, the man was freed and evacuated together with his comrades and the NLA fighters. European sources identified this particular individual as having been active in training Bosnian fighters in the 1990’s.

According to the Dutch report, there are still many unanswered questions about Operation “Essential Harvest.” At the time, NATO decided that collecting approximately 3,500 weapons would sufficiently disarm the Albanians. Yet after the collections began, Macedonians charged the NLA with giving up only their oldest and least useable guns. Museum curators in Skopje sarcastically asked that the Albanians’ WWII-era pistols be donated to their collection.

The Europeans claim that NATO was well aware that antiquated guns were being surrendered- and further, that not even four percent of these weapons could be fired.

More damning still is testimony from Macedonian intelligence services, who claim that NATO merely exchanged the Albanians’ old weapons for new ones. This story comes independently of the Dutch report, from one individual who secretly watched “Essential Harvest” through binoculars from a nearby mountainside.

During the war, the Dutch report also states, constant telephone connection was maintained between Albanian rebels and high-level American officials. Some of these conversations were taped by European intelligence. At some point the Americans became aware that they were being tapped, and discontinued direct phone contact. At this point, the Europeans claim, America purchased computers with phone technology for the NLA. Thus communications were restored.

This stunning report comes at a time when Holland is taking over NATO’s Macedonia command from the Germans. Some analysts are viewing the denunciation of the US involvement as a direct invitation to the Hague for American leaders- just as the US has been reiterating its opposition to a world court.

[George S.]

Center for balkan development,MACEDONIA CRISIS INFORMATION

THE SUNDAY TIMES: WORLD NEWS Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001

Albanian rebels , trained by the SAS are gaining ground in Macedonia, aiming for the key city of Tetovo

The emerging possibility of Kfor soldiers fighting the rebel army that Nato helped to "liberate" Kosovo less than two years ago has caused alarm in the alliance's headquarters in Brussels and in western capitals.

Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said the Macedonian conflict "can lead us to the wider Balkan war that everyone has feared". He said Nato's troops in Kosovo were caught in a lawless power vacuum in which there was a "growing hostility towards the international community" dithering over the Serbian province's eventual status.

He noted a clear similarity with Northern Ireland, where he was among the first British troops in 1969. "I remember being welcomed by the Catholics with tea and sandwiches," Ashdown said. "It took about nine months to move from liberators to people who stood in the way of their solution."

Lord Owen, the former foreign secretary and veteran of Balkan conflicts, said the explosion of fighting in Macedonia was a "wake-up call" for the international community, and predicted a moment when Albanians "will turn on Nato forces".

He agreed with Kfor officers whose worst fear is facing a guerrilla insurgency against the peacekeepers in Kosovo. "My judgment is that we would not be ready or capable of facing that situation," Owen said.

NLA rebels took their fight to the streets of Tetovo yesterday. Semi-automatic and machinegun fire rattled out over the Muslim cemetery in the Tekke area as the Macedonian police and army continued to pound the hillsides around Kale with mortars and shells. Last night a Macedonian army helicopter crashed, killing the pilot and injuring 12 men, after hitting a pylon at a nearby ski resort.

Embarrassingly for Kfor, it emerged that two of the Kosovo-based commanders leading the Albanian push were trained by former British SAS and Parachute Regiment officers in the days when Nato was more comfortable with the fledgling Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

A former member of a European special forces unit who accompanied the KLA during the Kosovo conflict said that a commander with the nom de guerre of Bilal was organising the flow of arms and men into Macedonia, and that the veteran KLA commander Adem Bajrami was helping to co-ordinate the assault on Tetovo. Both were taught by British soldiers in the secretive training camps that operated above Bajram Curri in northern Albania during 1998 and 1999.

"The final irony of this is that Nato will be facing not only its own weapons but also its own tactics," said the special forces soldier. "And Nato simply can't handle a guerrilla war - the Albanians will beat them."

Even backed by howitzers placed in the football stadium by the Macedonian army, the special police were no match for the rebel group, said to number no more than 300 yesterday, and found themselves pinned down by shooting from Kale and from three subordinate positions in a bewildering combination of crossfire.

The NLA had also established three [Image] separate mortar positions in an arc about seven miles from Tetovo. "I believe they learnt all this from the SAS," said the soldier.

Meanwhile, Macedonian and Serbian populations began to form militias to stop the rebels from overrunning the city.

"We need just three hours, but we need more guns," said "Nasko", who was at the head of a ragtag group of portly figures in tracksuits in the cobbled streets of Dva Bresta, the most radical Macedonian district. They screamed abuse at western television reporters, kicked a CNN cameraman and almost lynched a Greek photographer who tried to take a picture of an armoured personnel carrier.

"This is a religious war against Christians led by the mujaheddin," raged Nasko, claiming the rebels were encouraged by mercenaries from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. A bystander pointed out that Nasko was himself a Muslim from Serbia's Sanzak region.

As the muezzin's cry from a minaret was drowned out by mortar fire, the backstreets of Tetovo became corridors of ancient hatreds in which it was impossible to discern who was firing at whom.

Armoured cars carrying American observers gingerly made their way around deserted boulevards, but they, too, left with the Germans. "This has caught us off-guard," said one American official in the region. "It's the first test of Colin Powell's foreign policy, and I don't know that he's got an answer."

British officers are known to favour a clampdown on the Albanian rebels currently respecting a tenuous ceasefire in Serbia's Presevo valley. But whether Britain will be drawn into protecting Kfor's supply lines in Macedonia is unclear.

"The UK is not prepared to support Albanian extremism and we are liaising closely with the Macedonian authorities," said Major Fergus Smith, the British forces spokesman. Another officer spoke privately of "suddenly being faced by Europe's Ulster".
Well history seems to repeat itself with toomany cooks stirring the pot.

[The LION will ROAR]

If anyone has access to FACEBOOK i found Albanians registering groups such as

Don't FYROM me! Call me ILIRIDA.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2269308187&ref=share

Anti enciklopedisë maqedonase

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=162889096220&ref=share

It instigates violence and it directly attacks the sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia and the freedom of its people.

[Risto the Great]

It would appear that MANU has created a real monster here.
Their motivations need to be understood.

[Prolet]

If anyone has access to FACEBOOK i found Albanians registering groups such as

Don't FYROM me! Call me ILIRIDA.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2269308187&ref=share

Anti enciklopedisë maqedonase

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=162889096220&ref=share

It instigates violence and it directly attacks the sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia and the freedom of its people.

Kako bi i go bapnal na shiptarkava

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1570922954

Risto, Take a look a this clip and see how different the Albanians in Albania are compared to the Albanians in Macedonia and Kosovo. I like it how they say that the mosques in the villages look like rockets from Iran and also with their treatment of Women forcing them to wear Shamii and being locked up at home will get them nowhere in Europe.

YouTube - Menduh Taci na albanska TV Klan