"ABBIAMO ESAURITO I MONASTERI DEL KOSMET, ADESSO
DIAMOCI SOTTO A FAR SALTARE IN ARIA QUELLI DELLA MACEDONIA!"

Oggi 21 agosto "ribelli" albanesi-macedoni (quelli sostenuti dalla
NATO) hanno preso di mira un monastero del tredicesimo secolo.


Blast Rocks Macedonian Monastery
By Aleksandar Vasovic
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001; 8:09 a.m. EDT
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Ethnic Albanian rebels attacked a
13th century Orthodox Christian monastery Tuesday,
damaging the building and placing a severe strain on a
fragile cease-fire that is a key requirement for NATO
deployment in Macedonia.
The insurgents set off a 3 a.m. blast that caused
"major damage" to the Sveti Atanasi monastery in the
town of Lesok, the government said. Ethnic Albanian
rebels began launching assaults last month on the
village, which is just outside Tetovo, Macedonia's
second-largest city.
"This is barbarism," said Antonio Milososki, the
Macedonian government spokesman. The ethnic Albanians
are Muslim, while the country's majority are Orthodox
Christian Slavs.
The blast and other sporadic cease-fire violations
come at a time when NATO troops are trying to
determine if it is peaceful enough here to fan out and
collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels.
The rebels launched their insurgency six months ago,
claiming they were fighting for more rights for ethnic
Albanians, who make up as much as one-third of the
country's population of 2 million.
The Macedonian government says the insurgents want to
capture territory and create their own state.
Dozens of people were killed and thousands were
displaced before ethnic Albanian and Macedonian
leaders accepted a peace deal. Under the agreement,
which grants ethnic Albanians more rights, NATO troops
will move in to disarm the rebels.
NATO has said it will deploy a 3,500-member,
British-led force to Macedonia when it is confident
that the cease-fire is viable. No one is really
offering a definition of just how much fighting NATO
is willing to endure and still claim a cease-fire is
holding.
To help determine if the time is right, NATO's supreme
commander in Europe, U.S. Gen. Joseph Ralston, met
Monday with the country's top officials and senior
military leaders. He will report to the alliance's
ruling council Tuesday and advise them whether to give
the go-ahead for full deployment.
NATO officials said it was unlikely the North Atlantic
Council, made up of ambassadors from each of
alliance's 19 member nations, will decide on the
deployment Tuesday. More likely, they said, the
council will discuss the findings and decide later in
the week.
The council's next regularly scheduled meeting is
Wednesday.
Ralston's visit came as an advance team moved into the
countryside to make contact with ethnic Albanian
rebels.
The British liaison team from the 16 Air Assault
Brigade traveled to Nikustak, a rebel-held village
along the front line about 10 miles northeast of the
capital, Skopje. The team was meeting with local rebel
commanders to discuss details of how the British-led
weapons collection mission, dubbed Operation Essential
Harvest, would work.
Even if NATO decides to move in, they'll find it hard
to persuade those under attack that lasting peace is
achievable.


---

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