Word: albanian
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...deadline set by the Macedonian government for Albanian separatists to lay down their arms expired at midday Thursday, and yet there's been no sign of government forces preparing for the promised offensive to "eliminate" the rebels. Why is the government hesitating...
...their strongholds in a series of villages in the mountains, and it would be a disaster for President Trajkovski if his forces suffered heavy losses. And if they inflicted civilian casualties in the villages where the rebels are hiding, his new government would collapse, because the ethnic-Albanian parties would walk out - and that could be the prelude to the breakup of Macedonia...
...instead of launching an offensive they threatened, the government is now saying they want to allow one more chance for peaceful solution, and allow the insurgents more time to digest the lessons they should take from what has happened in the Presevo Valley region of southern Serbia, where Albanian separatists were forced by a combination of the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo and Yugoslav army to leave the area. This was a very clear message that NATO's tolerance of the Albanian insurgents is declining fast. And the Macedonian hopes that once they realize this, the insurgents here will follow...
...Being part of a decision to launch an offensive against rebels who say they're fighting for Albanian civil rights must be a difficult choice for the mainstream Albanian political parties...
MACEDONIA Albanian Insurgents Provoke Strong Backlash The risk of renewed ethnic war drew closer when 10 members of the Macedonian security forces were killed in an ambush by Albanian extremists. The assaults triggered retaliatory strikes by government forces, who attacked several Albanian villages with helicopter gunships and artillery. Masked ethnic Macedonian civilians, outraged at the rebel ambush, rampaged through Albanian communities smashing shop windows and beating residents - the first time civilians took to the streets since violence first erupted a month ago. The rebels say they are fighting for Albanian rights but have yet to distinguish their claims from those...