Word: kosovo
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...There's no simple answer, especially now that the most recent conflict - between Kosovo-backed Albanian insurgents and Macedonian forces around the northwestern town of Tetovo - is smoldering rather than blazing. What is certain is that nothing highlights Macedonia's problems as starkly as armed conflict, which is why the international community is scrambling to prove that whatever its grade on conflict prevention, it can do better in conflict management...
...years ago NATO intervened in Kosovo to defend the ethnic Albanians. Now they recognise that Albanian extremism is threatening to destroy the fragile stability in the war-torn province and beyond. As one senior NATO soldier in Kosovo puts it: "They're extremely close to pushing the entire region over the precipice and into the abyss. And that will mean a massive disaster...
...people behind the latest unrest in Macedonia are mainly members of the Kosovo People's Movement (L.P.K.), the group that gave rise to the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1997. "This isn't the first time we're being called terrorists," says Emrush Xhemajli, president of the L.P.K. in Kosovo. "This isn't the first time we're being chastised. It's just a matter of time before NATO comes to its senses and embraces (the Albanian fighters in Macedonia), just as it did the old K.L.A." Full Story...
...This is an important tactical victory for the government, but the rebels have been repelled rather than destroyed. They have retreated, either into the mountains or back into Kosovo. The real challenge is now political - whether the government can cement its military gains by making new efforts to address the grievances of Macedonia's Albanian population. What is at stake now is the very survival of a multi-ethnic Macedonia, and the crisis is not yet over, even though there may be a brief respite. If the government is unable to address the political grievances that the rebels have exploited...
...large number of refugees appeared to cross over into Kosovo during the Macedonian military's offensive. Could that change the political picture...