Word: macedonian
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...hostilities. After all, the peace agreement on which the whole operation is based was signed not by the guerrillas, but by ethnic-Albanian political parties who'd been part of Macedonia's democratic political process, rather than waging war in the hills. NATO leaders coaxed and cajoled the Macedonian authorities into accepting a deal to substantially improve the political lot of their Albanian countrymen, a deal the alliance hopes will persuade the guerrillas to lay down their arms - or, more correctly, turn them over to NATO soldiers. But the ongoing guerrilla attacks on soldiers and civilians have led many Macedonians...
...rebels have so far proved politically adept at couching their demands within the frame of what might be acceptable to the West. For example, a separate Albanian territory in Macedonia was a non-starter, so instead the guerrillas announced that they were simply demanding greater civil rights in the Macedonian constitution. And that responsiveness to Western concerns makes them unlikely to resist disarmament altogether - after all, the current peace deal has been crafted precisely in order to remove the political grievances they cite in order to claim legitimacy for their insurgency. In a pointed message to the guerrillas last week...
...partly in the fact that when Albanian nationalists in Kosovo first sent a guerrilla army into the impoverished former Yugoslav republic, they found a huge pool of young Albanian men willing to join up. They were driven by a long-held sense of political and cultural grievance against the Macedonian authorities. But for many, the decision may have been made easier by the mass unemployment that left little hope of finding a job. Guerrillas always imagine themselves in heroic terms, and they have a sense of purpose that beats sitting around waiting in vain to find work. Macedonia's problems...
...course, there are grounds to believe the guerrillas may be willing to do this: For a "Greater Albania" insurgency exported from neighboring Kosovo, they will have done extraordinarily well if they keep the deal. Most important, it will have made them an indispensable factor in the stability of Macedonian political life - this despite their habit of driving non-Albanians out of the villages they've captured. Guerrilla commanders could certainly make a case that they need to consolidate their gains and avoid forcing NATO into a fight. "Greater Albania" can wait as long as progress is being made...
...there are also strong grounds for skepticism over the rebels' intentions, despite the optimism of the mediators. An ambush near Skopje on Wednesday saw 10 government troops killed, while reporters in Tetovo reported that guerrillas had once again seized parts of the city in fierce fighting. On Tuesday, Macedonian police raided a house in the capital and killed five ethnic-Albanian men accused of being guerrillas. Despite the political talks, fighting rages on, and there are few signs that the guerrillas are preparing to disarm - or that government forces will tolerate any perceived attempt by the guerrillas to expand their...