Macedonian police probe reports of armed groups on patrol
Agence France Presse (English) - November 1, 2007 Thursday 7:24 PM GMT

SKOPJE, Nov 1 2007 - Police here launched an investigation into reports of armed uniformed men patrolling in the northern part of Macedonia near the border with UN-run Kosovo, a spokesman said Thursday.

The probe was opened after a local television station -- as well as another one in Croatia -- broadcast a story showing five armed men, dressed in green and black uniforms with no apparent insignia, patrolling in the area near the northern Macedonian town Kumanovo.

"Police were informed of this reportage and have launched a field investigation," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told AFP.

Members of the group, seen in the footage, claimed they were members of the National Liberation army (ALN), an ethnic Albanian extremist armed group active in the region since the end of the conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces in 2001.

The group appeared in public a week after one Macedonian policemen was killed and two others injured in the northern village of Tanusevci, populated mostly by the ethnic Albanians.

The village was the scene of major clashes in 2001.

Recent incidents have renewed fears of tensions in Macedonia at a time when the international community has been trying to find a solution for the future status of neighbouring Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanian population have demanded independence from Belgrade.

Serbia, backed by its powerful ally Russia, rejects any such notion, offering instead wide autonomy for Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

In Belgrade, Serbian secret service chief Rade Bulatovic warned of possible links between various armed groups present in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia.

However, Macedonia's Security council estimated last week that the situation in this former Yugoslav republic, although marred with "certain challenges" have still remained "stable and calm."

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