KOSOVO ALBANIAN PAPER ON RUMORS OF REBELS' ACTIVITY IN MACEDONIA, KOSOVO

Prishtina Pristina , 7 February: A few days ago, an inhabitant of a village in Vushtrri Vucitrn reported to the police that several masked people, who passed through his village by a vehicle, stopped him after midnight. He was not able to give more details about this "search", while the police assessed that this could have been a robbery attempt.

This report, presented to the police, is possibly related to the "rumours" that are often circulating in the conversation between the citizens, where they say that armed people in black, or in black and grey uniforms, wearing masks, are stopping and identifying citizens of some rural areas of Kosova Kosovo .

Those who speak about this phenomenon in villages say that these people are members of the Albanian National Army ANA; AKSh in Albanian , because the "soldiers" speak Albanian. According to them, they are moving by vehicles through villages and are stopping people mainly in the late evening hours to identify them. Meanwhile, officials of the international police and Kfor Kosovo Force deny having information on the activity of a guerrilla group or army inside the territory of Kosova.

"A resident of Vushtrri municipality reported to the police a few days ago that unidentified masked people who were driving a vehicle stopped and identified him," said Derek Chappell, spokesman of UNMIK UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo police. Asserting that this is the only case reported to the police, Chappell denied that the police have other details about such a group, while he referred to the aforementioned case more as a robbery attempt...

His counterpart from Kfor, Tony Davis, was very brief in denying these "rumours". "Kfor does not have information that such a group is active somewhere in Kosova," he told Koha Ditore...

"We also heard rumours and we read in the media that the Albanian National Army is active in Macedonia, but we do not know if this is true, and we do not have information as to how many members have penetrated Kosova," Chappell said, adding that nonetheless he is not in a position to guarantee that there are no extremist groups in the mountains between Macedonia and Kosova. "I cannot guarantee that there are no extremists groups in the mountains between Macedonia and Kosova, but we do not have information on their existence"...

"We believe that even if the citizens hesitate to report cases when they come across such people, we can obtain information from the international personnel present here in Kosova, from Kfor, UNMIK, police and foreign governmental and nongovernmental organizations, because they move throughout Kosova and it is impossible not to come across such things, groups who identify citizens throughout Kosova," he said...

Officials of the Kosova government also deny having information on the existence of the guerrilla formation in Kosova. Ramadan Avdiu, adviser to Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, said that the "government does not know of such a thing". "We do not have information on the existence of any formation in Kosova, and the government never discussed such a thing," he said, adding that nevertheless he heard that the public is discussing this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the people who assert that they came across the AKSh, are not ready to give any details on these encounters. "They are armed, they speak Albanian, they have uniforms and masks, and they are very polite when they stop the passengers and identify them," is the version that can be heard in the discussions between the citizens, who do not agree to speaking publicly. Good behaviour, they say, is related to the motto published on the Internet site of the AKSh, which says: "AKSh soldiers have to be disciplined, responsible, with a strong will to implement the general Regulation of the AKSh, of the good traditions of the Albanian population, and of the international laws and norms, which do not jeopardize the interests of the nation and fatherland."

Recently, the Macedonian media have been mentioning a lot the AKSh's "spring offensive" against Macedonians, but the international officials and Albanian politicians there are also denying such a possibility. According to these media, which refer to the Internet site of the AKSh, armed people are patrolling in the region of Likove Lipkovo , while they were quoted as saying that they "do not recognize the Oher Ohrid Framework Agreement", which followed after the armed conflict between the Albanians and Macedonians in 2001.

These media say that all the soldiers of Ali Ahmeti's National Liberation Army UCK; NLA in English who are dissatisfied with the results of the war have joined the AKSh. It is also said that there are other "disappointed" soldiers from the UCK Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA and the UCPMB Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac ...

The Internet site, which is said to be the official site of the AKSh, says that the AKSh is a structure of the Front for Albanian National Unification FBKSh , led by Mehdi Hyseni.

Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 8 Feb 03 p 1,2
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