Kosovars are mobilizing in Lipkovo region Dnevnik

Kosovars are mobilizing in Lipkovo region
Dnevnik - September 2, 2003

Written by Emil Zafirovski and Igor K. Ilievski

Sources on the ground have told Dnevnik that several armed groups are mobilizing the local population in the Kumanovo-Lipkovo region and that the villages of Vaksince and Lojane are being evacuated after two armed groups from Kosovo ordered the inhabitants of these villages to leave by this weekend. The Interior Ministry confirmed yesterday that there was movement of the population in Vaksince and Lojane, but it could not state for certain whether this indicates an evacuation of the population.

On Sunday afternoon 31 August an armed and uniformed group from Kosovo started forcibly recruiting the inhabitants of Presnica, a region between the villages of Lipkovo and Brest. Armed groups were seen driving between the two villages. Last week an armed and uniformed group, which had been noticed in this region some time earlier, started training the mobilized inhabitants from the Lipkovo and Slupcane regions. Sources say that the inhabitants of this region are joining these armed individuals in small groups. The police are fully armed and equipped and have been deployed at the entrances to Vaksince, other villages in the Lipkovo region, and the Skopje village of Aracinovo.

The evacuation of Vaksince began on Saturday afternoon and the village was practically empty by nightfall. The inhabitants left Vaksince after an armed group from Kosovo came to their village and ordered them to leave. Sources say that another group from Kosovo evacuated the village of Lojane and was noticed in the region of this village.

Yesterday a Dnevnik team entered the village of Vaksince. The streets of this village were practically deserted. Unlike the other villages that our team visited, we could see no farmers in the fields or children on the streets in Vaksince. The only thing that we could see were a few men in civilian clothes near the centre of the village and a few vehicles entering from the direction of Kumanovo and the village of Recica. Fully armed and equipped police with personnel carriers were deployed near the village. Sources say that most of the inhabitants of Vaksince and Lojane have gone to southern Serbia, the regions of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac and Kosovo.

Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Mirjana Kontevska said that the police were taking all measures necessary to "disable the criminal group that is terrorizing the local Albanian population".

"The police are deployed outside the populated areas and they will ensure that the citizens' security is not threatened. We have registered movement of the population, but we do not know the reasons for it. The Interior Ministry appeals to the inhabitants to cooperate and support the police, who have been deployed there for their security," Kontevska said.

A police presence can be noticed throughout this region, as well as on the old Skopje-Kumanovo road. The first police units are deployed near the Skopje village of Aracinovo.

"The situation in Aracinovo is unchanged, peaceful, and stable. But the best thing would be for you to contact Interior Minister Hari Kostov. We, as a municipality, are marginalized and I do not want to comment on the Interior Ministry's actions or the deployment of police in the region surrounding the village," Aracinovo Mayor Resat Ferati said yesterday.

We have learned that Abedin Zimberi, former head of the National Liberation Army's military police in the Kumanovo region and a current adviser to the Lipkovo municipality mayor, met the inhabitants of this region in the village of Slupcance on 31 August. At this meeting it was concluded that the best thing for now would be for the police to remain in their positions outside the populated areas and not to enter the villages, with the aim of preventing tension and a deterioration of the situation. Yesterday Zimberi refused to comment on the security situation in the Lipkovo region. Lipkovo municipality Mayor Husamedin Halili was too busy yesterday to talk to the Dnevnik team in the municipal building.

SOURCE: Dnevnik, Skopje, in Macedonian 2 Sep 03 p 3

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