MACEDONIAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY KONDOVO "ABOUT TO ESCALATE"
BBC Monitoring International Reports - December 9, 2004

Text of A. Cuposki report entitled "How have Ali Ahmeti and Menduh Thaci been received?!" published by the Macedonian newspaper Makedonija Denes on 7 December

Nothing new is happening in Skopje's Kondovo village. Macedonian police have still not entered the village, which has been occupied by armed groups for some time now. These groups have no intention of moving from there. The uniformed police patrol told us the following at the last checkpoint before entering the village: "you can go if you want to be harassed," whereas the most elderly of the policemen added, "this is a problem that should be solved by the state and not by journalists." The police control checkpoint was set up at Skopje's western exit, right next to the market and the petrol station. "They are positioned less than a kilometre from us," the policemen told us, showing us the point to which we could go without being stopped by the armed men in black uniforms. The police adamantly told us that a territory where not everyone is welcome begins before the railroad that has to be crossed on the way to Kondovo.

As we were told at the municipality, Kondovo Municipality Mayor Raim Limani has been away "on business" for several days and there is nobody else in the municipality to respond to our questions regarding the security situation in the village. Under the new municipal organization, the latter is regarded as a peripheral territory of the capital. The visit that Prime Minister-designate Vlado Buckovski announced the day before yesterday (6 December) is expected possibly to bring a solution to the situation in Kondovo. "Many reports, semi-reports, and conclusions emerged, namely, that the DPA (Democratic Party of Albanians - PDSh in Albanian) may be involved in this. What makes me think that this is not the case is DPA Deputy Chairman Menduh Thaci's commitment to visit Kondovo along with DUI (Democratic Union for Integration - BDI in Albanian) leader Ali Ahmeti. They thus demonstrated the political will for the problem's solving," Buckovski said following his visit to Tetovo.

Thaci and Ahmeti's visit to Kondovo, which was expected to demonstrate that the armed groups do not enjoy any political support, took place yesterday afternoon. They were meant to try to explain to the armed group that the problems could be solved by means of a political procedure and without proclaiming free territories. Our sources claim that the Kondovo armed groups were activated in view of the referendum and that they have now gone out of their mentors' control. We have yet to see how Thaci and Ahmeti were received in Kondovo, but it appears that Ali Ahmeti and Arben Xhaferi's (PDSh leader) recent visits to Kosovo, whereby they congratulated former Kosovo Protection Corps leader Ramus Haradinaj on his election as prime minister, are no coincidence. Our sources claim that some of the Kondovo armed group's leaders are very close to Ramus Haradinaj. This particularly refers to Lirim Jakupi-Nacist (Nazi), who is coordinator of the Albanian National Army (ANA - AKSh in Albanian) for Macedonian and southern Serbia and for whom UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) has issued a wanted poster on terrorism charges. Intelligence sources claim that the security situation in Kondovo is "about to escalate," adding that the armed groups there are under direct control from Kosovo. They told us not to go to Kondovo, warning us that "if we entered the village, we would never get out."

According to the same sources, the closing of the US Embassy in Skopje was also linked to the Kondovo developments. Namely, the mujahidin from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, who were returned from Skopje airport, were planning to establish contact with the leaders of the Kondovo armed formations.

Our sources have said that the same situation can be witnessed in the entire Karadak region and in Tetovo, and not only in the Skopje area. Apparently, over 500 ANA members are deployed in Kondovo, Rasce, Matka, Nikistani, and Svilare. They can also be seen in the Tetovo villages of Sipkovica, Golema Recica, Brodec, and Poroj, as well as in the Kumanovo-Lipkovo-Karadak area, namely, in the villages of Matejce, Lipkovo, Slupcane, Vaksince, Lojane, Brest, Malina, and Gosince. Apparently, ANA consists of former members of the now disbanded Kosovo Protection Corps, National Liberation Army, as well as of Albanians recruited from the diaspora. A number of Islamist terrorist groups that intend to infiltrate the Balkans are also linked to ANA, our sources have said. The Interior Ministry has dismissed the reports that movements of armed formations have been noted in these villages.

Source: Makedonija Denes, Skopje, in Macedonian 0000 gmt 7 Dec 04 pp1,3

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