Kosovo autonomy 'risk'

Agence France-Press ^ | 19 November 2005 | Jasmina Mironski

[Doctor13]

S/E Europe

Entity’s independence could stir Albanian separatists in FYROM, analysts say

SKOPJE - Granting Kosovo independence from Serbia could stir up separatist movements among ethnic Albanian minorities in other parts of the Balkans, analysts said ahead of the start of talks on the province’s future status.

Some leaders in the fragile region, where ethnic tensions have led to a series of wars since 1991, fear another change of borders could provoke separatist demands by ethnic Albanian minorities in countries surrounding Kosovo.

“All Kosovo politicians, including President Ibrahim Rugova, should sign a declaration that would exclude any possible unification of territories with majority Albanian populations in the region,” said Prime Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Vlado Buckovski.

FYROM, which borders Serbia and its province of Kosovo, offered shelter to tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fleeing the province in 1999 under repression of the regime of then Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.

But only two years later, its own ethnic Albanian minority — which makes up one quarter of the ex-Yugoslav republic’s population of 2 million — took up arms demanding more rights for its community.

The fighting ended after seven months with a peace deal brokered by the international community, and one of the main rebel leaders is now a member of the ruling coalition government.

“Ethnic Macedonians have serious fears of possible Kosovo independence, based on their own experience with ethnic Albanians,” analyst Ljubomir Frckoski told AFP.

A recent poll in FYROM showed a “majority of Albanians support the independence of Kosovo, while most Macedonians are sceptical toward it,” said Dane Teleski of the local think-tank Skopje. “But Macedonians are not against independence if there are firm guarantees by the international community that it will not have any impact on the territorial integrity of the country,” he said.

Such a stance was echoed by FYROM President Branko Crvenkovski, who said recently that FYROM “is neither afraid of an independent Kosovo, nor of Kosovo within Serbia-Montenegro. What we want and insist is for Kosovo to be a territory with established legal order that will respect all international standards,” Crvenkovski said.

Frckoski warned the “almost non-existent borders between Kosovo and Macedonia make the area a gray zone dominated by organized crime that can lead the region into chaos.”

Fears of another armed conflict have also been spread with the on-and-off presence of the Albanian National Army (ANA), an underground militant organization grouping former Kosovo rebels and favoring unity of the ethnic community in the Balkans. In 2001, ANA fighters were said to have joined ethnic Albanian rebels of the FYROM-based guerrilla group National Liberation Army (NLA), clashing with Skopje security forces.

The ANA, listed as a “terrorist organisation” by the UN mission in Kosovo due to a number of armed attacks, has said it wants to set up a state grouping all ethnic Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, FYROM and southern Serbia and Montenegro — if needed through a war.

Ethnic Albanian politicians in the region have denounced ANA demands, but vowed support for Kosovo independence.

“The will of Kosovo citizens for independence should be respected, and thus the whole region would be stabilized,” said Rafiz Haliti, top official of the ruling Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

Ethnic Albanians living in southern Serbia — a scene of armed clashes between Serb forces and the separatist rebels in 2001 — have stopped short of backing Kosovo’s independence, being warned both by Belgrade and the international community that their problems are not the same.

But they warned that their own requests for more rights would have to be put on the agenda soon.

“Belgrade, Pristina and the international community have to discuss the status of Kosovo, but at one moment, we will also have to be involved in this process,” said local Albanian leader Reza Halimi.

[BenLurkin]

"demands by ethnic Albanian minorities "

[Eagles6]

This part of the Serbian homeland has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs, most Christian churches and synagogues have been burnt and jihadis have been pouring in.

If you don't see it in the msm then it didn't happen.

[F-117A]

The "ethnic Alabanian" should be given a one way ticket to their glorious fatherland of Albania!

[FormerLib]

The thing is that Albania wants nothing to do with these Islamofascist thugs!