Posted on 12/14/2001 7:42:09 AM PST by oxi-nato
DOBROSTE, FYROM (AFP) - Government efforts to restore order in the northwest of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) suffered a setback yesterday when the inhabitants of the mainly ethnic Albanian village of Dobroste refused to allow in a police patrol. The patrol was made up of Slav-Macedonian and ethnic Albanian officers and formed part of the second phase of a plan to reestablish a police presence in villages formerly controlled by ethnic Albanian rebels.
But the residents of Dobroste made it clear they were in no hurry to see the law enforcers return. "We don't want the police here," a 70-year-old Albanian, Ismet Bellushi, told reporters. The patrol, which was accompanied by observers from NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) eventually gave up trying to enter the village.
Last-minute difficulties also delayed the deployment of mixed police patrols in other FYROM villages around the city of Tetovo. In Glodij and Otuciste, for example, police officers were only allowed into the village three hours after they had initially been scheduled to start their patrols. According to NATO sources, who asked not to be named, the Albanian authorities in Tetovo and Kumanovo asked for the resumption of police patrols to be held off until 17 December, which will mark the end of the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan. Some of the mixed police patrols went ahead without hitches yesterday, however, for example in three villages around Gostivar.
In another development, the German Parliament yesterday voted by a large majority to prolong the participation of German soldiers in the NATO mission in FYROM for a further three months from December 27. Of 615 members of the Bundestag, 574 voted in favor, 35 against and six abstained. At the request of FYROM President Boris Trajkovski, NATO decided on December 7 to prolong its operation Amber Fox, whose mandate expires on December 26, for a further three months.
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