Posted on 06/23/2002 1:03:48 PM PDT by konijn
VPRO-Radio: ‘USA Has Supported the Albanian Rebels’
(MS Word file)
By de Volkskrant foreign affairs editors Translated by HannaH
De Volkskrant home page on June 22, 2002 Amsterdam - The United States provided secret support to the Albanian rebels last year, although the NATO was officially impartial. This was said [on Friday, June 21st] in Argos, a programme of the VPRO-Radio, which claims to have gained access in the documents of the secret services of the European NATO member-states.
In the June 2001 fightings between the Macedonian army and the Albanian insurgents in the Macedonian village Arachinovo, a group of 17 Americans accompanied the Albanians. According to Argos, the U.S.A. citizens were military advisors, employed by MPRI (a defence company from Virginia, in service of the American Government).
The confrontation in Arachinovo got last year a lot of media attention because the Albanian insurgents, cornered by the Macedonian Army, could leave the village 'escorted' by NATO and in busses provided by NATO. That decision lead to massive protests by the Macedonian population.
According to Rob de Wijk, a member of the Clingendael Institute [Dutch Institute for International Relations], who got access to the secret reports, the presence of the American advisors 'means in fact that the USA have in that time chosen for the side of the rebels'. According to De Wijk, USA had possibly the goal 'to put the Macedonian Army' under pressure' and in that way to force the Government to 'give concessions to the Albanians'.
The former diplomat (Max van der Stoel), who for many years intensively has been involved in Macedonia, said on Friday [June 21st] that he considers the news about the American support to the rebels as very improbable. He claims that U.S.A., together with the EU and the NATO, played a big role in resolving the crisis in Macedonia.
MPRI was unreachable for comments yesterday. The company website informs that since 1998, MPRI has being assisting Macedonia in capacity building of its small army.
Has the crisis really been resolved? That we don't read about it in the papers doesn't mean things are fine.
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