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Security Conference Condemns Albanian Attacks
SKOPJE, April 5 (News Agencies) - Southeast European defense ministers at a regional security conference here Thursday condemned the "terrorist activities" of ethnic Albanian gunmen, which they said threatened not only Macedonia, but the entire region.
The ministers said in a joint declaration they "strongly condemn extremist violence, including the terrorist activities in Tetovo and other affected areas" of Macedonia.
They also noted "such violence had support from ethnic Albanian extremists and constitutes a threat to the security and stability of the wider region."
They called for a peaceful dialogue to settle political differences.
The conference in Skopje brought together defense ministers from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia.
They gave their "full support to the Macedonian government for the measures undertaken in dealing with the situation," including an armed offensive two weeks ago against rebels attacking the northwestern town of Tetovo.
Macedonia has pursued a dual policy of throwing troops and special police against the gunmen while pursuing talks with moderate political groups whose stated political aims - for a change to ethnic Albanians' constitutional status and more rights - largely overlap.
The ministers also welcomed efforts by NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo to stop ethnic Albanian rebels using the U.N.-run Serbian province as a rear base to attack Macedonian government forces.
The violence, which has spilled from the largely ethnic Albanian Kosovo, was also linked to the "illegal traffic and transfer of arms and drugs", which they stressed should be combated through cooperation and pooling information and police equipment.
President Boris Trajkovski of Macedonia on Thursday urged the international community to land "a final blow" against the extremism that has threatened to plunge the Balkans into a new round of bloody civil war.
"The only solution for stability in the Balkans is a final blow against militant extremism," Trajkovski said at the opening of a regional security summit in Skopje, singling out Kosovo as the heart of the problem.
"We have solved the problem militarily, but we also have to solve it politically and all our efforts will be in vain if the international community does not sort out the roots of the crisis in Kosovo," he said.
Both Skopje and Belgrade have traced the roots of ethnic Albanian guerrilla groups that have launched armed rebellions in Serbia and Macedonia to the breakaway Yugoslav province of Kosovo, which is administered by the United Nations and patrolled by a NATO-led peacekeeping force.
Last week, Macedonian security forces drove rebels out of a string of villages along the Kosovo border, but the rebels have warned they will return and Macedonian officials have warned they are planning to open a second front on the Albanian frontier.
"I have a question for the international community: is it ready to fight for its principles, is it ready to defend its allies?" Trajkovski said.
"Extremists in Kosovo have shown they want to destabilize the region ... stop the establishment of democratic institutions and undermine the political process," he added.
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