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NATO Macedonia Operation to Continue, Albanians Release Captives
SKOPJE, Aug 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Ethnic Albanian activists Monday released seven Macedonians they had detained near the volatile northwest town of Tetovo hours after NATO said it was going ahead with its mission to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian activists, news agencies said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Skopje said the release also follows the freeing of eight Macedonians, two of them soldiers, by the activists on Sunday.
Six of the detainees were released in a group Monday, with the seventh being freed alone, ICRC press attache Amanda Williamson said.
Williamson said on Saturday that the ICRC had received a firm commitment from Ali Ahmeti, the activists' political leader that its teams would be allowed to visit a total of 26 Macedonian detainees unconditionally.
Ahmeti said he was willing to release the captives pending further negotiations, which would not involve the ICRC, she added.
Williamson said the 26 were from families who had good evidence their loved ones had been taken by the NLA from around the volatile northern town of Tetovo.
Fighting between National Liberation Army activists and the army has generally decreased in the area since NATO began deploying in Macedonia on Wednesday on a mission to collect weapons from NLA fighters, who will be granted a government amnesty in return.
The activists began an armed uprising in February, ostensibly for better rights for the country's large Muslim Albanian minority.
Earlier in the day, NATO said it continued to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian activists on Monday despite the death of a British soldier on the eve of the operation, Brigadier Barney White-Spunner told news agencies.
According to initial reports, the soldier, identified as Ian Collins, was killed on the Skopje airport road after youths threw an object, possibly a piece of concrete, through the windshield of the armored Land Rover he was traveling in.
"Sapper Collins came to this country as part of the NATO force to help in a mission of peace, and such appalling incidents are simply unacceptable," White-Spunner said.
"It is still far too early to give any indication as to who was responsible. This regrettable incident does not affect the resolve of Task Force Harvest to complete the mission," he said.
Collins, a 20-year-old member of the Ninth Parachute Squadron of Royal engineers, suffered fatal head injuries in the incident.
"The incident is now being investigated by British military police and Macedonian civilian police who are working together in full cooperation," White-Spunner said.
Macedonian defense ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski condemned the attack and expressed his sympathy for the soldier's family.
"NATO is our friend," he said. "NATO troops have come to Macedonia to help with disarmament, to help preserve our territorial integrity and help return peace and stability," he said.
A defense ministry spokesman said reports suggested that the concrete had been thrown by a crowd of youths, but it was not yet known if they were ethnic Albanian or Macedonian.
The death was the first of a NATO soldier during the British-led "Operation Essential Harvest" in Macedonia to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian combatants and came just hours before the mission was officially launched.
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