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EU And Russia To Stop War In Macedonia
BRUSSELS, March 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - European Union foreign ministers were meeting Monday in a crisis atmosphere to discuss how the EU could help stop Macedonia from sliding into ethnic war.
In an unprecedented move, they invited NATO Secretary General George Robertson to join them at midday to see how the EU and the alliance might synchronize actions.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh reiterated the European Union's support for Skopje against ethnic Albanian "extremists".
"The message to all extreme groups is very clear, we do not accept violence and our support for the [Macedonian] government is very clear," Anna Lindh said.
Meanwhile, Robertson said Monday the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo will deploy even more troops along the border with Macedonia to intercept ethnic Muslim Albanian gunmen and their supplies.
Fighting continued for the sixth day in the north of the country, with the government sending tanks to the mainly ethnic Albanian city of Tetovo to engage the separatists.
The government of Macedonia has moved slowly to meet demands by the Albanian minority. Observers say that the government needs to ensure full social, political and economic inclusion for the Albanian minority whose numbers are being swelled by the tide of refugees from Kosovo.
Some 140,000 Kosovo Albanians may now stay permanently owing to family connections in Macedonia. The release of jailed Albanian dissidents in February 1999 and the granting of an Albanian university later in the year have gone some way to meeting minority demands, but there is still some pressure for Albanian to become the second official language. Combined, these demands may have contributed to the recent flare of violence.
Two-thirds of the population are Macedonian, and roughly two-fifths Albanian. The exact size of the Albanian minority of the country's 2.2 million people is disputed between official Macedonian government figures and Albanian community numbers. The official religion is Macedonian Orthodox Christianity; Islam and Catholicism are practiced openly.
"What is necessary is, in the very difficult ground, the very difficult circumstances of that border, is to forbid as much of the supplies or traffic that might be going into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", NATO chief Robertson said.
"NATO is committed to tightening its control of the border, and additional troops will be put in place in order to do that," he added.
Robertson refused to give details of exactly how many additional troops would be put along the border. But he said, "We are determined that we will starve this limited number of localized extremists from being able to carry out their mischief."
Robertson had said in Athens on Friday that NATO forces had already "advanced along the Kosovo-Macedonian border" in order to cut supply lines to the Muslim Albanian activists.
"Supplementary troops and materiel are already in place," he said. Macedonian foreign minister Kerim said that once NATO had achieved its task of cutting off separatist supply lines, Macedonia would be able to fend for itself.
He said: "The Macedonian security forces are able, and will be abl, to take care of the security of our country."
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he would back international military action "if necessary" to end an ethnic Albanian insurrection in Macedonia.
"Only decisive political, and if necessary, military actions by the international community can avoid the conflict spreading throughout the Balkans," Putin said in a letter to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, according to the Kremlin.
"The situation greatly concerns countries in the region and Russia. The Russian foreign minister will make efforts to forge a common stance with our partners in the region and the Europe and the United States," Putin said in remarks broadcast on television.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, on a Balkans tour, warned Sunday that the international community must stop the conflict in Macedonia now or face a regional war engulfing the Balkans.
"If the violence is not stopped now in Macedonia it will spread to other Balkans countries," said Ivanov, who arrived in Belgrade at the start of a visit set to include Kosovo, the Macedonian capital Skopje and the Albanian capital, Tirana.
German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said in a radio interview Monday that fighting in Macedonia could escalate and spread throughout the Balkans.
"I do not think the term war is justified," Scharping told Suedwestrundfunk (SWR), responding to comments by U.N. special envoy for the Balkans Carl Bildt that the situation in northern Macedonia had deteriorated into a war.
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