Kanal 77: ANA formed paramilitary unit for Vardar Macedonia
7 October 2007 | 10:20 | FOCUS News Agency
Skopje. Seventy-four shells and mine-throwers have been found in a special pillbox close to the border with Albania in the village of Vrbjane, 10 km away from Gostivar, the Macedonian Kanal 77 informed.
The pillbox is in the area that in the time of the military conflict was within the responsibilities of the 116th brigade of the National Liberation Army. Nevzat Bejta, current mayor of Gostivar, was its member. After it was announced that masked persons in black uniforms controlled the movement in Kosovo as far as the eastern border with Serbia, the Albanian National Union Front, headed by Gafur Adili, released on the Internet an announcement that a “Tahir Sinani” brigade had been formed, which in the frames of the Albanian National Army /ANA/ should function in Macedonia.
The Tahir Sinani unit will perform the function of a second ANA division, with its area of action being Vardar valley, Ilirida. The paramilitary unit was named after Tahir Sinani, colonel in the Kosovo Liberation Army /KLA/, who died some years ago in mysterious circumstances.
Xhezair Shaqiri, known as Commander Hoxha, thinks Gafur Adili, who represents himself as a political leader of the Albanian National Union Front, is an Internet fighter only, who had not done anything in all wars in the region up to now. Hoxha said he did not have any information about the ANA and its formations on Macedonian territory.

focus

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Kosovo public television has broadcast footage of masked and armed members of a self-proclaimed guerrilla army who said they were ready to fight for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

The report, filmed by an independent journalist, was broadcast on Wednesday evening on Radio Television Kosovo.

The ethnic Albanian majority in the southern Serbian province is growing increasingly frustrated with the West’s stalled bid to grant it independence in the face of Serb and Russian opposition.

The men, dressed in black and holding automatic weapons and sniper rifles, said they were members of the outlawed Albanian National Army (ANA), a group branded “terrorists” in 2003 by the United Nations mission that has governed Kosovo for eight years.

“Following serious threats of war … by Serb paramilitaries, and that Serbia will again invade Kosovo, we are forced to be ready and aware,” said one man, his face hidden by a black balaclava. There were around 10 men in the film.

A spokesman for the NATO force, KFOR, said the ANA statement was “inappropriate”.

“They will of course be treated as illegal persons by the relevant services … if we catch them or meet them,” said Colonel Bertrand Bonneau. NATO has 16,000 troops in the province of 2 million people, 90 percent Albanians.

The men in the video wore insignia almost identical to that of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a guerrilla army that battled Serb forces in 1998 and 1999 and drew NATO into its first ‘humanitarian’ bombing war to halt the slaughter and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians.

The ANA surfaced after the war in Kosovo and Albanian insurgencies in southern Serbia and Macedonia in 2000 and 2001.

Kosovo guerrilla group says ready to fight Serbia-TV

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL04570942

The U.N. Mission in Kosovo has banned the group and declared it a “terrorist organization.” The Albanian National Army emerged in neighboring Macedonia in 2001, following ethnic clashes in that country.

The armed group has claimed responsibility for several terrorist acts in the region

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-10-04-voa65.cfm

Kosovo’s resurgent armed groups

Amid the already heightened tensions surrounding the fate of the UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo, the reappearance of several armed groups is further jangling nerves.

The appearance on the province’s main broadcaster, Radio-Television Kosova (RTK), of balaclava-clad men claiming allegiance to the outlawed Albanian National Army (Armata Kombetare Shqiptare: AKSh) in October 2007 drew condemnation from international, Serbian and Kosovar politicians alike. However, it is in the interests of both Belgrade and Pristina to exaggerate the presence of Albanian armed groups, although from opposite standpoints.

Demonstrating the frustration of Kosovo’s 90 per cent Albanian majority could put pressure on the international community to grant Kosovo independence more quickly. Therefore, while publicly condemning AKSh’s actions and rhetoric, the hand of Kosovo’s Unity Team (the group of five Kosovo Albanian political parties taking part in last-ditch negotiations with Belgrade in October) will have been strengthened.

At the same time, Serbian politicians are convinced that Kosovo’s Albanian population is not competent to govern itself, and regularly warn that the province will turn into a black hole for organised crime if given independence. They also argue that Kosovo’s indigenous governing institutions are unwilling or unable to protect the rights of minorities (specifically Kosovo Serbs) in Kosovo without an international presence. The presence of armed groups harassing civilians in Kosovo Liberation Army-style outfits bolsters this rhetoric.

Kosovo will likely declare independence unilaterally in the coming weeks, which will probably be recognised by the US, France, the UK, Italy and Germany relatively quickly. The reaction of these different armed groups will be crucial to Kosovo’s short- and medium-term stability, but perhaps more than that, the way the media in Kosovo and Serbia report any reactions will have a lasting impact on inter-ethnic relations, regardless of the security threat actually posed by these groups.

298 of 966 words
© 2008 Jane’s Information Group

Dieser Eintrag wurde am 8.10.2007 um 12:46 verfasst und befindet sich in Balkan (Englisch). Sie können alle Antworten zu diesem Eintrag über den Feed RSS 2.0 mitverfolgen. Hinterlassen Sie eine Antwort oder einen Trackback-Link zu Ihrer eigenen Homepage.