Not even those people from Reuters and the BBC, says Dragi, frowning at the camera and adding: "I don't want anyone to recognize me and then up in The Hague later on like your people".
Less than 24 hours later, only a few kilometers down the road near the village of Ramno, Captain Kirco Dimitrijev (a veteran of the Vukovar front) and Dejan Joksimovski were killed when on March 4 their jeep, leading a convoy which included OSCE vehicles, activated an antitank mine. Only 15 minutes later on the observation tower near Tanusevci a sniper's bullet hit Teodor Stojanovski who died within minutes as his comrades tried to give him first aid. The bodies of the unfortunate soldiers were transported by helicopter to the Ilinden [St. Elijah s Day] garrison which was under siege by the soldiers parents, and then by ambulance to the Skopje military hospital.
However, neither the Macedonian government nor any international representative dared to call a spade a spade. The Albanian terrorists who are calling themselves the National Liberation Army (UCK) of Macedonia are called an unidentified armed group and Macedonia, while receiving support for its sovereignty and integrity, was unequivocally informed that no independent military operation on its part would be tolerated. Fear of the same kind of repressive measures recently lifted by the international community against Yugoslavia influenced the Macedonians but also the Albanians. The Macedonians agreed to conduct a limited military operation the next day, March 5, under the supervision of KFOR and OSCE. Six sniper nests were destroyed which, according to Macedonian defense ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov, is of great significance for our army because it is from one of those sniper nests that Teodor Stojanovski was shot . The Macedonian Army destroyed two machine-gun nests and eight fortifications.
While NIN s reporter was haggling with the Macedonian policemen near Pobozje, three KFOR helicopters conducted surveillance of Tanusevci for more than an hour. OSCE observers stood on the observation tower above Tanusevci watching every movement of the Macedonian Army and special police forces through binoculars. KFOR organized a convoy with special security for reporters following developments in Tanusevci from the Kosovo side.
"Screw this government when everybody is more important than Macedonians," a reporter with the Skopje daily Vecer said bitterly at one point.
Albania cautiously condemned incidents in the area of Tanusevci in accordance with the laissez-faire policy that it is currently pursuing lest it find itself punished by the international community. However, it is in Tirana that we can read in the high-circulation daily Koha Jone that the goal of the group from Tanusevci is in fact the liberation of Albanian territories to establish a state that would be the rival of Albania, the mother country of all Albanians .
The Albanian political parties in Macedonia also chose to pursue the same strategy but for a different reason. Aware of the (lack of) sympathy among the domestic public, Arben Xhaferi, the president of the Albanian Democratic Party (DPA-PDSH), the largest Albanian political party in Macedonia, stated:
"The situation in Tanusevci is serious but it should not be dramatized. This is not the act of Albanians from Macedonia. I think that the best solution for this problem and the calming of the entire situation is to find a political solution".
Only a few days earlier Xhaferi's deputy Menduh Thaci, the vice president of the DPA, advocated a more radical position most eloquently formulated by Ibrahim Rugova, president of the Democratic League of Kosovo:
"The condition for preventing the destabilization of the situation in the region near Tanusevci is recognition of the rights of Albanians, that is, granting them the status of a constitutive people of Macedonia," stated Rugova of whom most Albanian political parties in Kosovo and Metohija are critical for not doing enough to promote the independence of a Greater Kosovo to encompass the south of Serbia, including the city of Nis, northwestern Macedonia, as well as parts of Montenegro, including its capital Podgorica.
However, what is really bothering the Albanians, no matter where they live, is the signing of an agreement regulating the border line between Yugoslavia and Macedonia, and the international support this diplomatic effort has received from everyone, even the Security Council.
"That agreement should have been concluded by the Macedonian and Kosovar sides since one part of the Republic of Macedonia [sic] borders on UNMIK [territory], not on FR Yugoslavia," said Muhamed Halili, the secretary general of Party for Democratic Progress (PDP), adding that Macedonian president Trajkovski has not fulfilled the promises he made to his coalition partner, Xhaferi: "Not only did Trajkovski fail to recognize the Republic of Kosovo, which he promised to do, he is also doing everything to promote FR Yugoslavia and thus obstructing both UNMIK and the Kosovo Albanians".
Nevertheless, no matter how skillfully the Albanians maneuvered and avoided admitting their own ties with the terrorists in the south of Serbia and the north of Macedonia, the fact is that the international community is growing impatient. This is also confirmed by the most recent statement of NATO secretary general George Robertson made after a meeting with UN secretary general Kofi Annan and representatives of the member countries of the Security Council: "NATO is considering the possibility of allowing the Yugoslav Army to enter the Ground Safety Zone along the border with Macedonia to prevent the further escalation of violence initiated by armed Albanians in the south of Kosovo".
In order for this promise to be implemented, it is necessary for NATO, that is KFOR, to accept the proposal of the Macedonian government and to create on FR Yugoslavia's territory, that is, in Kosovo and Metohija, a five kilometer-wide buffer zone along the Macedonian border. In the opinion of many people, this is no solution (as can be seen by the situation in the south of Serbia) if KFOR is not actively engaged in securing the border, something that has not been done even though it is mandated by Security Council Resolution 1244.
Nevertheless, the opening of the northern Macedonian border would most benefit the Albanian extremists and those involved in organized crime. Consequently, the Macedonians interpreted Robertson's statement only as a signal to the Albanians that they have gone overboard in their megalomaniac aspirations and that it would be wise for them to get a reality check .
However, the Albanian terrorists who are engaged in synchronized operations in Macedonia and the south of Serbia appear not to have understood this signal. The crisis in the north of Macedonia is escalating.
The attacks of the National Liberation Army of Macedonia on the Macedonian Army and police are increasingly frequent in the area of Blace and the village of Maline Malo. On March 7 approximately 500 Albanians fled from the village of Gosince, only five kilometers from Tanusevci, for the village of Racinova in the Kumanovo municipality. On the same day the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac launched a fierce attack on Serbian positions near Presevo in which two members of the security forces were killed and two seriously wounded. The role of the international peacekeeping forces once again amounted to a more intensive but still passive role.
"We should not expect the liberators of the Albanians, that is, KFOR, to actively carry out the responsibilities mandated by Resolution 1244 because immediately the international peacekeeping forces would become an occupier for the Albanians," says Pavle Trajanov, president of the Democratic Alliance and former Macedonian police minister, adding: "The moment that happens, the international community would have about 45,000 hostages in Kosovo".
Xhavid Hasani is a native of Tanusevci. In 1999 KFOR turned him over to the Macedonian police which issued an international warrant for his arrest for the [attempted] murder of a policeman and several serious crimes. The same year Hasani returned to Kosovo and Metohija. The negotiations which resulted in the exchange of Hasani for four Macedonian border patrol guards kidnapped by the KLA were conducted by Arben Xhaferi, president of the Albanian Democratic Party (PDA) in Macedonia, personally.
The training of the members of the National Liberation Army of Macedonia is handled by Halid Zuzaku, an inactive lieutenant colonel of the Macedonian Army.
Another member of the command headquarters is Abdul Shasifari of Kumanovo who is showing great interest in business and works closely with the DPA. Training centers for members of the UCK and UCPMB are located in Tanusevci and in the village of Lojane.
Reporting directly to the command headquarters is the commander of the joint command unit, as well as the commanders of the Karadak 112th Brigade, the Ibrahim Fejzulahu 113th Brigade which includes a special command unit, the military police and several companies. The commander of this formation is known by his nom de guerre of Lilu. The 114th Brigade, which has no other special name for now, is organized along similar principles.