Masked Muslim Albanian gunmen seen in Macedonia

Masked Muslim Albanian gunmen seen in Macedonia

April 21, 2008
SERBIANNA

Kosovo police says that it is investigating reports that masked Albanian gunmen have reappeared in villages near Macedonia border.

Neighboring Macedonia has been under increasing pressure by the Kosovo Islamic separatists so relinquish some of its territory because separatists demand that.

The latest report of masked armed Albanians come from the village of Debelde where villagers are reportedly saying that they are ready "if need be, take up arms to defend their farms".

Under a 2001 agreement, the territory belongs to Macedonia but Islamic separatists in Kosovo demand that the lend be relinquished over to Kosovo separatists.

Kosovo Protection Service spokesman, Veton Elshani, says that they do not know who the gunmen are.

Albanian daily Express published a photograph of these masked man saying that the are called "Village Liberation Army".

"Armed men are everywhere in the village of Tanushevci, which is in Macedonia. They are also patrolling the village of Mjake, which is for the time being in Kosovo. The border between these two villages does not exist," the daily wrote.

A commission for on border demarcation has been set up in Kosovo and Macedonia that is based on the Ahtisaari plan.

Ahtisaari plan is illegal because it was not approved by the UN and has been imposed on Serbia by Western powers that have military control of the area.

Macedonia is also under pressure by Kosovo separatists who want their southern neighbor to recognize their illegal independence declaration.