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UN Kosovo Administrator Asks Macedonia to Consider Political Solution
Visiting UN administrator of Kovoso Hans Haekkerup said in Macedonia's capital Skopje on Friday that the international community supports Macedonia's efforts to defend itself against ethnic Albania extremists' attacks, the Albanian news agency ATA reported.
Speaking at a press conference after meeting with Macedonia's top leaders, Haekkerup also urged Macedonian authorities to try to find a political solution to the conflicts.
A political solution was a must to stop the violence by the extremists, he said, adding that the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) and the UN administrative mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)would work with Macedonia closely to prevent the extremists from infiltrating into Macedonia from Kosovo.
He also said local residents in Kosovo also had the obligation to isolate the extremists.
The administrator also said that the customhouse at Bllace along the Macedonia-Kosovo border would be opened to convoys of UNMIK's vehicles from Saturday under an agreement reached with the Macedonian government.
Haekkerup arrived in Macedonia for a visit after four people including an Associated Press Television News journalist were killed by mortar shells on Thursday in Krivenik, a village inside Kosovo's border with Macedonia.
Investigations into the incident were still going on, he said.
Meanwhile, Macedonian Defense Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov denied again on Friday that the four people were killed by Macedonian forces.
He said about 30 unidentified people who claimed themselves Macedonian soldiers were found moving around in the village, which was later confirmed by KFOR.
In a related development, Deputy Speaker of the Macedonian parliament Tomislav Stojanovski, attending a parliament leaders' meeting of the Central European Initiative (CEI) in Budapest, told the Hungarian news agency that Macedonia was, as always, ready for dialogue.
He said, however, under the present circumstances, the government had no other way but to resort to military means to safeguard the country's sovereignty.
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