NATO: Weapons Cache in Macedonia "Worrying"

“The quantity of seized ammunitions was very large and this is very worrying for us,” Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, Commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, said during his visit to Kosovo, AFP reported.

“Such actions could destabilise a country like Macedonia, so we have to be concerned,” he told media.

Macedonian police last Thursday siezed a weapons stash hidden in the mountainous terrain near the village of Blace in the very sensitive border area with Kosovo. The stash included 20 missiles, three mortars, three field guns, 81 kg of plastic explosives, and hundreds of grenades and mines.

During the bust the police clashed with unidentified uniformed men who later fled to Kosovo.

Emblems of the now disbanded National Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian insurgency group that fought against Macedonian state security forces in the 2001 Macedonia armed conflict, were found at the site and later local media received an alleged NLA communiqué saying the group would continue operations in Macedonia.

The NLA disbanded shortly after the 2001 conflict and its leaders formed the now junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI party. They disarmed following the signing of the Ohrid Peace Accord, which promised greater rights to the country’s ethnic Albanians, which make up one-quarter of the population.

The Accord became the basis for a multiethnic Macedonian state and the main driving force behind its reform efforts aimed at joining NATO and the EU.

Following the discovery of the weapons, DUI condemned the use of violence and said it has nothing to do with the ammunitions stash nor with the alleged NLA press release.

Meanwhile support for the Ohrid Accord came yesterday from Albania.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Wednesday in Tirana that the Accord is crucial for Albanians in Macedonia. He spoke following his meeting with Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Abdulakim Ademi.