Around 10,000 people marched in the Kosova capital of Pristina the next day to condemn the military action. They carried banners reading "Stop Macedonian terror against Albanians," and Freedom for Albanians in Macedonia." A previous demonstration March 21 drew thousands of young people, reflecting the widespread anger among Albanians in the region at the national discrimination they face.

Macedonian prime minister Ljubco Georgievski boasted of success late on the first day of the offensive. "We have taken all key points," he said. "The centers from where [the guerrillas] acted will be eliminated." Reports indicated that the rebels had retreated from Secle, Gajre, and other villages that they had captured. Three days later, Skopje opened a fresh attack on a broader front to "clear out the terrain," according to army sources. U.S. helicopters monitored the assault from the border area.

The Macedonian government says its commanders have acted to minimize civilian casualties. The Washington Post shed a little light on the reality of the offensive, however, when it reported that "all males brought down [from villages to Tetovo] by the government were subject to paraffin tests to see if they had fired guns." No casualty figures have been released.

Fighting has continued in areas further to the east and closer to Skopje itself. On March 26 two Macedonian policemen were wounded when their convoy came under machine gun fire north of the capital.  
 
NATO backs the offensive
Washington and the other imperialist powers, who stationed tens of thousands of troops in neighboring Kosova in 1999, swung into action in support of Skopje as the offensive was in preparation.

"I strongly commend the government of this country for the firm but restrained way they have reacted to the provocations of the last few weeks," said NATO secretary general George Robertson in a visit to Skopje on March 26. Robertson, who was accompanied by the European Union security chief, Javier Solana, declared that "terrorism is not going to prosper."

The collaboration was built on long-standing military and political links. It has been revealed that MPRI, a U.S. firm that trained the Croatian Army during the 1995 war with Serbian forces in Bosnia, has been training the Macedonian armed forces for several years under a contract with Washington.

London and Paris have joined their U.S. ally in deploying pilotless reconnaissance drones to the Macedonia-Kosova border to detect any materiel and troops flowing to the NLA.

British forces have also joined Scandinavian troops in forming a joint group of some 400 soldiers to reinforce patrols along the border in the zones of Kosova controlled by forces from Germany and the United States. These patrols have clamped down on crossings to and from Macedonia. On March 27, German officers reported that they had detained 100 people identifying as Albanian rebels as they crossed into Kosova, an action repeated at other points of the frontier. Eighteen of the 100 were still in custody at the time of the report.  
 
Powell: 'Effective violence'
Imperialist spokespeople have advised Skopje to accompany their military crackdown with the dispensation of "political gestures towards Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority," in the words of the Financial Times. The British paper reported that in a March 23 statement U.S. president George Bush condemned "the ethnic Albanian rebel groups but [urged] the government in Skopje to move ahead with reforms to accommodate the aspirations of ethnic Albanians."

"Macedonia is a close friend, a partner country of NATO, and a successful example of a democratic, multiethnic state in the Balkans," said Bush.

Washington and its allies, along with Skopje, recognize that the NLA has won recruits from the Albanian population around Tetovo. The day before the offensive, U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell expressed concern that Albanian grievances give the rebels "a little bit of fertile ground. Effectiveness," he said, "has to be not just raining down firepower on these extremists, but doing it in a way that does not cause more violence."

The Macedonian government has promised talks after it wins on the field of battle. "We need to neutralize the terrorists, and then we will intensify dialogue with Albanian political leaders," said government official Antonio Milsevksi. The Washington Post reported that on March 26, "a senior government official said the government was committed to various changes, including constitutional reform, although he was circumspect on institutionalizing bilingualism."

The president of the Democratic Party for Albanians (DPA), Arben Xhaferi, has complained that the authorities have shut his party out of talks to resolve the crisis. The DPA is a partner in the coalition government of Macedonia. "If I have no important role in decision making, I have nothing to do in this government," said Xhaferi on March 27.

While European security chief Javier Solana promised to press Trajkovski "to start the process of negotiation," he added that, after all, "Xhaferi is part of the government."

Xhaferi and other politicians won their electoral mandate by pledging to address the discrimination faced by Albanians in employment, government, education, and other facets of social life. In arguing for constitutional changes and other reforms, Xhaferi points to the threat of further armed resistance. "The readiness to continue the process of the affirmation of Albanian rights is the main thing that produces the fighters," he said.

The DPA and the other official Albanian parties present themselves as the nonviolent alternative to the rebels. However, said Iso Rusi, editor of the Skopje-based Albanian magazine Lobi, "The government is marginalizing them and at the same time the party is losing support on the ground."
 
 
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