The Day's Disturbances and Developments in Macedonia
by Christopher Deliso
January 21, 2002

Skopje, Macedonia – The following news items are condensed from the nightly news on Skopje's A-1 television; they attest to another day of occasional turbulence within Macedonia.

Germany has extradited Seme Habibi, the Albanian terrorist who has been wanted for the past year for the destruction of a Macedonian police station in Tearce. This attack, regarded as the first by the NLA, was the initial provocation against the Macedonian state by the Albanians. Habibi had a long criminal record in Germany, as well as Macedonia, and was on Interpol's wanted list. The extradition is seen as some measure of justice by the family of Momir Stojanovski, the 30-year-old policeman killed in the explosion.

Two Macedonian houses in the village of Jedoarce, Tetovo area, were burned last night. Also in the same village, an attempt was made to burn down a Macedonian church. The attempt failed, and only the door was damaged.

Yesterday the Macedonian security forces were engaged in a brief firefight at a checkpoint on the Kosovo border. Three armed men attempted to cross into Macedonia, ignoring the police's command to drop their weapons. In the brief battle, one of the attackers was injured. The three men retreated back to Kosovo.

The spokesman for KFOR was "not able to comment" on whether the men were from Kosovo, or UCK. The suspicion, however, is that they were.

Christopher Deliso is a journalist and travel writer with special interest in current events in the areas of the former Byzantine Empire – the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, and Caucasus. Mr. Deliso holds a master's degree with honors in Byzantine Studies (from Oxford University), and has traveled widely in the region. His current long-term research projects include the Macedonia issue, the Cyprus problem, and ethnography of Byzantine Georgia.