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THE TIMES (London)
MONDAY AUGUST 27 2001 
 
Rebels blamed for Macedonia outrage 
 
FROM MICHAEL EVANS IN CELOPAK 
 
TWO Macedonian Slav bodies lay dismembered in the
rubble of a village motel yesterday after it was blown
up on the eve of Nato’s 30-day mission to collect and
destroy 3,300 weapons from the ethnic Albanian
National Liberation Army (NLA). 
The bombing of the motel belonging to a Macedonian
Slav near the ethnic Albanian village of Celopak led
to a protest by about 200 Macedonians at the site of
the explosion. They blamed ethnic Albanian rebels. 

The breach of the ceasefire in the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia was followed last night by
another bomb, this time in the capital, Skopje. There
were no injuries reported after the explosion in a
rubbish bin in the northern suburb of Skopje Sever. 

The explosions increased the tension surrounding
Nato’s plans to start the arms collection operation
this morning. So, too, has the total of arms to be
collected, which has provoked anger and ridicule from
senior ministers of the Macedonian Government. 

Major-General Gunnar Lange, the Danish commander of
Operation Essential Harvest, gave details of the arms
to be collected, even though Ljubco Georgievski,
Macedonia’s Prime Minister, repeated yesterday his
view that the figure of 3,300 was a “ridiculous” total
— the equivalent, he said, of a single raid on an NLA
arms cache by Macedonian police. He estimated that the
true figure was closer to 60,000 weapons. 

Nato sources said they hoped that the Macedonian
parliament would approve the political reforms agreed
in last month’s peace deal with the ethnic Albanians,
despite the huge discrepancy in arms totals. 

Nevertheless, the mangled bodies of the two men, who
according to some reports had been tied to a pillar
with explosives attached to them before they died,
illustrated the potential risks ahead for the Nato
mission and the country’s security. The state news
agency MIA said the motel had been mined and it blamed
“Albanian terrorists”. 

The bodies were found after the explosion at 6.15am at
the riverside Motel Brioni, outside Celopak, about 15
miles west of Tetovo. The men worked at the motel and
had been sleeping there overnight. 

There was some confusion about who was responsible,
but the blast appeared to be aimed at undermining
confidence in the peace settlement and Nato’s role in
collecting rebel arms. 

Albanians in Celopak confirmed that they had heard an
explosion, but denied that there were any NLA men in
the area. Vele Ristoski, owner of the motel, condemned
those responsible for failing to allow his two members
of staff to leave before blowing up the building. “I
have no guns here, no weapons; why has this happened?
I could have been here sleeping myself.” 

In his statement, General Lange said that the arms to
be collected included six airdefence systems. British
defence sources added that they were shoulder-launched
Sam 7 anti-aircraft missiles, which the Macedonian
Government had indicated were the greatest threat to
its forces. 

Nato will press ahead with its 30-day timetable,
agreed by all NLA commanders, but sources admitted
that the politics of Operation Essential Harvest was
proving more difficult to resolve than the mechanics
of arranging handover times and locations with the
rebel leaders. 

Yesterday a French reconnaissance team was scouring
for an appropriate location for the first arms
collection, due to take place in the region of
Kumanovo in the northeast. 

In the village of Poroj, near Tetovo in the northwest,
the local bearded NLA leader, Commander Leka, with
knife, pistol and mobile phone strapped to his side,
said that he was waiting to be told when to hand over
his 112 Brigade’s weapons. He was unwilling to say how
many his brigade possessed and said that Macedonian
police were still “shooting at us at night for no
reason”. But he said he was confident that Nato would
provide the necessary security guarantees. 

For today’s first arms handover, about 150 soldiers
from the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and 150
French soldiers of the Foreign Legion will guard the
weapons collection centre. Macedonian and NLA forces
have to withdraw two kilometres (1.25 miles) from
their positions once the disarmament begins. All
Macedonian heavy weapons have to be returned to
barracks. 
 
 

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