Once again, there is the threat of war in the Balkans. This time, Macedonia is at risk. Once again, Albanian guerrillas are to blame. Their aim is to redraw the borders of the region. There is no need. They can be stopped; to avoid a wider war, the West should do just that.
Macedonia has, despite its mix of ethnic groups, escaped the wars that ravaged the former Yugoslavia during the past decade. A few weeks ago, however, Albanian guerrillas commenced attacks along the border Macedonia shares with Kosovo. The fighting has since spread to villages in the mountains above Tetovo, the tiny nation's second largest city.
The rebels serve in what they call the National Liberation Army, and claim to be fighting for the rights of ethnic Albanians, who make up between one-quarter to one-third of Macedonia's population. They insist that their forces are made up of local Albanians; in other words, the insurgency is homegrown. The Macedonian government believes the bulk of the NLA, which is said to have roughly 2,000 troops, comes from Kosovo. The similarity between NLA uniforms and those of the Kosovo Liberation Army -- there is no difference -- lends credence to that view. The government also believes, as do Western officials, that the rebels want to detach a large area of northern Macedonia along with the Presevo Valley of Yugoslavia to create a Greater Albania.