Macedonia calls monastery attack major provocation

SKOPJE (8/21/2001)- Macedonia views an overnight attack which destroyed a 14th-century Orthodox monastery as a provocation by ethnic Albanian guerrillas with potentially serious consequences, a Defense Ministry source said on Tuesday. The incident, one of few involving religious monuments in six months of inter-ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslav republic, came as NATO's top commander prepared to declare if he backed deploying 3,500 alliance troops under a peace deal. "This monastery has a huge historic significance," the source said. "It is an extremely dangerous provocation." Western monitors confirmed the attack had gutted the interior of the 14th century St Atanasius Church monastery in Lesok, a flashpoint village behind guerrilla National Liberation Army (NLA) lines, but said it was unclear who was to blame. "It's rather suspicious," a Western diplomat in Skopje said. "The NLA is not known to have attacked religious sites before," he added. "If you wanted to pick a way to screw up the peace agreement, this would be one of them." Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors are investigating the incident, in which the Defence Ministry said "Albanian terrorists had mined the church", causing a heavy detonation in Lesok at 3:10 a.m. (0110 GMT). "The central part of the church, both sides, the altar and large wooden engravings near the altar have been destroyed," a Defense Ministry official said. OSCE officials noted that Lesok, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Skopje just off a key contested road running to the Kosovo border, was already the source of major anger among the Macedonian majority after previous incidents. "This was an ethnically mixed village where the guerrillas previously drove out most of the Macedonian inhabitants. Only about 40 or 50 elderly Macedonians are left," one official said. Macedonian mobs have smashed several Albanian mosques in cities far from the northern conflict zone in retaliation for ambush killings of policemen and soldiers by guerrillas. But until Tuesday, cultural and religious monuments near or behind rebel lines had been largely left alone.

//Shqiptarja.com