Friday, December 10, 2004

Ex Kosovo UCK commanders said to have visited Macedonian official, Kondovo

Our colleague Lazo Bilbilovski has followed up a report that yesterday afternoon senior leaders of the former Kosovo UCK [National Liberation Army] paid a visit to a DUI [Democratic Union for Integration - BDI in Albanian] official in Lipkovo, after which they visited Kondovo.

[Bilbilovski] The news is that a certain Ndrecaj Maliqi and a commander Sokoli visited DUI Assembly deputy Hysni Shaqiri yesterday afternoon. Shaqiri himself has not denied the news, but refused to reveal the identity of his visitors. He nevertheless denied that commander Sokoli was one of them. [Passage omitted]

SDSM [Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia] spokesman Boris Kondarko confirmed that he had heard about the visitors from Kosovo.

[Kondarko] Yes, we have information about this. We learned about it from the media. I would rather not comment.

[Bilbilovski] Does this practice of meetings between people from Kosovo and DUI officials pose a threat to the country's security?

[Kondarko] I do not see this as some kind of direct threat. In any case, it is not appropriate to comment, because I cannot see what this has to do with the new government's formation. [Passage omitted]

[Bilbilovski] While it is aware of these visits, the Interior Ministry has not commented.

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