Human remains, believed to be those of six Macedonian civilians killed during a six-month ethnic Albanian rebellion, were found Wednesday in a mass grave in the northwest of the country, police said.
Exhumation work at the site, between the northwestern villages of Neprosteno and Dzepciste, began earlier in the day under the supervision of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and NATO troops.
Representatives of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague were also present.
"Police believe that six bodies are buried at the site," near Neprosteno, said a police official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The official said the remains were found at a depth of about two meters (six-and-a-half feet) covered by a piece of car.
The media were barred from the site.
Skopje authorities believe the remains to be those of six of 12 Macedonians who disappeared in the region in July and who they suspect were killed by ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA), which was officially disbanded following a peace accord in August.
The start of the work was ordered by Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski, a hardline Macedonian nationalist, who this month sent a special police unit to the region, near the northwestern flashpoint town of Tetovo. The measure prompted ethnic Albanian villagers in the area to arm themselves.
Under international pressure, Boskovski later pulled back part of the force.
The exhumation work began after the chief prosecutor of the UN tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, said Tuesday the court had opened two investigations into suspected war crimes committed in Macedonia in recent months, both by government troops and ethnic Albanian rebels.
Tuesday night, two bombs exploded near a European Union office in Tetovo, but they caused no casualties.
Activities at the site were suspended mid-afternoon and were due to resume on Thursday.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski had urged the UN tribunal to open an investigation into the fate of the missing Macedonians after articles appeared in the local press accusing the NLA of responsibility.
The case was quickly was picked up by Macedonian nationalists opposed to an amnesty for the former rebels promised by Trajkovski as part of the peace accord.
Under pressure from the international community, Trajkovski pledged Friday to honour the promised amnesty for NLA members, except for those wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Macedonia's parliament last week proclaimed a new constitution that broadens rights for the ethnic Albanian minority, as called for under a Western-backed peace plan signed in August.
The NLA launched an insurgency in February that had threatened to escalate into all-out civil war, but surrendered its weapons to NATO troops in September under the peace accord -- TETOVO, Macedonia (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
