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Skopje, December 24th, 2001
Security situation
Mixed police patrols enter in five remaining villages.
On December 18, ethnically mixed police patrols entered in the villages
Dobroste, Neraste, Odri, Cerovo and Merovo. On December 13, the local
population prevented police patrols from entering in Dobroste, Neraste
and Odri, and in Cerovo and Merovo patrolling was impossible due to the
severe weather.
OSCE, NATO and EU recommend gradual removal of police posts.
The OSCE, NATO and EU believe that police posts should be gradually removed
from the crisis regions, because ethnically mixed police patrols are already
entering in the villages in these regions. Withdrawal of police posts
is part of the government's plan, and the freedom of movement is one of
the provisions from President Trajkovski's trust-building plan.
Police station set on fire.
Macedonian language newspaper "Nova Makedonija" reported that
on December 20, unidentified persons set on fire a police station in the
village of Zerovjane.
Police posts attacked. The Macedonian language media reported that on
December 20 police posts located near the village of Jegunovce have been
attacked from Prsovce, Glogi, Neraste and Orasje.
Political situation
20 NLA members pardoned.
On December 18, President of the Republic of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski
granted amnesty to additional 11 former NLA members, who were detained
or imprisoned by September 26 of this year. On December 20, nine more
former NLA members were pardoned. 22 NLA members whose names are on the
list submitted by the Minister of Justice still wait to be pardoned.
Training of 106 policemen - ethnic Albanians completed.
At the training center for new police personnel in Idrizovo, the first
group of 106 cadets - ethnic Albanians was promoted on December 19. In
the next six months, these cadets will start with the practical training
and will be deployed in the operational units. The training course was
led by 20 police instructors from the U.S. and several instructors from
OSCE. The U.S. Government granted US$ 1,5 million for covering of the
expenses from the training. The formal promotion of the new police personnel
was attended by Macedonian Minister of Interior Ljube Boskovski and U.S.
ambassador Mike Einik.
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