Foreign Ministry enraged by ex-US Secretary of State's comments on FYROM

Officials at the Greek Foreign Ministry were enraged yesterday at reports in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) that ex-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had suggested Greece may have been involved in deadly incidents last weekend in the town of Kumanovo.

Eighteen people ? 10 Albanian militants and eight policemen ? died after gunmen raided in the town.

According to media in FYROM, Albright told an audience at John Hopkins University: ?What does Kosovo have to do with it, and what are the Greeks doing??

Diplomats in Athens described this as a ?propagandistic attempt to embroil Greece in the tragic events in Kumanovo.?

They also described as ?unacceptable? comments allegedly made by Albright in which she referred to the ?craziness of the name thing? and of the dispute between Athens and Skopje being ?one of the crazier international discussions of all time.?