Kosovo, Macedonia Exchange Information on Kumanovo

Macedonia and Kosovo have established exchanges of information on verifying the identities of the victims and those who were arrested in Kumanovo last weekend during the Macedonian police action.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry has established that a number of those involved in the fighting were citizens of Kosovo.

Ardian Arifaj, adviser to the Kosovo government, said the Kosovo authorities have provided Macedonia with the fingerprints of nine citizens of Kosovo reportedly arrested or killed in the fighting.

"Actually, we do not know if they are the fingerprints of those arrested or of the victims. They asked for nine and we have sent them the same. Thus, cooperation and exchange of information exists," Arifaj said.

The Kosovo authorities say they have a list of 23 Kosovo citizens arrested in connection with the fighting in Kumanovo.

"They [the Macedonians] have informed us that they are arrested and are citizens of Kosovo. Currently, we are verifying their identities," continued Arifi.

On Friday, the detainees will be visited by their family members, which the Macedonian authorities have allowed.

Kosovo's Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, met with the Ambassador of Macedonia, Ilija Strasevski, to discuss worrying developments in Macedonia and ways to intensify cooperation and exchange information between the two countries.

So far, three of those killed have been indentified. Two are Kosovars, Beg Rizaj and Mirsad Ndrecaj. A third, Nusret Kaloshi, was from Skopje. About 14 gunmen were reportedly killed in the fighting last weekend.

Ndrecaj fought in the armed conflict in Macedonia in 2001 as part of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla formation, the National Liberation Army. He is widely considered the leader...