Reporter Goran Momiroski:  recorded As of today, some representatives of the diplomatic-consular offices in Skopje cannot travel to the villages north of Tetovo. The written instructions addressed to these diplomats state that it is not safe to travel to the regions near the Tetovo villages of Brodec and Sipkovica, where 30 armed and uniformed individuals were seen in the last few days.

Security-structure sources deny that freshly dug trenches were seen in the vicinity of Sipkovica last week. But they confirm that the police and local population noticed a group of armed individuals who are stationed in the village of Brodec. A1's sources say that most members of this armed group crossed the Macedonian border from Kosovo illegally, but they say that the group also includes a few Macedonian citizens.

Security sources say that their main goal is to create confusion before the local elections. Diplomatic sources say that these groups could be used in the party confrontation between the Democratic Party of Albanians and Democratic Union for Integration during the local elections. But they also say that these groups could be used to exert pressure on the government coalition if the ruling parties do not reach an agreement on the law on territorial organization.

Copyright 2004 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring