Macedonian government rejects ethnic Albanian demand Posted July 17, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010717/1/19e4u.html
Wednesday July 18, 1:37 AM
Macedonian government rejects ethnic Albanian demand
The Macedonian government categorically rejected a key ethnic Albanian demand on recognising Albanian as an official language, saying it could undermine state unity, a government source told AFP.
"The manner in which a new proposition was presented (by the Albanian parties) is totally incorrect" and "it cannot and absolutely must not be accepted," the source said.
For Skopje, accepting Albanian as an equal second language would be tantamount to accepting that the former Yugoslav republic be divided into two entities.
A list of Albanian demands for changes to the constitution, which would boost the rights of the country's ethnic Albanian minority, were submitted in a new document to President Boris Trajkovski late on Monday.
The private Macedonian television station Sitel said Trajkovski had discussed the demands with US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell in a telephone call.
Sitel said Trajkovski had criticised the document, which for "inexplicable reasons was proposed" by the US and EU envoys, James Pardew and Francois Leotard.
The two men have been locked in intensive talks with ethnic Albanian and Slav parties since July 9 in an effort to end an ethnic Albanian insurrection in northern Macedonia that has dragged on since February.
The spokesman for the Slav nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party said he was "shocked" and "unpleasantly surprised" by the document.
"The unitary character of the country should never have been up for discussion," said the spokesman, Georgi Trendafilov.
"We can't accept it and I don't believe that anyone in this country would accept such shocking proposals," he said.
The Social Democrats (SDSM), the country's second most popular party, described the proposals as absolutely unacceptable.
"Three days ago, we were close to reaching an accord, now we are far from it," an SDSM spokesman said.
Macedonian talks hit stumbling block on Albanian language Posted July 17, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010717/1/19dze.html
Tuesday July 17, 9:32 PM
Macedonian talks hit stumbling block on Albanian language
SKOPJE, July 17 (AFP) -
Demands by Macedonia's ethnic Albanians to see their language given official status was proving a sticking point on Tuesday in talks aimed at bringing a political settlement to months of violence.
"There are still crucial questions that the (Slav) Macedonian side will not give in on ... above all on the question of making Albanian an official language ... it's something we can't accept," a government source told AFP.
Talks between the country's Slav and ethnic Albanian representatives, mediated by US and EU envoys, have been in progress since July 9, in an effort to reach a deal on constitutional reform aimed at ending a five-month ethnic Albanian uprising.
But while reports from the marathon talks have expressed optimism that a deal was close, the country's Slav majority has shown no sign of conceding on the language issue -- at the centre of Albanian demands.
Making up between a quarter and a third of the country's population, ethnic Albanians have demanded that the language be made the country's second official tongue, something the Slavs categorically reject.
"It is acceptable for Albanian to become the second language in the areas where they make up the majority or are over 20 percent of the population... but we are not prepared to make it an official language," the government source said.
A Western source said Monday that the talks were progressing, although he ruled out the possibility that a deal would be struck as early as Tuesday.
The procedure for parliamentary voting is proving another stumbling block in negotiations, with Albanian representatives demanding a veto in the assembly on cultural and identity-related issues, saying such a measure would guarantee minority rights.
The rights issue was at the centre of a draft constitutional proposal presented by US special envoy James Pardew and his EU counterpart Francois Leotard to political and legal experts and the country's political parties.
An agreement on reforms could pave the way for a NATO deployment in the country with the strictly defined mission of disarming ethnic Albanian rebels, who have been fighting Macedonian security forces in the north of the country since February.
The rebels have remained active in the Tetovo region west of the capital Skopje, despite a ceasefire which has been in force since July 5.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are due to travel to Skopje on Thursday for a two-day visit, diplomatic sources in Brussels said earlier Tuesday.
They were to meet Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski and leaders of the country's Slav and ethnic Albanian political parties, one of the sources said.
Robertson, Solana to visit Macedonia from Thursday: diplomats Posted July 17, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010717/1/19dp7.html
Tuesday July 17, 6:11 PM
Robertson, Solana to visit Macedonia from Thursday: diplomats
BRUSSELS, July 17 (AFP) -
NATO Secretary General George Robertson and EU foreign policy high representative Javier Solana will travel to Skopje on Thursday for a two-day visit, diplomatic sources in Brussels said Tuesday.
They were to meet Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski and leaders of the country's majority Slav and minority ethnic Albanian political parties, one of the sources said.
But there was no plan to meet representatives of the National Liberation Army (NLA), the armed ethnic Albanian group that launched a rebellion against Skopje five months ago, the source said.
The European Union and NATO -- scrambling to head off a new Balkan war -- have been at the forefront of intensive efforts to isolate the NLA while encouraging an inter-ethnic political dialogue to address the concerns of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian community.
That dialogue was said to have stalled Monday over the question of whether to make Albanian an official language of Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians make up an estimated one-quarter of the population.
EU signals get-tough stance toward Macedonia rebels Posted July 17, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010716/3/19cq4.html
Tuesday July 17, 6:21 AM
EU signals get-tough stance toward Macedonia rebels
By Gareth Jones
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Monday signalled a clampdown on ethnic Albanian rebels fighting in Macedonia and moved to bolster democratic changes in neighbouring Serbia by approving a new financial package.
EU foreign ministers also slammed NATO member Turkey over its continued refusal to allow the creation of an EU military rapid reaction force that would have automatic access to NATO assets. It said Ankara's stance could harm its bid to join the wealthy 15-nation Union.
At their monthly meeting in Brussels, the ministers agreed to impose travel restrictions on 38 ethnic Albanian rebels operating in or around Macedonia, but said the EU would wait to assess progress in peace talks before implementing a ban.
EU and U.S. envoys are trying to coax Macedonia's majority Slav and minority Albanian communities into agreeing a package of reforms to help halt five months of guerrilla warfare which threatens to tear the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic apart.
Commenting on the plans to crack down on Macedonia's ethnic Albanian rebels, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said: "This sends a strong signal to the extremists."
"This shows that respect for the ceasefire and for the political dialogue are essential," said Michel, whose country holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency.
Asked why the EU would delay implementation of the visa ban, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it reflected the delicate state of the negotiations.
"We want to give a bit of time (for the negotiations) and to implement (the ban) at a moment we consider right," he said.
The EU hopes the rebels will voluntarily lay down their weapons if Macedonia's political parties can reach agreement on a package of political and constitutional reforms.
As the ministers met in Brussels, a senior Macedonian government source told Reuters in Skopje that the negotiations with the ethnic Albanian parties were "completely stalled".
AID FOR SERBIA
The ministers also approved a package of loans and grants to Yugoslavia worth 300 million euros ($257.1 million). Diplomats denied Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindic's suggestions that EU aid was slow in arriving.
The EU has taken a leading role in providing financial aid since Belgrade transferred ex-president Slobodan Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
EU Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten said the ministers had agreed that the package would consist of 225 million euros in loans and 75 million euros in grants.
The Commission had pushed for a bigger share of grants to ease the financial pressure on debt-laden Yugoslavia.
Much of this money will go to paying off existing debts to the European Investment Bank (EIB), clearing the way for the bank to commence long-term investments in the Balkan country, he said.
Patten said the first tranche of the macrofinancial help would reach Belgrade by September.
His spokesman Gunnar Wiegand told reporters an additional 150 million euros -- part of a total 240 million euros earmarked by the Commission for energy, farm and other projects -- would start to flow "very soon".
TURKEY STIRS ANNOYANCE
EU ministers expressed frustration with Turkey's refusal to cooperate over the planned 60,000-strong EU military force, which is meant to complement NATO in crisis management tasks
"The general feeling is that Turkey should not try to slow down the establishment of a European defence policy and that it should use more European methods to defend its position," French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said.
Ankara demands a say in the decision-making of the putative force, fearing that otherwise it could one day be used against Turkish interests in the Aegean and Cyprus, another EU candidate country expected to join the bloc by 2004.
The EU ministers issued a statement on the Middle East in which they urged Israel to consider allowing "a third-party monitoring mechanism" as part of confidence-building measures to help revive the battered Middle East peace process.
Belgium said it had won the support of its EU partners for the Union to play a more active role in peace efforts in and around its former colony, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Religious Strife Fuels Macedonian Conflict Posted July 16, 2001
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010712_1_eng.txt
July 12, 2001
Religious Strife Fuels Macedonian Conflict
Relations between Orthodox and Muslim representatives in Macedonia have collapsed in a further sign of the deepening conflict.
By Veton Latifi in Skopje (BCR No. 262, 12-Jul-01)
The armed conflict in Macedonia risks taking on a new dimension as the heads of the country's largest religious communities sling insults at one another.
"When the freedom and defence of our people cannot be achieved with other means," wrote Patriarch Stefan, the spiritual head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, MOC, in an open letter on June 21, "then we should get rid of those who endanger our lives and who are trying to split our homeland."
Stefan was referring to the National Liberation Army, NLA, who were at that time occupying Aracinovo, a mainly Albanian village on the outskirts of Skopje, within mortar range of the capital's international airport.
The MOC and Islamic Community of Macedonia, ICM, which represents the country's Muslims, had been working together to devise a peaceful way out of the military impasse in the country.
On June 13, after meeting in Morges, Switzerland, the two groups issued a joint appeal - co-signed by the Catholic Church, the Jewish community and the Methodist Church - for peace and dialogue. In the communique, the MOC and ICM said they were in agreement "that common elements in different religions should serve as a basis for understanding and joint actions for peace..."
But a day after the statement was published, Macedonia's security forces launched a major offensive against Aracinovo, breaking the cease-fire brokered by EU Special Envoy Javier Solana in late June.
Patriarch Stefan's June 21st response infuriated the ICM, which, in turn, accused the MOC of fomenting a civil war. "The MOC's latest letter is an appeal to inter-ethnic and inter-religious war - it breaks all religious principles, " said an ICM statement, which insisted that the MOC would be held responsible if any civilians or members of the security forces are killed.
The MOC did not immediately respond. But the same day Patriarch Stefan held an emergency meeting with President Boris Trajkovski. He asked for reassurances that the constitution would not be changed in favour of the Albanian minority and that NLA fighters would be driven out of the territory they occupy.
The debate over the constitution is at the root of the current friction between the MOC and the ICM. Orthodox leaders say it is inappropriate to talk of changing it "at a time when territories and citizens are in danger".
A week before, political leaders from both ethnic groups met President Trajkovski in Skopje to discuss what constitutional changes were needed to improve Albanians' rights and slow the descent into civil war. One issue on which all the parties agreed was the need to reflect the equality of all religions in Macedonia. The current constitution, dating from 1991, underlines the leading role of the MOC.
Until the Albanian insurrection erupted in February, Macedonia's two main religious groups were more concerned with their own problems than each other. The ICM, which brings together Albanians and the Macedonian Muslim minority in an uneasy alliance, is beset with internal divisions.
More crucially, the MOC has not been able to win recognition as an independent church from its counterparts in Greece and Serbia. That failure, analysts say, reflects these countries' unresolved concerns over Macedonia's continuing existence as a sovereign state.
Another problem facing the MOC and the ICM is that both function as the religious wings of the different political and ethnic groups they represent. This puts them in a weak position when it comes to playing a more active role in negotiating an end to the violence that has afflicted Macedonia for the past five months.
The latest exchange of insults narrows the ability of the MOC and ICM to work for peace, while signalling that the conflict may be on the point of acquiring a confessional dimension. There have been a number of incidents in recent months in which religious affiliation played a disquieting role.
After the NLA killed four members of the security forces in February, youths in Kriva Palanka in the north east - where two of the dead soldiers came from - stoned buses carrying Muslims returning home after completing their pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
And at Tetovo castle, the scene of some of the worst inter-ethnic fighting last March, Macedonians built an imposing Orthodox cross close to a Muslim Albanian village. The authorities argued that it was their religious and historic right to do so, despite local protests.
Over the past few months, the Macedonian media have reported that ethnic Albanian clerics in some areas have joined the NLA, while others offered their logistical support. The Albanian-language media, meanwhile, accused Orthodox priests of joining the army and police.
It appears, then, that the Morges agreement, signed so hopefully in Switzerland last month, has become another victim of the conflict.
Veton Latifi is a political analyst and IWPR editorial assistant in Macedonia
Letter From Macedonia [Macedonian Police Treatment of a Foreign Journalist] Posted July 16, 2001
http://www.msnbc.com/news/600109.asp
Letter From Macedonia
As the conflict continues in this tiny Balkan nation, locals are growing increasingly resentful toward foreigners
By Juliette Terzieff
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
July 13 I knew it was no ordinary identity check when two policemen stopped my car by cutting theirs in front of it, yelled for my papersand the bigger of the pair announced: You are not a journalist, youre a criminal.
I WAS DRIVING on a side street in Tetovo, a predominantly Albanian town that been a ground zero for the Macedonian governments largely unsuccessful strikes against ethnic Albanian rebels over the last four months. Ambushes by the self-proclaimed National Liberation Army (NLA) are the order of the year, claiming the lives of more than a dozen police officers and soldiers, and injuring scores more.
Its probably not surprising, then, that government officials here are becoming increasingly jumpy. Mobile NLA fighters are withstanding even the fiercest of the armys bombardments and are slowly gaining support from ethnic Albanian civilians, who now routinely ferry food and medical supplies to NLA members hiding out in nearby villages and mountains.
An apparent resentment of foreigners is developing, too. With an increasingly fragile week-old ceasefire eating at their nerves, Macedonian security forces have harassed or detained more than seven of us in the last week alone.
Part of that attitude may be a legacy of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo, when most Western powers fiercely supported Albanian Kosovars in their fight against Slobodan Milosevics brutal regime. The fighting in the Serbian province led to more than 300,000 refugeesand almost an equal number of foreign diplomats, journalists and aid workersflooding into tiny Macedonia.
The influx aggravated existing tensions between Macedonias Slav majority and Albanian minority. And although Western officials now publicly support the Macedonian governments position that the NLA is a terrorist group, the use of American-led NATO troops to help evacuate some of the rebels from the village of Aracinovo three weeks ago has fueled local suspicion of outsiders.
Macedonians, angry with President Boris Trajkovski for agreeing to the European Union-brokered plan and for letting the rebels leave with their weapons, stormed the parliament the next day. Six foreign journalists were badly beaten in the riots which followed. At the same time, many Macedonians are increasingly scornful of international interference, arguing that their governments heeding of international calls to use only proportionate force has allowed the rebels to extend the territory under their control.
Some of the anger is directed at the United States. On July 6 the car of U.S. Ambassador Michael Einik was stoned during a visit to Tetovo. A few days earlier, local media had reported that an armed man in uniform threatened to burn down the American embassy. Macedonian civilians who threw stones at Einik said it was an expression both of their fury at having been run out of their homes by the NLA and Americas perceived leniency towards the guerrillas. Our list of complaints grows longer each day, says one official at the U.S. embassy in Skopje. We are seeing a real upsurge in anti-Western sentiment.
Unfortunately, I was about to be caught in that myself. The policemen who stopped me didnt like my flak jacket or the fact that I was carrying two telephones. They demanded I turn them over along with all my documents and follow then to the police station.
Being alone and aware of Balkan security forces long record of maltreatment of detainees, I panicked and started arguing with them. You cant do this, I complained, in a voice far shakier than I would have preferred. I have done nothing wrong and will not comply until you give me an explanation. The pair, brandishing their Kalashnikov rifles, just shrugged and turned their backs to make a call on a cell phone.
My fear mounted when I realized they werent using their official police radio. Luckily, I was able to make my own phone call while they were busy with theirs. I just managed to tell a translator with whom I worked that I was in trouble before one of the officers grabbed the phone out of my hand and threw it in my car. You have no rights to make a call. Do not do that again, he growled.
A little later, I was smoking my fourth straight cigarette when the police officers attempted to grab my phones. To the horror of my just-arrived translator, the three of us began fighting over the devices in an all together humorless tug-of-war. I wanted to turn them off, they just wanted them. I will throw you in jail if you do not let them go! shouted the bigger of the two, raising his hand to me as he shoved me against the car. I gave up.
Still later, after a harrowing 20 minutes in a room with more than a dozen stern-faced policemen commenting on my appearance, my profession, and my foreign-ness, I was interrogated by a member of the much-feared DBK state-security services. He asked about my contacts with the NLA, my opinion on the situation in general, ongoing political negotiations and what NATO is really trying to do here. He wanted names, physical descriptions and location of NLA commanders. He wanted to know their battle plans. He wanted my answers, no matter how unsatisfying they might be, and flatly refused my repeated requests to contact my embassy.
There is no problem, you do not need an embassy, he answered each time. If there was no problem, why wasnt I allowed to leave, I asked. He would just smile and calmly resume his questioning. It was the most frightening 90 minutes of my life. When my inquisitor answered a phone call my mind raced over everything I had said, wondering if anything I had said or done in the course of my standard journalistic work could be twisted into a trumped-up criminal charge.
Most of all, I wondered how I was ever going to get out of this if nobody knew I was there. My only hope was that the translator would contact the embassy for me.
Then my interrogator ended his call. That was your friend, he said. I told him we are already friends, too. Thats right, isnt it?
The friend as it turned out, was the Deputy Interior Minister Refet Elmazi. The translator had managed to reach him, and he in turn had called his minister. The minister himselfapparently shocked to hear of the incidenthad issued the order for my release. One of the problems, the Elmazi later told me, is that too often local officials do what they want to. As long as the ministry is unaware they have free rein. It is frightening.
The police never gave any indication of my supposed infraction or crime. It will be explained to you later, they said repeatedly. But when they finally released me, I still had no firm answer. I guess I can work it out for myself, though.
Angry Macedonians Protest Concessions Posted July 16, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010716/wl/macedonia_286.html
Monday July 16 8:30 AM ET
Angry Macedonians Protest Concessions
By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Hundreds of angry Macedonians marched through the capital Monday to protest expected concessions to minority ethnic Albanians in peace talks aimed at ending a rebel insurgency and averting civil war.
Chanting, ``This is Macedonia,'' and other slogans, demonstrators walked past the local offices of NATO (news - web sites), the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe, and the European Union (news - web sites), which is helping mediate negotiations for a political solution to the crisis.
The talks continued Monday for an eighth straight day between the feuding parties representing majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians who are pressing for broader rights and more political influence in the former Yugoslav republic.
Protest organizer Tomislav Stojanovski told The Associated Press that the demonstrators were demanding meetings with U.S. envoy James Pardew and his EU counterpart, Francois Leotard, who helped draft the peace plan.
``We want to tell the people who dictate terms of peace that we need protection from those who started the war,'' Stojanovski said.
Macedonia's crisis began in February, when militants from the ethnic Albanian community took up arms and clashed with government forces, prompting the international community to intervene diplomatically in hopes of heading off the threat of a new war in southeastern Europe.
Earlier this month, NATO and the EU mediated a cease-fire, and Pardew and Leotard arrived to try to broker an agreement. Key provisions would introduce Albanian as the second official language, change the country's constitution to upgrade the status of the minority and guarantee better representation of ethnic Albanians in the government, police, army and education.
Ethnic Albanians account for nearly a third of Macedonia's 2 million people, and they have bitterly complained of treatment as second-class citizens. Many Macedonians see their demands as a strategy to divide the country and ultimately carve out an ethnic Albanian mini-state.
Monday's protesters mostly came from the northwestern city of Tetovo, where ethnic Albanians form a local majority and support the rebels who still control a string of villages near Macedonia's second-largest city.
Hundreds of Macedonians - the majority ethnic group of Slavic origin - have been forced out of their homes in the area. Many participated in the protest, chanting, ``Macedonia for Macedonians,'' ``No changes to our constitution'' and ``We want our homes back.''
The OSCE (news - web sites) mission chief in Skopje, Carlo Ungaro, appeared in front of his office near the protest crowd and spoke briefly to reporters, calling the Macedonian demands to return to their homes ``a very legitimate request.''
He said the OSCE was ``very much concerned for places in which Macedonian people are in the minority ... one of our aims is to protect minorities.''
Tens of thousands of people on both sides have been displaced by the fighting. Many ethnic Albanians have fled over the border into Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian province of neighboring Serbia.
If the rival sides agree on a peace plan, some 3,000 NATO troops would deploy to oversee the disarmament of the rebels, who number between 4,000 and 6,000 according to Macedonian government estimates.
Macedonia peace talks said to be deadlocked Posted July 16, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010716/3/19cg5.html
Monday July 16, 11:42 PM
Macedonia peace talks said to be deadlocked
By Daniel Simpson
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Western efforts to unite leaders of Macedonia's divided communities behind a political deal to avert civil war faltered on Monday as a senior government source said peace talks had hit deadlock.
"The talks are completely stalled. There is no agreement on key issues," the source told Reuters, likening the negotiations with parties representing Macedonia's large Albanian minority to "banging our heads against a brick wall".
A Western diplomat close to the talks denied the process was near collapse, stressing progress continued to be made towards a deal designed to end five months of sporadic guerrilla warfare.
"There has been some positive momentum over the weekend," the diplomat told Reuters. "We will be intensively dealing with all the parties throughout the day and into the evening."
Other diplomats, who have described negotiations as intense and difficult, cautioned that the government stance was probably a tactic to put pressure on Macedonia's Albanian politicians and mask its own reluctance to bite the bullet on major reforms.
"Hardline elements on the Macedonian side have a tough time contemplating the rewriting of the constitution," one said.
A small crowd of angry Macedonians converged on the building where U.S. envoy James Pardew and the European Union's Francois Leotard were due to mediate an eighth day of talks, protesting that peace terms being proposed were too generous to Albanians.
Carrying banners emblazoned with slogans such as "Macedonia forever" and "EU where is your conscience", the crowd demanded that Western mediators defend Macedonians from ethnic Albanian guerrillas occupying the tiny Balkan country's northern hills.
CROSSROADS
Western powers, who hope quick reforms to grant minority Albanians greater civil rights can put a lid on the rebellion, admit the task is daunting, but are trying to remain optimistic.
"It is clear the process of ending the crisis is now at a crossroads," conceded NATO Secretary General George Robertson in a statement urging both sides to make the necessary compromises.
Macedonian officials stressed patience was wearing thin and warned that a breakdown in negotiations could spell the end of a NATO-brokered truce, which has contained fighting with the National Liberation Army (NLA) guerrillas for the past 11 days.
"We are not even close to reaching a final agreement," the government source said. "If things continue as they are, I'm not sure that the ceasefire will hold."
Although there is a broad consensus on devolving some power, clear obstacles remain to a deal designed to persuade the NLA to hand over some of its weapons to NATO in exchange for amnesty.
Disputes over calls for Albanian to be made a fully fledged official language were preventing progress, the government source said. Macedonian leaders are also refusing to accede to calls for an effective Albanian right of veto over a range of decisions in parliament, demanding that these be limited.
Equally tough to resolve is the issue of how to police the arc of western and northern Macedonia where most Albanians live.
Macedonians balk at the suggestion that local police chiefs should be elected, fearing this could allow the NLA, which has gained wide support among Albanians for putting their demands for equality on the agenda, to maintain its grip on the region.
The question is closely tied to amnesty terms, which have yet to be finalised. These are expected to have to cover rebel commanders if they are to be persuaded to surrender guns to NATO, which will only send in 3,000 troops if a deal is reached.
But again, there is no agreement on this sensitive topic.
In the meantime, both the NLA and the Macedonian army have used the truce, punctured almost daily by sporadic exchanges of fire, to resupply and realign troops in case talks collapse.
"If the talks fail, the war will surely continue," the government source said. "I think it will be worse."
Shooting in Macedonia as peace talks move into second week Posted July 16, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010716/1/19c9q.html
Monday July 16, 8:48 PM
Shooting in Macedonia as peace talks move into second week
SKOPJE, July 16 (AFP) -
Shooting broke out over the weekend near the flashpoint town of Tetovo in northwestern Macedonia, the defence ministry said Monday, as drawn-out talks to end an ethnic Albanian uprising moved into their second week.
The defence ministry reported two bursts of shots Sunday against an army barracks from the ethnic Albanian neighbourhood of Drenovac on the edge of Tetovo, another rupture of a NATO-brokered ceasefire both sides agreed to observe on July 5.
Ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA) were seen deploying in the region for the past two weeks, apparently reinforcing positions around the town they were driven from in March after a pitched battle with security forces.
Automatic rifle fire also targeted a police checkpoint by the town's stadium, in the same area. Police returned fire, the ministry said.
Several incidents had previously been reported around the checkpoint, with guerrillas venturing into the town itself from positions in hills overlooking the mainly-Albanian inhabited town.
Shooting was also heard late Sunday from villages around Tetovo, the ministry said.
The army blames violations of the truce on the NLA rebels.
The ceasefire was designed to provide a measure of stability as Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political leaders held talks in the capital to hammer out political reforms to address Albanian complaints of discrimination.
There were no formal meetings scheduled for Monday, a week after the negotiations began.
Western diplomats have described the discussions as "difficult," although EU envoy Francois Leotard said late last week he expected a breathrough within days.
The leaders met again Sunday but the sensitive issue of the status of the Albanian language -- which the Albanians want to see as an official language together with Macedonian -- were still unresolved.
Despite the general lull in fighting, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kosovo said more than 1,000 Macedonian Albanians had headed over the border at the weekend to the UN-run province to escape the six-month conflict.
"Over the weekend, UNHCR reported a large flow of new arrivals in Kosovo. The majority of the new arrivals were from Skopje and left for precautionary reasons in anticipation of the outcome of the official negociations", said spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort.
She said there were also refugees from the border village of Jazince, alarmed by an "increased build-up of Macedonian military and army in their region."
She reiterated the agency's calls "for all political and military actors to come to an agreement that will ensure peace and justice for all the communities and allow the displaced to return home."
The conflict -- which the guerrillas say they are waging to win more rights for Albanians, who they say make up a third of the population of two million -- has sent 74,000 Albanians and Macedonian Muslims fleeing for shelter in Kosovo.
Around 12,000 have returned home since the end of June, but around 62,000 are still staying with family and friends in the predominantly Albanian Yugoslav province.
Meanwhile in Brussels, around 100 ethnic Albanians staged a boistrous demonstration outside the EU Council of Ministers' headquarters where ministers were discussing an EU-wide travel ban on ethnic Albanians deemed by the European Union to be extremists.
Waving red-and-black Albanian flags, the protesters shouted "UCK, UCK" -- the Albanian acronym of the rebel NLA -- as well as "liberty, equality" and "we are not terrorists."
Macedonia struggles for peace Posted July 16, 2001
http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,SAV-0107150364,FF.html
Macedonia struggles for peace
Envoys push on as gaps remain, time runs short
By Liz Sly Tribune foreign correspondent
July 15, 2001
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- In this southernmost corner of the former Yugoslavia, the clock is ticking on efforts to avert another Balkan war.
A week-old cease-fire is starting to fray as Western negotiators toil through the weekend to try to persuade politicians on both sides to accept a constitutional settlement aimed at preventing the country's Macedonian majority and its ethnic Albanian minority from going to war.
A joint U.S.-European mediation mission has drafted a new constitution that would help protect the rights of ethnic Albanians, who represent one-third of Macedonia's population of 2million. The plan also would change laws, local governments, police, military and the news media.
If the deal is approved, NATO would dispatch 3,000 troops to disarm the Albanian rebels whose seizures of northern villages have pushed Macedonia to the brink of war. The NATO force would deploy only if an agreement is reached; it would withdraw after disarming the rebels.
If all that happens, Macedonia would become the first Balkan country in a decade to resist Balkanization by relatively peaceful means, and without embroiling Western forces in an indefinite, costly peacekeeping mission.
Diplomatic success
Such a result would be a triumph for diplomacy and good sense in a part of the world that has resisted both for years.
On Friday, chief U.S. negotiator James Pardew and his European Union counterpart, Francois Leotard, issued a statement saying they were hopeful an agreement could be reached within a few days.
On Saturday, state-run television in Macedonia described details of the proposed changes. Among other things, ethnic Albanians would be guaranteed proportional representation in the Constitutional Court, which has final say in legislative matters, as well as in the police, army and local governments. Those governments, in turn, would have broader authority, meaning a degree of self-rule for largely ethnic Albanian areas.
While the negotiating teams--representing the two main Albanian political parties, the two main Macedonian parties, the EU and the United States--talk politics in the parliament building in Skopje, the Macedonian army and the Albanian guerrilla force, the National Liberation Army, have been reinforcing their positions in the mountainous terrain bordering Kosovo.
On Friday, Macedonia's Defense Ministry said rebels trying to smuggle fighters and weapons across the border from neighboring Kosovo clashed with border guards near the Janice bordering crossing about 20 miles northeast of Skopje.
The Western envoys have issued no deadline and are waving no sticks, unlike in Kosovo or Bosnia-Herzegovina, where NATO threatened and ultimately used force to impose a settlement. Instead, they are dangling the incentives of economic aid, eventual membership in European structures and the promise of continued mediation for as long as it takes to reach an agreement.
Informal deadline
But Macedonians and Albanians alike are focused on Sunday, the day before a progress report to European ministers meeting in Brussels is due. If there is no agreement by then, there are fears that faith in the negotiating process will fade, handing the advantage to those on both sides who have been preparing to fight.
"This cannot go on forever. The longer this is on the stage, the bigger the division of the country," said Antonio Miloshoski, spokesman for the Macedonian government.
The Western mediators refuse to disclose details of their draft constitution, except to say that it conforms with internationally accepted democratic principles by guaranteeing the rights of individuals.
"There are things that both sides get and things that both sides will have to compromise on," said an official involved in the negotiations who requested anonymity. "It all comes down to will. Are they willing to reach a political settlement or are they willing to walk away from peace and back to war?"
The Macedonian government has signaled its acceptance of the deal. But the Albanians say broad principles of individual rights are not enough; they want specific guarantees written into the constitution that will ensure the use of the Albanian language and give Albanians veto rights over legislation pertaining to ethnic issues.
"You cannot solve the problems of minorities in the Balkans without legal guarantees because the majority will always abuse its power if it has the chance," said Zamir Dika, a representative of the main Albanian party at the talks.
But Macedonians are not prepared to compromise further, Miloshoski said. They cannot understand why Albanians took up arms if their only goal was to secure greater use of the Albanian language and other constitutional reforms, because those issues already were being negotiated in parliament, he said. They suspect a hidden agenda, that Albanians want to seize Albanian territory in northern Macedonia adjoining Kosovo.
The Albanians say Macedonians' refusal to establish specific rights for Albanians in the constitution gives them reason to believe the Macedonians are not serious about treating them as equals.
"There are people here who after 50 years of discrimination have decided that no, we can never convince them of our demands by peaceful means, even if the result is disaster," Dika said.
Another complication is that the Albanian rebels are not represented at the talks. The Macedonians refuse to negotiate with them, a position supported by the EU and the U.S. If a peace agreement is reached in Skopje, there is no confirmation that the rebels would be persuaded to accept its terms.
"It is a serious question that we haven't resolved," the Western official acknowledged.
Disarmament would be thorny
The Albanian guerrilla movement, an offshoot of the Kosovo Liberation Army, formed during the Kosovo war in 1999. It is a mix of former Kosovar fighters and locally recruited Macedonian Albanians armed with weapons acquired during the Kosovo conflict. Even with an agreement, disarming them could prove as difficult as disarming the KLA proved to be in Kosovo, military analysts say.
There also are elements within the Macedonian military that would prefer the opportunity to smash the rebels to a peace settlement that gives them more rights, diplomats say.
That is one reason that the Western envoys are eager to avoid the impression of a deadline and keep the two sides talking, officials say.
Another is the geographic proximity of the battlefield, alongside the border of Kosovo safeguarded by NATO troops. If there is a war in Macedonia, it is hard to see how the NATO troops deployed there could avoid becoming involved.
Negotiator: Macedonian Agreement Near Posted July 16, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010715/wl/macedonia_285.html
Sunday July 15 3:12 PM ET
Negotiator: Macedonian Agreement Near
By ZANA BOZINOVSKA, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Macedonia's feuding parties were near agreement Sunday on a peace deal meant to end an ethnic Albanian insurgency and ease tensions that threaten to plunge the Balkan country into civil war.
``We are making significant progress, pretty fast,'' Menduh Thaci, a top representative of the large and restive ethnic Albanian minority, said after a seventh day of talks with U.S. and European mediators and leaders of country's majority Macedonians.
``We are close to an agreement,'' Thaci told reporters, referring to a Western proposal for constitutional and legal reforms that would give ethnic Albanians more power and broader rights. ``We have resolved many issues and we are on a good path to finish the job.''
Macedonian representatives declined to comment after Sunday's talks. The Western mediators - U.S. envoy James Pardew and European Union (news - web sites) envoy Francois Leotard - also declined to comment.
Thaci's optimistic comments came just hours after Western officials close to the talks described the negotiations as hard going.
``Everybody's still on board,'' said one diplomat who asked not to be identified. But he said the talks were ``intensive and difficult.''
In the past week, sources close to the negotiations have stressed that the country - where more than a quarter of the population of 2 million is ethnic Albanian - could still dissolve into civil war if the push for an agreement fails.
Macedonia's crisis began when ethnic Albanian extremists took up arms in February, saying they were fighting for broader rights. Dozens have died in the clashes.
There is no deadline for completion of the talks, which were being held against the backdrop of a tenuous cease-fire reached earlier this month between government forces and the rebels.
The front lines in northern Macedonia have been silent, but both sides are still entrenched and apparently ready to resume fighting if the peace efforts break down.
The peace deal would sanction the use of Albanian as an official language and provide for state-funded higher education in Albanian.
It would introduce quotas for proportional representation in the army courts and other bodies and give ethnic Albanians a degree of self-rule by granting local governments broader authority.
If the Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders reach a peace deal, NATO (news - web sites) troops would be deployed to oversee the disarmament of the rebels, who the government estimates number 4,000 and 6,000.
While the rebels are not represented at the talks, they are expected to honor any agreement reached by the ethnic Albanian political leaders.
A NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity said the British-led operation to collect weapons handed over by the rebels could begin within five to 10 days after the green light is given.
Macedonia Envoys Discuss Peace Plan Posted July 15, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010715/wl/macedonia_284.html
Sunday July 15 8:45 AM ET
Macedonia Envoys Discuss Peace Plan
By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Western envoys shuttled Sunday between fractious Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders in attempts to bridge differences on a peace plan meant to end a five-month insurgency and avert the threat of civil war.
Envoys James Pardew of the United States and Francois Leotard of the European Union (news - web sites) were meeting separately with the two sides in attempts to nudge them toward consensus on the plan. But Western officials close to the talks described them as hard-going six days after they began.
``Everybody's still on board, the intensive and difficult talks continue,'' said one diplomat, who asked not to be identified.
Dozens have died in the clashes that began February in mostly mountainous northern Macedonia, where the ethnic Albanians are in majority.
The peace deal would allow the official use of the Albanian language together with the Macedonian, state-funded higher education for the restive minority that makes up more than a quarter of the country's population of two million, and a degree of self rule through broader authority for local governments.
Quotas for proportional representation of the minority in police, army, courts and other state bodies would be introduced under the peace deal presented last week by the envoys.
If majority Macedonians and the ethnic Albanians eventually agree, some 3,000 NATO (news - web sites) troops would deploy here to oversee the disarmament of the rebels, estimated by the government to number between 4,000 and 6,000.
None of those involved have commented in detail on where the talks stand since they began, but occasional statements reflect continued differences.
On Saturday, a top ethnic Albanian leader, Arben Xhaferi, expressed dissatisfaction on provisions ``regarding the use of language,'' complaining that the ethnic Albanian side was ``being offered some half-solutions.''
A tenuous cease-fire has largely held for more than 10 days, but NATO wants more - agreement on the peace plan, a clear commitment from both sides to forgo violence and rebel commitment to disarming - before direct involvement.
An alliance speaking on condition of anonymity said the British-led ``Operation Essential Harvest'' - NATO collection of weapons given up by the rebels - could begin within five to 10 days after the green light is given.
West Has Peace Plan for Macedonia Posted July 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010714/wl/macedonia_282.html
Saturday July 14 9:34 AM ET
West Has Peace Plan for Macedonia
By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - A Western peace plan for Macedonia would grant significant new rights to the Balkan nation's ethnic Albanian minority, according to details of the proposal described in a report on state-run television Saturday.
The plan delivered by U.S. and European Union (news - web sites) envoys earlier in the week is meant to avert civil war, end an insurgency by ethnic Albanian extremists and restore stability in the divided country.
It calls for changes in Macedonia's constitution, laws, local governments, police, military and media to promote a fair balance of rights and responsibilities between majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, the TV report said.
U.S. envoy James Pardew and his EU colleague Francois Leotard were not immediately available to comment on the TV report, but its description of the peace plan was similar to suggestions foreign officials have made publicly about how the conflict should be defused.
The plan calls for cessation of all hostilities and preservation of Macedonia's territorial integrity. According to the report, it envisions amending the country's constitution to purge language defining Macedonians as the country's ``constituent'' people.
The report said that the plan grants certain privileges to any minority group that accounts for more than 20 percent of the population - in other words, ethnic Albanians, who make up nearly one-third of Macedonia's population of 2 million.
Ethnic Albanians would be guaranteed proportional representation in the Constitutional Court, which has a final say in legislative matters, as well as in the police, army and local government. Those governments would have broader authority, meaning a degree of self-rule for largely ethnic Albanian areas.
To pass a law in parliament, half of the lawmakers voting would have to come from at least one minority group.
In addition to state-funded primary and secondary education in the Albanian language, which is already provided, an Albanian-language university that is now privately funded would also receive state funds.
The peace plan also calls for a census later this year to clearly establish the country's ethnic composition, and for new general elections, followed by an international conference to raise tens of millions of dollars to revive Macedonia's moribund economy.
Some key Macedonian politicians expressed their overall support for the proposal Friday, but said they were concerned about the number of provisions based on ethnicity. Ethnic Albanian leaders expressed reservations, and Macedonians accused them of stalling the peace effort.
A tenuous cease-fire between the army and ethnic Albanian rebels has held for nearly eight days despite a few minor shootouts that caused no injuries, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.
If a peace deal is reached, some 3,000 NATO (news - web sites) troops would be deployed to oversee the disarmament of the rebels, who launched an insurgency in February to fight for broader rights for ethnic Albanians.
The government mobilized troops against the rebels and accused them of trying to break up the country and create a new ethnic Albanian state. Dozens have died in the clashes.
House of Xhavit Hasani Demolished in Skopje, Along With Many Other Posted July 14, 2001
http://kosovalive.com
House of Xhavit Hasani Demolished in Skopje, Along With Many Other
Dwellings
July 10, 2001
SKOPJE (KosovaLive) - Urban planning inspectors, accompanied by theMacedonian Police, continue to demolish houses in the ethnic Albanian neighborhoods of Skopje. A number of Albanian houses in the neighborhood of Hasanbegu and Vizbeg were demolished a few days ago, and at midday on Tuesday, more houses in the Butel neighborhood were destroyed.
One of the demolished houses belonged to Xhavit Hasani, a commander of the National Liberation Army (NLA). The Democratic Party of Albanians in Macedonia reacted to the action, stating that an operation of selective demolition of Albanian houses was being carried out. The DPA called it an abuse of institutional power at a time when great efforts are being put into finding political agreement for the problems that are now evident.
According to DPA officials, tens of Albanian houses were destroyed in some municipalities, but a greater concentration of this "institutional intolerance against Albanians" could be seen in Skopje. They asked that the actions of the Macedonian Police be stopped. The DPA stated: "Such acts are an imposition of war logistics and radicalization of the situation by certain Macedonians that are part of the government." (ar)
Macedonia close to peace deal, NATO deployment in sight: minister Posted July 13, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010713/1/199ew.html
Friday July 13, 11:37 PM
Macedonia close to peace deal, NATO deployment in sight: minister
SKOPJE, July 13 (AFP) -
Macedonian leaders said Friday they were closing in on a political reform deal that will clear the way for thousands of NATO troops to move in and disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas who have brought the Balkan state to the brink of civil war.
Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski said after meeting NATO officials that a political package bolstering the Albanian minority's rights could be agreed by the multi-ethnic coalition "before Sunday," opening the door to a NATO deployment of 3,000 troops.
He said the lightly-armed Atlantic alliance force could start moving in "within 10 days, counting from Thursday (July 12)."
Buckovski said an amnesty for the guerrillas would be declared "before the deployment, according to the peace plan" drawn up by President Boris Trajkovski.
The NATO troops would deploy at a single location and gather the rebels' weapons, if leaders of the self-proclaimed National Liberation Armyagree to end their six-month armed campaign for more Albanian rights.
Buckovski, Trajkovski and Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski met with NATO's Balkans troubleshooter Pieter Feith late Thursday.
The defence minister said on national television after that meeting that Feith was to lead a new mission on Friday to enforce the July 5 NATO-brokered ceasefire between Macedonian security forces and NLA rebels.
NATO has agreed to gather the rebels' weapons if the emergency coalition's Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders cut a deal on political reforms and if the ceasefire proves durable.
The parties and legal experts have been locked into intense discussion all week, under strong international pressure, to agree on political reforms to address Albanian complaints of discrimination.
Trajkovski met again with US and EU envoys James Pardew and Francois Leotard Friday to keep the peace talks going after Leotard said a breakthrough was close at hand.
At the same time, legal experts continued their haggling over a draft formula for political reforms.
The document, which has already undergone one rewrite since being presented last weekend by Pardew and Leotard, was put before the leaders of the two Macedonian Slav and two ethnic Albanian coalition parties Thursday.
"All the documents for the political settlement are now on the table," said Leotard on Thursday. "If the leaders are willing to intensively engage, a political solution is possible in the next few days."
He said there would be "good news in the coming days."
"The talks are in a harmonisation phase. We should be able to bring our positions closer soon," said a member of the Party for Democratic Prosperity, an Albanian party in the fractious emergency coalition.
The international community sees a cross-party agreement on reforms as the only way to end the ethnic Albanian guerrilla campaign.
But the rebels, whose demand for a seat at the political talks has been consistently denied, have so far remained tight-lipped about both the amnesty and the reform package.
The amnesty applies only to rebels holding Macedonian citizenship and does not extend to the rebels' leaders, whom Skopje accuses of being Kosovo troublemakers looking to split the country along ethnic lines.
Security forces have said the rebels have also reinforced their positions around the flashpoint northwestern town of Tetovo despite a ceasefire in place since July 5.
A Macedonian soldier was seriously injured late Wednesday in a firefight on the northern border with Kosovo, an Albanian-dominated Serbian province under UN administration.
It was the first time the army admitted returning fire despite several reported "provocations" by the guerrillas.
Macedonia Peace Talks Resume Posted July 13, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010713/wl/macedonia_280.html
Friday July 13 8:18 AM ET
Macedonia Peace Talks Resume
By ERMIRA MEHMETI, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Western peace envoys resumed talks with Macedonia's feuding political leaders Friday amid scattered shootouts between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
Macedonia's Defense Ministry said rebels trying to smuggle fighters and weapons across the border from neighboring Kosovo clashed with border guards. Both sides traded fire, but no casualties were reported in the brief shootout near the Janice border crossing about 20 miles northeast of the capital, Skopje.
A few other skirmishes were reported in northwestern Macedonia, which has a predominantly ethnic Albanian population and has been a key rebel stronghold since the militants launched their insurgency in February.
Trying to prevent a full-blown civil war, U.S. envoy James Pardew and European Union (news - web sites) diplomat Francois Leotard entered their fifth consecutive day of talks with representatives of the Macedonian majority, which dominates the government, and ethnic Albanian politicians.
Ethnic Albanians, who account for up to a third of Macedonia's population of 2 million, demand broader rights and greater political influence in the country, while the Macedonians view this as an attempt to break up the former Yugoslav republic.
Pardew and Leotard have presented both sides with a set of proposals on legislative and other reforms to meet some of the ethnic Albanian demands without jeopardizing the territorial integrity of the country.
``It is up to Macedonia's leaders to engage now in intensive negotiations'' that might bring an agreement ``in the next few days,'' the envoys said in a joint statement.
However, a Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said that differences remain and that full-scale war remains a possibility even though the rival sides have come closer than they were several days ago.
Key ethnic Albanian demands include veto power in the parliament; guaranteed quotas for their community in key government posts and state institutions; official use of the Albanian language; and a guarantee that either the president or vice president of the country will come from their ethnic community.
Their list of demands, obtained by The Associated Press, also calls for the election of the president and vice president in separate popular votes. This has fueled fears that the rival ethnic groups could end up regarding different officials as their heads of state.
The restive minority has also demanded that an additional - and larger - peace conference be held before a lasting deal is reached. Ethnic Albanian leaders have suggested Brussels, Belgium, for the venue because it is the headquarters of the European Union and NATO (news - web sites) and has a multiethnic society.
The current talks are being held against the backdrop of a tenuous cease-fire that took effect last week and has largely held despite occasional flare-ups.
If a peace deal is reached, some 3,000 NATO troops would deploy here to oversee the disarmament of the rebels.
The peace plan put forward by Pardew and Leotard envisages a census that would establish the exact ethnic composition of the country, to be held later this year, and early general elections that would be called in January.
Under the plan, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe and some United Nations (news - web sites) agencies would have a key role in overseeing reforms and elections, and an eventual donors' conference would provide tens of millions of dollars to revive Macedonia's feeble economy.
Mediators in Macedonia Peddle Peace Settlement Posted July 13, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47974-2001Jul11.html
Mediators in Macedonia Peddle Peace Settlement
Alliance Races Against Collapse of a Fragile Cease-Fire
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 12, 2001; Page A21
SKOPJE, Macedonia, July 11 -- Shadowed by the threat of a fifth Balkan war in 10 years, U.S. and European mediators have written the script for a permanent political settlement here and, in the most intense Western diplomatic effort since gunfire erupted five months ago, are twisting the arms of local leaders to accept it.
At an ugly modernist government building in downtown Skopje, the mediators and ethnic Albanian and Macedonian politicians are exchanging reams of paper as each side generates proposal and counterproposal about the draft settlement in a race against the collapse of a fragile cease-fire.
But the Western alliance that used force to impose settlements to ethnic wars in Kosovo and Bosnia is employing limited means here. It is offering reconstruction aid, it is cajoling and sweet-talking and raising the horrifying specter of full civil war, but at this point it has shown no desire to use military power to force its will in another Balkan country.
The sides are keeping a formal news blackout as the talks proceed. But by unofficial accounts, they remain divided on major issues.
The Western-drafted settlement proposal calls for the country's majority Macedonian ethnic group to grant new political rights to the ethnic Albanian minority. With the conflict over, about 3,000 NATO troops would collect arms from Albanian guerrillas without risk of bloodshed, then quickly withdraw, avoiding the kind of open-ended peacekeeping mission the alliance has assumed in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Meanwhile, in the mountains near Kosovo, NATO officials in civilian clothes are driving from one armed camp to another as part of a process being called "cease-fire management." The officials are at great pains to avoid reporters in rebel areas, Western officials say. Publicity about their presence enrages many members of the Macedonian majority, who believe that the alliance coddles "Albanian terrorists."
Leading the Western negotiators in the capital are two special envoys, James Pardew of the United States and Francois Leotard of the European Union. On Saturday, they presented a "draft framework document" that significantly expands the political rights of ethnic Albanians and expands use of their language, while falling short of some of their demands.
Western diplomats hope to persuade the Macedonian government that the document's proposals are relatively painless for their side, largely a constitutional reordering in line with European norms that will not be subject to renegotiation should the political power of Albanians increase.
"At a certain point, the Albanians will have to hear that this is it -- this is the best they're going to get," said a Western diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous. "And the Macedonians will have to know that it's not going to get any worse than this. The Macedonians want to know this is the end of the game."
Ethnic Albanian rebels, demanding greater political and economic rights for their ethnic kin who make up one-third of this country's 2 million people, seized villages in the mountains bordering Kosovo in February. Fighting escalated as the guerrillas expanded their areas of operation to within reach of the capital and Macedonian government forces repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to put down the insurgency, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes.
A NATO-negotiated cease-fire came into place a week ago, clearing the way for settlement talks that bring together four political parties -- two representing Albanians and two Macedonians -- but not the rebels. Ethnic Albanian leaders will have to sell the deal to the guerrillas, who are holding separate technical negotiations with NATO on demilitarization in anticipation of a deal, Western officials said.
There are increasing reports here that members of the Macedonian majority are forming paramilitary groups out of frustration with the government's failure to win militarily.
"We need a solution in days; the cease-fire is very fragile," said a Western diplomat involved in the negotiations. "There are considerable differences between the parties. Our document addresses issues that have been debated here for 10 years. We are honest brokers, but it's their process, not ours."
Despite that disclaimer, this is largely a Western-run process. The ethnic parties, apart from a round of chest-thumping speeches that Western diplomats cut short, are not speaking directly to each other. Instead, political leaders and legal experts on each side are responding to the Western document separately. And after those responses, the document's terms are massaged by Western legal experts and re-presented to the Macedonians and Albanians -- again separately.
Western diplomats, who have fixed no deadline but want a swift resolution, are attempting to forge a solution that each side can sell as a victory to its radicalized constituencies. As an incentive, the United States and European Union are promising to pump aid into this small and impoverished country while guaranteeing the provisions of the agreement and the demilitarization of ethnic Albanian rebels.
"We need everyone to come out smiling," said one Western diplomat. "Everyone has got to be seen to win because the damage to community relations here has already been severe."
Under the principal terms of the Western-written accord, ethnic references in the Macedonian constitution would be stricken and replaced by an ethnically neutral concept of citizenship. Language rights would be expanded in education and at the municipal level.
Power would be decentralized and ethnic Albanians would have far greater representation in the public services, particularly in the police force, in which they account for just 2 percent of the officers. Certain ethnically sensitive legislation could now be passed only with the support of at least 50 percent of the minority population.
Ethnic Albanian leaders have been demanding a veto over all major government decisions, a demand to which Western diplomats and the Macedonian side will not accede because they say it will lead to legislative gridlock.
According to the framework document, there also would be a Western-supervised census to determine the exact ethnic make-up of the country where official figures place the number of Albanians at 23 percent. Albanians say the figure is around a third.
The principal sticking points now appears to be the use of language and the decentralization of government powers, according to Western negotiators. Albanians want their tongue as a second official language, making the country bilingual throughout government institutions; the Western document only addresses language use at a local level and in plenary sessions of parliament.
"Language is one issue where there can be no compromise," said an ethnic Albanian official involved in the negotiations. He asked not to be named.
Iso Rusi: With A Little Help from Our Friends Posted July 13, 2001
http://www.aimpress.org/dyn/trae/archive/data/200107/10710-007-trae-sko.htm
TUE, 10 JUL 2001 23:15:36 GMT
With A Little Help from Our Friends
After a 15-day pause, which is almost inconceivable for a country at war, leaders of four major political parties of Macedonia continued their talks through the mediation of President Trajkovski. They are expected to find a way out of the war that the country has been caught in. The optimism, which is despite everything still present, is not based on possible results of these talks, but on the fact that EU and USA President have sent their men who will serve as "form-masters" for local politicians.
AIM Skoplje, July 3, 2001
Without any previous announcement, same as he previously interrupted his contacts with four major parties, the Macedonian President quite unexpectedly resumed his meetings with their leaders, who are expected to achieve political agreement and thus create space for the implementation of President's peace plan which would save the country from war chaos into which it is rapidly sinking. After 15-day break (which incompetent politicians in a country with normal circumstances might have allowed themselves) leaders of parties which represent the backbone of the Government of political unity continued their negotiations where they left off, after the Macedonian parties rejected Constitutional amendments proposed by their Albanian counterparts.
Many things happened in the meantime: the offensive of Macedonian security forces for the "liberation" of Aracinovo, the largest Macedonian village near Skoplje, which was under the control of members of the Macedonian UCK (NLA-National Liberation Army); popular revolts and protests of fully armed police reserve corps who fired shots in front of Parliament building demanding from the President of the state to explain what had actually happened in Aracinovo (the events, which according to President himself, for a country that is already at war with the "terrorist", might mean the beginning of a civil war). They wanted to know whether the great "victory" of the Macedonian security forces was annulled under the pressure of EU and NATO by pulling out of "defeated" NLA members (in American military air-conditioned buses) or by the failure to get the village free within the 6-hour "promised deadline".
It seems as if both the time and events are standing since the events in front of the Parliament building, President Trajkovski's address to the nation and Prime Minister's interview for the TV in that connection. It seemed as if a cease-fire speard over the battlefields, politicians were silent, while only foreign guests appeared busy.
First to arrive to Macedonia at the invitation of the state leadership was Rober Badinter, French expert for constitutional matters. At one time, a commission of the European Communities named after him had assessed that of all SFRY Republics Slovenia and Macedonia were the ones which, primarily on the basis of their Constitutions, deserved to be internationally recognised as independent. To the Macedonian public Badinter was presented as a sensible reply to "unacceptable maximalistic demands of Albanian parties aimed at establishing the consensus-based democracy which would mean the end of the Macedonian state", as Macedonian political parties assessed constitutional amendments proposed by the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA). Leaders of four major parties will have to inform the President of their opinion of Albanian suggestions given in the form of principles relating to future constitutional problems. Although Badinter's document is not very long (page and a half), there are already different interpretations of its contents. Namely, some think that there is no chance for the establishment of a consensus-based democracy and two-ethnic state, others think that the document essentially proposes what is already envisaged by the current Macedonian Constitution (the Macedonian side), yet others that Badinter's offer would satisfy two thirds of Albanian demands (in the opinion of DPA), then that Badinter is offering a solution which would prevent majorisation because it envisages that the laws on the status of minorities have to adopted by two-thirds majority or at least by 50 percent of votes of Albanian parliamentarians(according to the PDP).
Also, Francoise Leotard, EU representative and former French Defence Minister, and James Pardew, President Bush's special envoy, recently held intensive individual and joint discussions with local political leaders and state leadership as part of preparations for their mediating role in reaching a political agreement. Leotard will hold four-month consultations, while Pardew is believed to have an open return air-ticket for the States. Although Western diplomats expect quick results, July 15 is mentioned as a date by which Macedonia should give proof to EU Ministers on "substantial progress" achieved in inter-ethnic dialogue. But, the fact that summer holidays are approaching should not be forgotten, because it is certain that Western diplomats will not postpone their vacations for anyone, so that talks might easily drag on until September.
The latest idea on the way of reaching a political agreement between leaders of parliamentary parties proceeds from their assumed agreement that Badinter's document can be used as frameworks for talks, while foreign mediators represent a "facilitating" factor for its interpretation. Western diplomats in Skoplje claim that NATO representative Peter Faith maintains an open line with NLA representatives with a view to ensuring a cease-fire. Formally speaking, cease-fire is not a precondition for talks on political agreement, but is certainly welcome for its realisation. According to the same sources, now that the cards are on the table it is easy to see who is against the political agreement: "The negotiating parties will be driven into a corner and forced to state their concrete opinion about possible solutions". Western diplomats think that the Albanians are also fed up with this situation and that they can hardly wait for it to end, which is why the Macedonian side should avoid any wrong moves that might force the Albanians to join the NLA. For these same sources, the fact that "the NLA political representative, Ali Ahmeti has handed over Aracinovo as he had promised", serves as a proof that this Army is much better organised than it was originally thought. On the other hand, that could be a good sign because if they manage to persuade Ahemti to demilitarise NLA, he will fulfil his promise.
On the other hand, British Prime Minister Tonny Blair from London and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou from Athens launched an initiative on convening an international conference which would be dedicated to the finding a solution for Macedonia. At his meeting with President Trajkovski James Pardew rejected the idea of an international conference as a forum for finding future solutions because he thought that, with the assistance of foreign mediators, it is possible to find a solution which has to be adopted within the institutions of the Macedonian system. Such American stand is explained by a change in the American foreign policy strategy, because international conferences of the Dayton type were a part of strategy of Clinton's administration.
Incidentally, today very few people in Macedonia believe that local politicians will be able to reach a concrete agreement. Had there been political will and had they been capable of doing it, they would have done it long ago. The optimism regarding expectations from Trajkovski's meetings is the result of the public belief that foreign pressure will help politicians work out some kind of agreement.
At today's press conference, Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski expressed his opinion that the situation was getting worse which was why it was necessary to intensify President Trajkovski's meetings so as to reach concrete results as soon as possible and create conditions for the implementation of the plan on NLA's demilitarisation. At that same press conference Buckovski said that the NLA probably had some 2 thousand well-trained members and twice as many members who joined either voluntarily or were mobilised. Although the media still mention "terrorists' provocations" to which "the Macedonian security forces usually respond with all their power", the conflicts are spreading to new Macedonian regions. It seems that these days the NLA took over the village of Radusa, near Skoplje, while according to foreign press agencies it has already taken at least 4 smaller villages in the region of Mt.Sara. Because of Radusa combat helicopters are constantly flying over Skoplje, which seem like a trademark of the Macedonian war, but do not have a reassuring effect on the denizens of Macedonian capital.
AIM Skoplje
ISO RUSI
Posted July 12, 2001
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/01684d52f4c98117c1256a880054ebca?OpenDocument
Source: Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Date: 12 Jul 2001
Religious strife fuels Macedonian conflict
Relations between Orthodox and Muslim representatives in Macedonia have collapsed in a further sign of the deepening conflict.
By Veton Latifi in Skopje (BCR No. 262, 12-Jul-01)
The armed conflict in Macedonia risks taking on a new dimension as the heads of the country's largest religious communities sling insults at one another.
"When the freedom and defence of our people cannot be achieved with other means," wrote Patriarch Stefan, the spiritual head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, MOC, in an open letter on June 21, "then we should get rid of those who endanger our lives and who are trying to split our homeland."
Stefan was referring to the National Liberation Army, NLA, who were at that time occupying Aracinovo, a mainly Albanian village on the outskirts of Skopje, within mortar range of the capital's international airport.
The MOC and Islamic Community of Macedonia, ICM, which represents the country's Muslims, had been working together to devise a peaceful way out of the military impasse in the country.
On June 13, after meeting in Morges, Switzerland, the two groups issued a joint appeal - co-signed by the Catholic Church, the Jewish community and the Methodist Church - for peace and dialogue. In the communique, the MOC and ICM said they were in agreement "that common elements in different religions should serve as a basis for understanding and joint actions for peace..."
But a day after the statement was published, Macedonia's security forces launched a major offensive against Aracinovo, breaking the cease-fire brokered by EU Special Envoy Javier Solana in late June.
Patriarch Stefan's June 21st response infuriated the ICM, which, in turn, accused the MOC of fomenting a civil war. "The MOC's latest letter is an appeal to inter-ethnic and inter-religious war - it breaks all religious principles, " said an ICM statement, which insisted that the MOC would be held responsible if any civilians or members of the security forces are killed.
The MOC did not immediately respond. But the same day Patriarch Stefan held an emergency meeting with President Boris Trajkovski. He asked for reassurances that the constitution would not be changed in favour of the Albanian minority and that NLA fighters would be driven out of the territory they occupy.
The debate over the constitution is at the root of the current friction between the MOC and the ICM. Orthodox leaders say it is inappropriate to talk of changing it "at a time when territories and citizens are in danger".
A week before, political leaders from both ethnic groups met President Trajkovski in Skopje to discuss what constitutional changes were needed to improve Albanians' rights and slow the descent into civil war. One issue on which all the parties agreed was the need to reflect the equality of all religions in Macedonia. The current constitution, dating from 1991, underlines the leading role of the MOC.
Until the Albanian insurrection erupted in February, Macedonia's two main religious groups were more concerned with their own problems than each other. The ICM, which brings together Albanians and the Macedonian Muslim minority in an uneasy alliance, is beset with internal divisions.
More crucially, the MOC has not been able to win recognition as an independent church from its counterparts in Greece and Serbia. That failure, analysts say, reflects these countries' unresolved concerns over Macedonia's continuing existence as a sovereign state.
Another problem facing the MOC and the ICM is that both function as the religious wings of the different political and ethnic groups they represent. This puts them in a weak position when it comes to playing a more active role in negotiating an end to the violence that has afflicted Macedonia for the past five months.
The latest exchange of insults narrows the ability of the MOC and ICM to work for peace, while signalling that the conflict may be on the point of acquiring a confessional dimension. There have been a number of incidents in recent months in which religious affiliation played a disquieting role.
After the NLA killed four members of the security forces in February, youths in Kriva Palanka in the north east - where two of the dead soldiers came from - stoned buses carrying Muslims returning home after completing their pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
And at Tetovo castle, the scene of some of the worst inter-ethnic fighting last March, Macedonians built an imposing Orthodox cross close to a Muslim Albanian village. The authorities argued that it was their religious and historic right to do so, despite local protests.
Over the past few months, the Macedonian media have reported that ethnic Albanian clerics in some areas have joined the NLA, while others offered their logistical support. The Albanian-language media, meanwhile, accused Orthodox priests of joining the army and police.
It appears, then, that the Morges agreement, signed so hopefully in Switzerland last month, has become another victim of the conflict.
Veton Latifi is a political analyst and IWPR editorial assistant in Macedonia
Mediators Look to Settle Conflict Posted July 12, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010712/wl/macedonia.html
Thursday July 12 6:14 PM ET
Mediators Look to Settle Conflict
By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Western mediators gave Macedonia's feuding ethnic groups new proposals Thursday for a political settlement to their conflict and said it was up to them to reach agreement.
The negotiations between representatives of majority Macedonians, who dominate the government, and ethnic Albanian politicians who represent the country's large and restive minority, began Monday under the auspices of the United States and the European Union (news - web sites).
Francois Leotard, the envoy of the European Union, said that the proposals submitted Thursday mean that ``all documents ... are now on the table. It is up to the leaders to engage in a process of intensive negotiations if they want to reach a political settlement.''
Ethnic Albanians, who make up more than a quarter of Macedonia's population of 2 million, are demanding broader rights, better political representation at all levels of society and government and the official use of the Albanian language.
The Macedonian majority has rejected those demands, viewing them as a strategy to carve out an ethnic Albanian mini-state and unite it with Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian-dominated province in neighboring Serbia.
Overnight, government forces clashed overnight with ethnic Albanian rebels crossing into Macedonia from neighboring Kosovo, the army said Thursday. One soldier was critically wounded. Defense Ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski said there had been several other, smaller incidents.
The flare-ups came exactly a week after a NATO (news - web sites)-mediated truce took effect last Thursday in an effort to create an atmosphere of calm for peace talks under way in Skopje.
U.S. officials at Camp Bondsteel, their main base in Kosovo, said American soldiers saved the wounded Macedonian by giving him first aid at an observation post and then flying him by helicopter to Skopje, the Macedonian capital.
``Our soldiers, medics, and pilots were at the right place at the right time to help save this soldier's life,'' said Maj. Randy Martin, a spokesman for the U.S.-administered sector in Kosovo.
In the talks, Zehir Bekteshi, an ethnic Albanian representative, said, ``Today's meeting did not bring a result.''
Macedonia's ethnic Albanian insurgency started in February. The rebels, who call themselves the National Liberation Army, have taken control of dozens of villages, mostly in northern Macedonia.
If a peace settlement is reached, 3,000 NATO forces will be deployed to oversee the disarmament of the rebels. NATO, however, has emphasized it will get involved only if a deal is reached and the insurgents are willing to give up their guns.
NATO peacekeepers deployed in neighboring Kosovo have been struggling to cut off supply routes that provide Macedonia's rebels with weapons from their ethnic kin there. The border, however, remains porous and fighting occasionally erupts when border guards intercept the smugglers.