Macedonian army attacks Albanian rebels in suburb of capital Posted June 22, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010622/1/14s4q.html
Friday June 22, 3:01 PM
Macedonian army attacks Albanian rebels in suburb of capital
SKOPJE, June 22 (AFP) -
Macedonian army helicopters launched a dawn assault Friday on ethnic Albanian rebels in a town on the outskirts of the capital Skopje, army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said.
A rebel commander in the town of Aracinovo said three civilians had been killed in the assault and he threatened to bomb Skopje in retaliation.
Markovski said the assault was launched at 4:00 am (0200 GMT) using Ukrainian-made Mi-24 helicopter gunships in what he called "an action to destroy the terrorists in Aracinovo."
The attack was still underway at 8:15 am, he said.
Commander Hoxha, the leader of the rebels in the town, said that "three civilians had been killed and 18 injured" in the attack.
"If they don't stop the offensive I'm going to mortar bomb Skopje," whose centre in less that 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Aracinovo, Hoxha told AFP by telephone.
He said army forces were advancing on his men's positions on the edge of the town.
The attack on the town -- held since the June 8 by the self-proclaimed National Liberation Army (NLA) -- ended a truce declared by the army almost two weeks ago.
The army and rebels said before government peace talks started two weeks ago they would hold fire to give the political dialogue a chance.
But the talks broke down on Wednesday amid bitter recriminations between President Boris Trajkovski and ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi.
NATO has said it will send in troops to help disarm the rebels but only if a political deal is reached first and both sides agree on a ceasefire.
Macedonia Strikes at Rebels As Peace Talks Stall Posted June 22, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010622/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_71.html
Friday June 22 4:24 AM ET
Macedonia Strikes at Rebels As Peace Talks Stall
By Daniel Simpson
OUTSIDE ARACINOVO, Macedonia (Reuters) - The Macedonian army blasted a key village held by Albanian guerrillas with helicopter gunships, tanks and mortars on Friday, tearing apart a ragged 11-day truce.
Mi-24 helicopters swooped in on Aracinovo, just 10 km (6 miles) from Skopje, firing repeatedly at the village from which the rebels have threatened to shell Macedonia's capital and its airport. The guerrillas appeared to be firing back at the gunships, which returned at around 0630 GMT for a fresh attack.
Defense Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov told Reuters an operation ``to eliminate the terrorists in Aracinovo'' was under way but that he could not give any further details.
Reuters reporters on the nearby main highway from Athens to Belgrade saw smoke rising from impacts in the village and at least one building appeared to be engulfed by flames. Tank shells slammed into the terrain between Aracinovo and the road.
Talks in Skopje to hammer out a peace deal intended to persuade the rebels to end their four-month-old rebellion are deadlocked despite heavy Western pressure on Albanian politicians to drop demands blamed for blocking the process.
A government official told Reuters the operation in Aracinovo was aimed at forcing the Albanians to compromise.
``Without any advances on the ground, you cannot advance in the political talks. We haven't moved in several weeks, that's why the Albanians have such strong demands,'' he said.
The attack is likely to undermine efforts by European Union (news - web sites) envoy Javier Solana to try to salvage a deal before the Monday deadline he has set for ``substantial progress'' in concessions to Albanian minority grievances as part of the search for peace.
He is due back in Skopje for the weekend to push party leaders to compromise after a flying visit on Thursday which diplomats said failed to persuade the Albanians to back down.
TENSIONS RISE
Gangs of Macedonian youths gathered on the road leading up to Aracinovo, which the rebels seized two weeks ago in a move that fanned ethnic tension because of their threat to attack the capital.
Some threw stones at a Reuters vehicle as it drove past.
Despite a government decision to stop arming residents of Skopje's outskirts as part of plans to bolster police reservists, there are fears that a breakdown in talks and an escalation of the conflict could lead civilians to take up arms.
The government official dismissed the rebels' claims that the capital was in range of their weapons from Aracinovo but said someone could easily attack from within the city.
``Definitely they don't have the technology or the weaponry to hit targets in Skopje from Aracinovo, but we cannot exclude the possibility of an urban terrorist attack,'' he said.
Solana left Skopje on Thursday saying he was optimistic the drive to negotiate an end to the four-month Albanian insurgency could be revived before a rebel cease-fire expires next week.
He put a brave face on the prospects for peace despite suspicions among diplomats that Albanian leaders may be trying to draw in NATO (news - web sites) to police a partition of the fragile country.
``I think that all of us will only move forward,'' he said after talks with leaders on both sides of the ethnic divide.
NATO special envoy Pieter Feith was also in Skopje, pushing for progress in talks which resumed on Thursday evening. But compromise appears an increasingly elusive prospect.
``Our positions are totally opposed,'' Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski told reporters before meeting Solana. ``I insist on only one thing -- that the occupied territories be liberated.'' he added.
The rebels are unlikely to renew their truce unless politicians strike a deal, raising the risk of a civil war which would be hard to contain within Macedonia's borders.
Europe Security Chief in Macedonia Posted June 21, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010621/ts/macedonia_183.html
Thursday June 21 10:56 AM ET
Europe Security Chief in Macedonia
By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - The European Union (news - web sites)'s security chief rushed to Macedonia on Thursday to try to salvage talks between ethnic Albanians and Slavs that could clear the way for thousands of NATO (news - web sites) troops to begin disarming rebels in the Balkan country.
Javier Solana, a former NATO secretary-general, stopped over in Skopje on his way to the Mideast to meet with both sides, a day after Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski declared negotiations at an impasse.
``There's a lot of work to do,'' Solana said just after landing.
``Without honest political dialogue it will be difficult to overcome the present situation,'' he said. ``Therefore our aim is to ... help the development of that political dialogue.''
Solana was to spend a few hours in talks before taking off again for Israel, but was expected to return to Macedonia late Friday.
The EU has taken the lead in mediating a settlement in Macedonia - where the Slav-dominated government has been battling ethnic Albanian rebels in the north - to prevent the conflict from exploding into another Balkan civil war.
Solana said he still was hoping for progress before a meeting of EU foreign ministers Monday.
Trajkovski accused ethnic Albanian negotiators on Wednesday of seeking to ``block the talks completely'' with what he termed ``unreal political demands'' that would end up ``cementing terrorist positions in temporarily occupied territories.''
His comments underlined the gravity of the deadlock. The moderate president was considered to be the most open to compromise with ethnic Albanian leaders.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the logjam was over ethnic Albanian demands for a federal structure for Macedonia - rejected by Slav parties as carving up the country.
Ethnic Albanian politicians insisted they were not to blame and called on Western officials to pressure Slavs to show more flexibility.
``The talks cannot be considered off until after a meeting with Solana,'' said Zehir Bekteshi, spokesman for the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity. ``After that, we'll have a clear idea of what to do.''
Trajkovski's announcement of the impasse came just moments after NATO offered to send 3,000 troops to Macedonia to supervise the disarming of ethnic Albanian rebels once a peace deal is reached.
NATO special envoy Pieter Feith arrived in Macedonia on Wednesday to establish contacts ``at a technical level and for a limited purpose of encouraging cease-fire, withdrawal and disarmament,'' the alliance said.
Greece and Italy announced their willingness Thursday to contribute hundreds of soldiers to such a force. Germany said Wednesday it was prepared to join as well if the two sides can reach an agreement to resolve the crisis.
Russia also may be willing to take participate, but Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov insisted that any operation to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels should begin next door in Kosovo, which Russia sees as the source of the violence in Macedonia.
Talks on Macedonia Conflict at an Impasse Posted June 21, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/world/21MACE.html
June 21, 2001
Talks on Macedonia Conflict at an Impasse
By CARLOTTA GALL
SKOPJE, Macedonia, June 20 Talks aimed at ending the conflict here between the government and ethnic Albanian rebels deadlocked today, with each side blaming the other, and President Boris Trajkovski turned to NATO and Western diplomats for help in breaking the impasse.
The country has been in suspense for the last five days as Albanian and Macedonian Slav political leaders have tried to forge a political agreement that could stave off an all-out civil war.
As negotiations were suspended this evening, dozens of police officers lined the road toward the restive western town of Tetovo, where army troops moved in more equipment. Already, daily exchanges of fire have disrupted the uneasy cease-fire declared by both sides.
The threat of civil war has come alarmingly close for the people in the capital in the last week since Albanian rebels reached the outlying suburbs. Two people were reported killed today in the village of Slupcane, 12 miles north of the capital, when it came under fire from government artillery, Reuters reported, quoting a village doctor.
The president was vehement in laying the blame for the political deadlock on the Albanians. "Unfortunately today, I have to say that the talks at this level are blocked, and that block came first and foremost because of the surprising change of the position of the D.P.A. and the P.D.P.," President Trajkovski said, referring to the two ethnic Albanian parties in the government coalition.
The two parties have changed their position significantly since talks began last Friday, he said, and they are now insisting that the multiethnic Balkan state be made a federation, raising fears of a division of the country.
Mr. Trajkovski said discussions could only continue if the Albanian parties "unreservedly, clearly, and publicly, state their wish to return to the position of sanctioning a civil society." Mr. Trajkovski has proposed a new phrasing for the Constitution that avoids naming ethnicity and declares Macedonia a civil society. But the Albanians want to be recognized in some way as being an integral or founding people of the Macedonian state.
Mr. Trajkovski accused the Albanian parties of "trying to prolong the talks, or better said, to fully block them."
He also accused them of taking political positions to make the military status quo permanent. "That would mean the position of the terrorists will be frozen in the positions they currently occupy," he said, referring to the ethnic Albanian rebels. He would not allow any threat to break up the country, or any concept of federalization that could threaten the unity of Macedonia, he added.
But the Albanian leader, Arben Xhaferi, countered that the Macedonian Slav parties were to blame since they had not tried to engage in negotiations and had refused even to discuss some of the most basic questions that the Albanian parties had raised. Mr. Trajkovski had failed to remain independent while he chaired the negotiations, Mr. Xhaferi said.
The Albanian parties had put forward proposals but there had been no discussion, he said. Even issues like the Albanian language, and measures to ensure equality in employment and in society for Albanians, were in doubt when his counterparts failed to produce any alternative proposal, he said.
"What they presented us with cannot be called a plan, it was merely offensive and humiliating," he said in unusually harsh language.
As the talks degenerated amid mutual accusations, both the government and the Albanian rebels were reported to be using the shaky truce to rearm.
A Defense Ministry spokesman, Georgi Trendafilov, confirmed that four Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter gunships and four SU-25 war planes had been delivered to Skopje to increase the government army's fighting strength.
Rebels just north of the capital appear to be well equipped and and receiving more new weapons, a foreign reporter said.
West seeks to salvage Macedonia peace talks Posted June 21, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010621/3/14hbi.html
Thursday June 21, 7:13 PM
West seeks to salvage Macedonia peace talks
By Philippa Fletcher
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Western envoys weighed in on Thursday to try salvage peace talks in Macedonia amid suspicions among diplomats that Albanian politicians may be seeking to draw in NATO to police a partition of the fragile country.
NATO special envoy Peter Feith was in the capital Skopje and the European Union's Foreign Affairs chief Javier Solana decided to make a flying visit after Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said the week-long talks were "totally deadlocked".
Diplomats said Macedonian and ethnic Albanian negotiators had agreed to resume talks on Thursday evening on finding a way to persuade ethnic Albanian rebels who have taken control of territory in the north of Macedonia to lay down their weapons.
But despite heavy Western pressure, which continued at a dinner hosted by Trajkovski on Wednesday evening, the Albanians were stickng to demands for radical constitutional changes which diplomats said amounted to a federalisation of the state.
"There is no one in the international community who thinks their position is reasonable," said a diplomatic source.
"If they think we are going to help them create a federal Macedonia they should think again."
The rebels, who took up arms four months ago, say they only want to improve the rights of Macedonia's Albanian minority.
But the diplomat said the Albanian politicians, by demanding a veto for the one-third minority on all key government decisions, may be trying to stall the talks beyond the end of a ceasefire due to last until next week.
ALBANIANS PLAYING FOR TIME?
Their aim could be to persuade NATO, which ordered preparations for a limited operation in Macedonia once a peace deal is done, to intervene to separate the two sides, knowing that it is desperate to prevent another all-out Balkan war.
"There's a suspicion that that's what they want...to play for time to get NATO in there to police the demarcation lines, and we are making it crystal clear that that is not going to happen," he said. "That's why (NATO Secretaru-General George) Robertson sent the second letter."
The letter, sent to Trajkovski on Wednesday after NATO ambassadors in Brussels agreed the outlines of an operation involving about 3,000 troops, underlines that there must be a durable ceasefire before there can be a NATO force.
"The mandate of a possible NATO operation would be confined to the collection of weapons and the forces would deploy for a limited duration," it said.
"Under no circumstances will we allow the mission of this force to be expanded or altered."
The leader of the biggest Albanian party, Arben Xhaferi, rejected allegations his side was seeking to split the country and reiterated demands for international mediation.
"I want to make it clear that we haven't demanded federalisation of Macedonia," he told Zeri newspaper in the neighbouring mainly Albanian Serbian province of Kosovo.
"But we demanded that, without federalisation, certain mechanisms be found to defend Albanian interests, interests that were extremely marginalised in the past," he said.
Another Albanian politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, went further, threatening to quit a new all-party government unless the international community helped persuade the Macedonians to give the Albanians more political rights.
"If we don't see serious engagement by the international community and if the Macedonian side continues discussions in such a frivolous way we will have no choice but to withdraw from the unity government and the Macedonian parliament."
Trajkovski, who is under pressure from other Macedonian politicians to abandon the talks and crack down on the rebels, has so far rejected international mediation, fearing the Albanian side could exploit it to maximalise its demands.
Macedonian Slav, Albanian leaders meet NATO after talks fail Posted June 21, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010621/1/14fy3.html
Thursday June 21, 4:55 PM
Macedonian Slav, Albanian leaders meet NATO after talks fail
SKOPJE, June 21 (AFP) -
Macedonia's Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders held an urgent meeting with ambassadors of NATO countries after cross-party peace talks to end an ethnic Albanian uprising collapsed in acrimony, media reports and diplomats said on Thursday.
The meeting late on Wednesday night involved the leaders of the four parties in the fragile multi-ethnic coalition government and the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France and Italy, as well as President Boris Trajkovski, press reports said.
One Western diplomat said it "wasn't a bad meeting", while another said the encounter "would allow the (peace) process to move forwards".
The collapse on Wednesday of five days of peace talks -- aimed at agreeing reforms to give the large Albanian minority greater rights -- served to block a NATO troop deployment to Macedonia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation had said it would send some 3,000 soldiers to collect rebel weapons under a partial amnesty proposal, but only if the multi-ethnic government coalition first cut a political deal.
No details emerged of what was discussed at Wednesday's meeting between the government and NATO ambassadors.
That meeting came after Trajkovski accused the two ethnic Albanian parties in the ruling alliance of blocking the peace talks with demands for the creation of a federal Macedonia made up of two constitutive nations, one Macedonian Slav, the other ethnic Albanian.
Macedonian Slav parties fear such a move could act as a springboard to dividing the country along ethnic lines.
Ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi refuted the Slav claims, saying he was ready to continue talks and accused Trajkovski of trying to demonise Albanians and "create a climate of paranoia".
NATO chief George Robertson warned in Washington on Wednesday that Macedonia was close to civil war and urged the leaders to return to the negotiating table.
The Macedonian army and ethnic Albanian guerrillas, who have been locked in a bitter conflict since February, both said last week they would hold fire for the duration of the talks, although sporadic shooting has been reported near rebel-held areas in the north almost every day.
Army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said the army had opened fire on "a group of terrorists" near Blace on the Kosovo border late on Wednesday.
The army has not officially declared a ceasefire, only promising to act with restraint while still operating against rebel supply lines.
National television said sporadic automatic fire was also heard overnight around the rebel-controlled town of Aracinovo on the outskirts of Skopje.
Skopje says the rebels are led by Kosovo Albanian extremists using the UN-run breakaway Yugoslav province of Kosovo as a rear base for operations.
Robertson cautious on NATO troops for Macedonia Posted June 21, 2001
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Thursday June 21, 12:33 PM
Robertson cautious on NATO troops for Macedonia
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO's offer to send troops into Macedonia does not represent an "armed intervention" and would come only after a cease-fire in that strife-torn Balkan state and an agreement by ethnic Albanian rebels to disarm, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said on Wednesday.
"It will happen when, and only when, there is a durable cease-fire and an agreement between all of the parties in the (Macedonian government) coalition and indeed an agreement by the armed extremists that they will proceed toward disarmament," Robertson told a news conference.
Robertson, on a brief visit to the United States, said the proposed movement into Macedonia would be for a limited time and would be chiefly to help collect any arms voluntarily turned over by ethnic Albanian rebels.
He stressed he hoped the move to send in a force of perhaps as many as 5,000 NATO-led peacekeepers could happen quickly and urged all parties to come to an agreement to end ethnic bloodshed before a major civil war broke out.
Robertson spoke after an announcement by NATO in Brussels that the alliance was ordering military planners to ready a mission to Macedonia in response to a request from Skopje for help with disarming ethnic Albanian rebels following any cease-fire.
"This is not an armed intervention... It will be a force appropriate to the task in benign conditions," he insisted when questioned about a brief statement released in Brussels saying NATO was laying plans to send in troops.
He said the Macedonia plan would be drawn up by NATO military planners and that the force would be unlikely to include any of the 40,000 NATO-led peacekeepers in the nearby southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
NOT GOING IN TO FIGHT
"This is not some military force going in to fight. It is an offer by the NATO countries to be prepared to put in place a NATO-led force that will take the arms and uniforms of all the armed groups who will by that time have indicated that they wish to disarm," Robertson added.
NATO's top official said the force had been approved by all alliance countries and could include 3,000-5,000 troops. He declined to say which countries would participate, saying that the force was in the early planning stage and that other countries had not yet been asked to volunteer troops.
But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in testimony to Congress on Wednesday about 700 U.S. troops already in Macedonia to give support to 6,000 American peacekeeping troops in Kosovo might be used in any operation to disarm rebels.
"In fact, we have roughly 700 people in Macedonia already, and they at some point could become a part of that process," Powell said.
Robertson met later in the day with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the two told reporters afterward that no decision had been made on what troops might participate in any Macedonia operation.
Robertson said any NATO-led force would not take part in a partitioning of Macedonia into ethnic or other areas, telling reporters that he had written to Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski late on Wednesday to stress that fact.
"There are no circumstances, no circumstances where NATO troops are going to go to Macedonia to foist any internal demarcation lines that might exist there or any partition of Macedonia at all," the secretary-general said.
"This seems to have surfaced as an idea inside the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. But I have made it clear in a letter to the president that under no circumstances would NATO be involved in demarcation or partitioning."
Rumsfeld underscored the point, saying, "To the extent that the NATO process ends up deciding that some forces from some NATO nations go into Macedonia, it would simply be for the purpose of receiving weapons after an agreement had been made."
Macedonia on brink of civil war, fate of NATO disarmament plan dubious: NATO Posted June 21, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010621/1/1487v.html
Thursday June 21, 10:42 AM
Macedonia on brink of civil war, fate of NATO disarmament plan dubious: NATO
WASHINGTON, June 20 (AFP) -
NATO Secretary General George Robertson warned Wednesday that Macedonia was "close to civil war," and said that NATO was prepared to launch a disarmament mission potentially involving US troops.
Wednesday's collapse of five days of peace talks in Skopje that had sought to thrash out reforms to give the large Albanian minority greater rights, however, served to block a NATO troop deployment mission.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had said member states would send some 3,000 soldiers to set up collection points for rebel weapons under a partial amnesty proposal -- but only if the multi-ethnic government coalition first cut a political deal.
Robertson, speaking in Washington ahead of talks with US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and members of Congress, said his key message to all parties "is to recognize how serious the situation is and how to get an agreement to move forward."
"The (national unity) government of Macedonia ... knows what the stakes are, they know how close to civil war the country is at the present," he told reporters.
"That's why there are these heated and frustrating talks going on in Skopje, they know they have to bridge the divide between the two communities."
President Boris Trajkovski Wednesday pointed accusations at ethnic Albanian leaders, including that they are trying to install a "bi-national" federal state and of dramatically changing the Albanian position.
Democratic Party of Albanians leader Arben Xhaferi immediately hit back, saying Trajkovski was trying to demonize ethnic Albanians and "create a climate of paranoia."
Robertson said NATO was in the position to send forces "very quickly ... when the political situation becomes right."
Although NATO troops would be armed, they would not participate in any exercise seeking to lay down demarcation lines inside Macedonia, he said.
After meeting with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Robertson said he had sent a letter to Trajkovski assuring him that "under no condition would we be involved in demarcation or partitioning."
Several countries have offered troops to the alliance's proposed disarmament mission, including a possible commitment from the United States in an apparent shift in position on the matter.
In remarks to the US Senate Wednesday, Powell said the United States could offer troops from among the 700 soldiers already deployed in Macedonia, though he emphasized a firm US commitment to the mission had yet to be given.
He said no NATO troops would be used for combat purposes.
"We are doing everything that has been asked of us so far, but we have not yet made any commitment to troops for the purpose of this potential disarmament mission because we really don't see a need to made such a contribution yet."
Rumsfeld said any decision on a commitment of US troops was up to the president, adding that "we are not at that stage."
Nato prepares Macedonia mission Posted June 20, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1398000/1398946.stm
Wednesday, 20 June, 2001, 14:09 GMT 15:09 UK
Nato prepares Macedonia mission
The situation is Macedonia is still unstable
Nato is preparing a mission to Macedonia to help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.
However, Nato has said that it will only act once government and ethnic Albanian politicians agree on a peace plan.
"Without such an agreement, we will certainly not go into Macedonia," said a Nato official.
Talks in Skopje were reportedly deadlocked on Wednesday, as leaders failed to find agreement on the extent of constitutional changes.
The Nato mission would comprise about 2,500 troops and work for 30 days to collect arms from rebels.
The plan would not require any mandate from the UN Security Council.
The UK, France, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway are all possible troop contributors, Nato sources said, with the United States providing logistical support.
The force could be ready to move within 10 days.
Capitulation
Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski has resigned from the cross-party security body overseeing the country's peace plan.
Clashes erupted in February
He said the body was too ready to give in to what he called unreasonable Albanian demands and block a crackdown on rebels.
He said the Macedonians were being pushed too far, especially over a possible constitutional change giving equal status to the Albanians who make up some 30% of the population.
He also said he was leaving the Co-ordination Body for Crisis Management because the main ethnic Albanian parties on it favoured bringing in an outside mediator.
A BBC correspondent says the minister is a known hard-liner and his resignation is the first highly visible crack in the negotiations.
Progress
Mr Boskovski's announcement came on the fifth day of talks aimed at finalising details of a peace plan.
The US State Department said earlier that there had been progress in the talks, which have been going on for nearly a week.
US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said: "Political leaders representing both the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have put on the table very serious and concrete proposals.
"This demonstrates that there is a process, that it is moving constructively forward and we encourage them to achieve results on a variety of political reforms," he added.
Trajkovski plan
The cross-party body was set up as part of President Boris Trajkovski's package of proposals to restore peace in the country and is charged with overseeing military aspects of the peace plan.
The Trajkovski plan, backed by Nato and the European Union, allows for a partial amnesty for Macedonian-born guerrillas and their disarmament by Nato troops.
The rebels are demanding wide-range concessions, including a constitutional change to name them as an equal community with the Slav majority.
Powell Discusses NATO in Macedonia Posted June 20, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010620/ts/us_nato_2.html
Wednesday June 20 11:35 AM ET
Powell Discusses NATO in Macedonia
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) told the Senate Wednesday U.S. peacekeeping troops in the Balkans may eventually help in disarming fighters in Macedonia ``but we have not made a commitment yet.''
Testifying before the Foreign Relations Committee, Powell said some NATO (news - web sites) allies had decided to establish disarmament points in the conflict-scarred country to collect weapons once ethnic Albanian militants agree to turn in their arms if peace terms with the government are worked out.
He said the NATO troops would not be ``going after the people,'' but merely setting up sites to recover weapons. Powell said some 700 U.S. peacekeepers handling logistics in Macedonia and several hundred others patrolling the border from the Kosovo side might become involved.
But in response to the chairman, Sen. Joseph Biden (news - bio - voting record), D-Del., Powell said it was a decision ``we don't need to make yet.''
Biden, who took an active role in urging the Clinton administration to use force to protect ethnic Albanians in Kosovo from Serbian ``ethnic cleansing,'' told Powell ``we cannot temporize'' in making decisions about Macedonia.
In reply, Powell said the Bush administration was pressing the government in Skopje to ``deal with the aspiration and hopes of the Albanian minority'' by bolstering their rights and participation in Macedonia society.
That is the only way, Powell said, to keep moderate ethnic Albanians from joining ``the extremists.''
Also during the hearing, Sen. Jesse Helms (news - bio - voting record), senior Republican on the committee, criticized President Bush (news - web sites) for ``an excessively personal endorsement'' of Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites).
Helms said he was ``raising my eyebrows'' over Bush's assertion that Putin was ``trustworthy,'' ``a remarkable leader'' and a man with whom ``we share common values.''
Helms read a long list of complaints about Putin's leadership. He said the Russian press had felt the ``jackboot of repression,'' arms-control treaty obligations were being violated and dangerous weapons technologies transferred to ``rogue states.''
``For these reasons,'' Helms said, ``Mr. Putin was far from deserving the powerful political prestige and influence that comes from an excessively personal endorsement by the president of the United States.''
In fact, the North Carolina senator said, ``Prematurely personalizing this relationship only undercuts the incentives he has to reorient Russia's domestic and foreign policy goals.''
At the outset, Biden praised Bush's actions in Europe and said he was ``very heartened'' by the talks Bush held with European leaders on issues of substance.
At the same time, Biden said he supports ``limited'' NATO military involvement in Macedonia. He said the few hundred American peacekeeping troops already there need protection, and by moving in more NATO forces now, there would not be a need for many more later.
``I would think we would want to protect them,'' Biden said.
Biden took over the chair of the committee from Helms when Democrats regained control of the Senate with the defection of Republican Sen. James Jeffords (news - web sites) of Vermont, who became an independent.
Powell Says U.S. Troops Could Help NATO in Macedonia Posted June 20, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010620/ts/nato_macedonia_usa_dc_1.html
Wednesday June 20 1:11 PM ET
Powell Says U.S. Troops Could Help NATO in Macedonia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said Wednesday U.S. troops in Macedonia could be part of a possible NATO (news - web sites) operation to disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Macedonia.
Powell, speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States supported NATO's plans to help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia if Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders there can reach a peace agreement.
NATO announced earlier in Brussels the alliance was ordering military planners to ready a mission to Macedonia in response to a request from the Macedonian government for help with disarming ethnic Albanian rebels.
Although many members were believed ready to commit troops to the force, there had been doubt the Bush administration, though supporting the mission, would be willing to use its troops.
Powell noted the United States had about 700 troops already in Macedonia, who have been providing logistical support for the U.S. contingent in the Kosovo peacekeeping force.
``They at some point could become a part of that (Macedonia disarmament) process,'' he said.
The United States has about 5,400 U.S. troops in Kosovo, some of whom have been helping patrol the Kosovo-Macedonia border.
Powell added: ``But we have not yet made any commitment to troops for the purpose of this potential disarmament mission because we really don't see a need to make such a contribution yet,'' he added.
Powell said NATO might be asked to provide ``disarmament points'' where people could turn in their guns and then return to civil society.
``It's a disarmament task in a sense that you are not going out fighting people to disarm them but you are setting up points where their weapons can be received,'' Powell told the committee.
NATO has stressed it will not send the force in unless a cease-fire is in effect and the rebels have agreed to disarm.
Macedonia's ethnic Albanian and Slav political parties have been negotiating the terms of a peace plan for the past five days but so far no agreement has been announced.
Diplomatic sources in Brussels said earlier Britain, France, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway were all possible troop contributors for the Macedonia force.
They said the United States was understood to be ready to help possibly with logistics, communications and intelligence.
The NATO states had expressed readiness to supply troops for the arms collection force, expected to number 3,000-5000 troops and have a limited engagement of 30 days to carry out the task.
Macedonian peace talks collapse as NATO warns of civil war Posted June 20, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010620/1/13qy2.html
Thursday June 21, 2:21 AM
Macedonian peace talks collapse as NATO warns of civil war
SKOPJE, June 20 (AFP) -
Macedonian peace talks collapsed on Wednesday amid mutual recriminations by Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders, as NATO chief George Robertson warned the multi-ethnic Balkan state was on the brink of civil war.
The failure of five days of lacklustre peace talks to thrash out a package of reforms giving the large Albanian minority greater rights also blocked a NATO decision to deploy troops to help disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas, who have been waging a tenacious campaign in the north for four months.
NATO said its member states were willing to send in around 3,000 soldiers to set up collection points for rebel weapons under a partial amnesty proposal, but only if the precarious multi-ethnic government coalition first cut a political deal on reforms.
Those plans appeared to have been dashed after President Boris Trajkovski accused ethnic Albanian leaders of trying to install a "bi-national" federal state, which the Macedonian Slav majority fear would pave the way to a carve-up of the country along ethnic lines.
Trajkovski said the Albanian parties had "dramatically" changed their position, rejecting his concept of Macedonian as a civic society made up of individual citizens and insisting on a state of two constituent nations, Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian.
But the head of the Democratic Party of Albanians, Arben Xhaferi, immediately hit back, saying Trajkovski was trying to demonise ethnic Albanians and "create a climate of paranoia."
He said the Albanians wanted to drop completely a controversial preamble to the constitution which at present declares the former Yugoslav republic to be a "state of Macedonians."
The dominant Slav parties want the document to say the multi-ethnic state is a "state of citizens," but Xhaferi said the Macedonian leader was "proposing a civic state to override Albanian demands, that a citizen of Macedonia is a Macedonian."
"Macedonia is a multi-ethnic society, and the state must reflect the character of society," said Xhaferi.
The drawn-out wrangling over the document had been accompanied by a ceasefire by both the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA), who occupy several northern villages and a town on the edge of Skopje, and the Macedonian security forces, although daily shooting has punctured the truce.
Trajkovski has offered an amnesty to Macedonian-born NLA gunmen if they hand over their weapons to a potential NATO force, but not to their leaders, most of whom he says are trouble-makers from the breakaway Yugoslav province of Kosovo, under UN administration since NATO bombed Serb troops out in 1999.
In a sign that tempers were becoming frayed in the fractious coalition, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski on Wednesday stormed out of a civil coordinating committee overseeing military aspects of the peace plan.
He said the committee was too soft on the rebels and too much in the thrall of the international community.
Instead he stressed the need for "energetic decisions and for the restoration of peace by our own forces, without the help of the international community."
Macedonia's under-equipped forces received a major boost Thursday with the delivery of four Ukrainian Mi-24 attack helicopters and four SU-25 warplanes capable of low-level operations against a ground target.
As tensions mounted after a week of relative calm, NATO Secretary General George Robertson urged all parties to return to the negotiating table, saying they all "know how close to civil war the country is at the moment."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was to head for Skopje Friday to give a push to talks, while Xhaferi said Trajkovski had invited him to the parliament later Thursday, although he said he did not know why.
Western diplomats said leaders from the various parties could meet later under the aegis of ambassadors from NATO countries to try and breathe life back into the dialogue.
The NLA has so far been excluded from the talks.
Macedonian peace talks break down, stump NATO plan Posted June 20, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010620/1/13l6s.html
Wednesday June 20, 11:59 PM
Macedonian peace talks break down, stump NATO plan
SKOPJE, June 20 (AFP) -
Macedonian peace talks broke down Wednesday, undercutting NATO plans to send in troops to help disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas and sparking fears of renewed fighting in the fragile Balkans state.
President Boris Trajkovski blamed the collapse of the talks, which were aimed at hammering out a package of political reforms, on ethnic Albanian leaders who he said were trying to split the country along ethnic lines.
Trajkovski said the discussions "can only continue if the (Albanian) DPA and PDP unreservedly, clearly and publicly state their wish to return to the position of sanctioning a civil society," rather than one based on ethnic communities.
The breakdown came as NATO said it would only send in peacekeepers to help in a voluntary disarmament of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas if the fragile coalition of two Macedonian and two ethnic Albanians parties came to an agreement on political reforms.
Trajkovski said the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) were playing for time in the hope of international intervention to support "their unrealistic aims."
He said the Albanian parties had changed their position "dramatically" since talks began last Friday and were insisting on the federalisation of the multi-ethnic Balkan state.
The Macedonian Slav parties absolutely refuse any concept of a "bi-national" federation, fearing it would open the door to secession by Albanian-dominated areas in the north and west of the country.
Trajkovski accused the Albanian parties of "trying to prolong the talks, or better said, to fully block them.
"That would mean the position of the terrorists will be frozen in the positions they currently occupy," he said.
The self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA) has held out against Macedonian security forces in a string of villages in hills north of Skopje since February. This month it took control of a town on the outskirts of the capital.
The NLA shares the same political goals as ethnic Albanian political leaders, who have however called for both sides to stop their military campaigns.
Trajkovski stressed he would not countenance any threat to the territorial integrity of his country, and "would not accept any kind of concept of changing the unitary character of the state."
The Macedonian Slavs have bowed to Albanian demands that the constitution be changed from calling Macedonia a "country of the Macedonians," which the ethnic Albanians -- who claim to make up a third of the population -- say was discriminatory.
But while Slav parties want it to read in future that Macedonia is a "state of citizens" of Macedonians, the Albanians want to be specifically named along with the Macedonian Slav majority as a constitutive nation.
NATO said earlier Wednesday it was ready to send in thousands of troops to help disarm the NLA under a partial amnesty proposed by Trajkovski, which would allow Macedonian-born guerrillas a chance to return to civilian life, but not their leaders, who Skopje says come from the breakaway Yugoslav province of Kosovo, under UN administration.
That help will only come if a political agreement is reached, however -- a prospect that appeared as distant as ever after the marathon talks foundered.
Western diplomats had earlier said they were "not satisfied" with the progress of the negotiations, saying each side had merely put their proposals on the table.
Ambassadors from NATO countries this week stepped up separate consultations with the Slav and Albanian parties to push for a reform deal.
Those talks were due to continue later Wednesday, officials said, with Slav parties to be received by the US and French embassies, which on Tuesday held private talks with Albanian leaders.
Meanwhile, defence ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov confirmed that four Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter gunships and four SU-25 war planes had been delivered to Skopje to upgrade the army's fighting capacity.
Both the rebels and the army have been observing a truce since last week, though the ceasefires have been violated by daily exchanges of fire.
Macedonian peace talks break down, president blames Albanians Posted June 20, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010620/1/13iti.html
Wednesday June 20, 11:09 PM
Macedonian peace talks break down, president blames Albanians
SKOPJE, June 20 (AFP) -
Peace talks broke down in Macedonia Wednesday as President Boris Trajkovski blamed ethnic Albanian leaders for trying to split the country up along ethnic lines.
Trajkovski said the discussions "can only continue if the (Albanian) DPA and PDP unreservedly, clearly and publicly state their wish to return to the position of sanctioning a civil society," rather than one based on ethnic communities.
The breakdown came as NATO said it would only send peacekeepers to help in a voluntary disarmament of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas if the fragile coalition of two Macedonian and two ethnic Albanians parties came to an agreement on political reforms.
Trajkovski said the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) were playing for time in the hope of an international intervention to support "their unrealistic aims."
He said the Albanian parties had changed their position "dramatically" since talks began last Friday and were insisting on the federalisation of the multi-ethnic Balkan state.
The Macedonian Slav parties absolutely refuse any concept of a "bi-national" state, fearing it would open the door to secession by predominantly Albanian areas in the north and west of the country.
NATO readies force for Macedonian disarmament Posted June 20, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010620/3/13gqy.html
Wednesday June 20, 10:08 PM
NATO readies force for Macedonian disarmament
By Douglas Hamilton
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO announced on Wednesday it was ordering military planners to ready a mission to Macedonia to collect and destroy arms from ethnic Albanian guerrillas as soon as a political agreement ends fighting in the republic.
The 19-member alliance said it was ready to act swiftly but stressed that a peace agreement in Macedonia was "an essential precondition for any NATO assistance".
"In considering President (Boris) Trajkovski's request for NATO's assistance with the demilitarisation process envisaged...allies reaffirmed the urgent need for a successful outcome of the political dialogue between the different parties in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the cessation of hostilities as an essential precondition for any NATO assistance," the official NATO statement said.
"On that basis and in order to be prepared to act swiftly once this precondition is met, Allies agreed on a concept of operations provided by the military authorities and asked them to develop an operational plan for Council consideration on an urgent basis."
Macedonia's ethnic Albanian and Slav political parties have been negotiating the terms of a peace plan for the past five days but so far no agreement has been announced.
A doctor in a rebel-held village reported on Wednesday that two civilians were killed overnight by Macedonian Army shelling -- the first deaths in a nine-day-old truce.
ABOUT 2,500 TROOPS
Diplomatic sources said a large number of NATO states had expressed readiness to supply troops for the arms collection force, expected to number around 2,500 with a limited engagement of 30 days to carry out the task.
They said the proposed mission would be a NATO operation, based on Macedonia's invitation and request for assistance. No United Nations Security Council mandate would be required.
NATO sources said Britain, France, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway were all possible troop contributors. The United States is understood to be ready to "enable" the undertaking, perhaps with logistics, communications and intelligence.
A diplomatic source said planning could be completed by the end of the week, with approval next week, after which the force would be generated from contributing allies and activated.
He estimated troops could be ready to move within 10 days of a peace deal in Macedonia.
A political agreement in Macedonia to improve the rights and status of the large ethnic Albanian minority is seen as the best means of persuading the rebels to end the five-month conflict in areas bordering Kosovo, where NATO leads a force of around 38,000 peacekeepers.
SOME ALLIES HAVE DOUBTS
Despite calls from the guerilla National Liberation Army the 19-member alliance had no intention whatsoever of mounting a third major Balkan peacekeeping mission alongside those in Bosnia and Kosovo, NATO sources stressed.
NATO diplomats say some allies questioned the wisdom of even a limited operation in Macedonia, but most saw NATO help as crucial to solving the crisis peacefully and averting a civil war that could ignite regional conflict.
Britain has been the most vocal NATO member in support of a Macedonia mission. At a meeting last week of senior officials from NATO's five major allies, the United States said it would not envisage sending American soldiers south from Kosovo.
"The question is whether the United States would help in others ways, with logistics, communications and satellite imagery," a NATO source said.
Any units sent to areas held by the guerrillas -- in northeastern and northwestern Macedonia on either side of the main routes north to Kosovo -- would need to be protected by armour and heavy weapons.
There are already around 3,000 NATO troops in Macedonia as part of the supply chain for the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, but they are logistics units, not combat troops.
Macedonian peace talks bog down as NATO mulls role Posted June 20, 2001
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Wednesday June 20, 7:01 PM
Macedonian peace talks bog down as NATO mulls role
SKOPJE, June 20 (AFP) -
Crucial talks aimed at uniting Macedonia's fractious multi-ethnic government behind a Western-backed peace plan showed no signs of nearing a breakthrough Wednesday, as NATO examined ways of intervening to help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.
NATO has insisted the Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian parties reach a political consensus on reforms and a plan for decommissioning rebel weapons before it intervenes.
But Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski was gloomy about the outlook for the peace talks, which have dragged on for five days.
"Unfortunately the talks are not going in any direction. They are going in two different directions," he said on national television.
NATO has offered help in tackling the four-month crisis, which threatens to escalate into a full-scale war, and its permanent council was meeting Wednesday in Brussels to discuss its options.
NATO commands some 40,000 peacekeeping troops in neighbouring Kosovo, who could set up weapons collection points in the UN-run Yugoslav province, alliance sources have said.
Or soldiers from outside the region could be sent into Macedonia under bilateral accords between Skopje and individual NATO states, with the alliance's support.
In Skopje, tensions over the government's handling of the crisis surfaced publicly Tuesday when Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski walked out of a civil coordinating committee set up to oversee the implementation of the military side of the peace plan.
Boskovski, a member of Georgievski's Slav VRMO-DPMNE party, accused the two ethnic Albanian parties and one other Slav party in the national unity coalition of being beholden to the international community and too soft on the rebels.
"There is still territory occupied by the guerrillas which is not under our control. I don't support this policy of capitulation," he said.
"I am in favour of energetic decisions and for the restoration of peace by our own forces, without the help of the international community," said the minister.
Sporadic firing was reported overnight by national television, quoting military sources, despite a ceasefire declared last week by both the security forces and the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA).
Firing broke out both in the rebel-held town of Aracinovo, on the outskirts of Skopje, as well as around the village of Slupcane, in hills 20 kiloemtres (12 miles) north of the capital, which has been held by the NLA for six weeks.
Talks began last Friday after a visit by NATO Secretary General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and aim to address a slew of Albanian demands centred on changes to the constitution to upgrade them from a minority to a constituent nation alongside the Slav majority.
They also want official recognition of their language and have called for a special deputy president's post reserved for an ethnic Albanian candidate.
The latter demand has been rejected by the Macedonian Slav parties, who have however overcome reservations about amending the constitution and are offering to call Macedonia a "state of citizens" rather than of the Macedonian people.
"The dialogue is not intensive," a Western diplomat said Tuesday. "We are not satisfied at all. They only met for a few hours, and merely put their demands on the table."
A source close to the Macedonian Slav parties said the talks were "very difficult on Monday, with each camp remaining firm in their stances."
Ambassadors from NATO countries held separate talks with Slav and ethnic Albanian political leaders here Tuesday in an apparent effort to push the dialogue forwards.
The Slav-dominated government has so far refused to talk with the guerrillas, despite the urging from their ethnic Albanian coalition partners to involve them.
While the lack of progress on the political front threatens the chances for a NATO intervention, the precarious ceasefire has led a reduction in the numbers of people fleeing the crisis, which has displaced more than 50,000 since February, according to aid agencies.
Macedonian minister quits peace talks Posted June 20, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1397000/1397826.stm
Wednesday, 20 June, 2001, 04:44 GMT 05:44 UK
Macedonian minister quits peace talks
Politicians aim to implement the president's peace plan
The Macedonian Interior Minister, Ljube Boskovski, has resigned from the cross-party security body overseeing the country's peace plan, accusing it of capitulation.
"As the head of the Interior Ministry I cannot accept this policy of capitulation which is being imposed by the co-ordinating body" - Ljube Boskovski
Mr Boskovski - who has retained his government post - said the body was too ready to give in to unreasonable Albanian demands and block a crackdown on rebels.
He said the Macedonians were being pushed too far, especially over a possible constitutional change giving equal status to the Albanians who make up some 30% of the population.
He also said he was leaving the Co-ordination Body for Crisis Management because the main ethnic Albanian parties on it favoured bringing in an outside mediator.
The Macedonian interior minister added that the Macedonian security forces were able to sort out the problem without international interference.
"I support an energetic resolution of the crisis. I stand for peace, but for peace which shall be brought by the Macedonian security forces because we have enough potential and energy to do so," he said.
Clashes erupted in February
"Nobody in the international community should interfere until we resolve this issue ourselves," he added.
A BBC correspondent says the minister is a known hard-liner and his resignation is the first highly visible crack in the negotiations.
Mr Boskovski's announcement came on the fifth day of talks aimed at finalising details of a peace plan.
The American State Department said earlier that there had been progress in the talks, which have been going on for nearly a week.
US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said: "Political leaders representing both the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have put on the table very serious concrete proposals.
"This demonstrates that there is a process, that it is moving constructively forward and we encourage them to achieve results on a variety of political reforms," he added.
But US President George W Bush urged the quick completion of the peace plan.
"We strongly support that process," he said.
Trajkovski plan
The cross-party body was set up as part of President Boris Trajkovski's package of proposals to restore peace in the country and is charged with overseeing military aspects of the peace plan.
The Trajkovski plan, backed by Nato and the European Union, allows for a partial amnesty for Macedonian-born guerrillas and their disarmament by Nato troops.
The rebels are demanding wide-range concessions, including a constitutional change to name them as an equal community with the Slav majority.
On Monday, Macedonian forces and rebels exchanged mortar and artillery fire.
The clashes were described as the most serious since the government's decision to temporarily halt to its military operations against the National Liberation Army (NLA).
NATO countries step up efforts to advance dialogue in Macedonia Posted June 19, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010619/1/12fnl.html
Wednesday June 20, 1:25 AM
NATO countries step up efforts to advance dialogue in Macedonia
SKOPJE, June 19 (AFP) -
NATO countries, which have been called on to supervise the possible disarmament of ethnic Albanian rebels, redoubled their efforts Tuesday to advance negotiations between political parties that are apparently deadlocked over Albanian demands.
NATO ambassadors met Tuesday with President Boris Trajkovski to discuss the negotiations that began Friday on a series of political reforms to try and convince the guerrillas to lay down their arms.
The meeting comes the day before a NATO council session in Brussels, which is expected to discuss a Macedonian request for help with the possible disarmament of the guerrillas of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) and a partial amnesty for the rebels.
A NATO official said Tuesday that "no response would be given on Wednesday unless there is a political agreement in the meantime."
NATO, which is studying several possible systems for handling any disarmament, said last week that it has no plans to deploy its troops in Macedonia for now.
The negotiations between leaders of the four main parties in the country -- -- two Macedonian and two Albanian -- are aimed at reaching agreement over several political reforms to bring the two communities closer together and halt the four-month uprising. However, no results have been reported so far.
The main topic of the talks has been a demand by the large Albanian minority to modify the country's constitution to give them more rights.
"The dialogue is not intensive," a Western diplomatic source said. "We are not satisfied at all. They only met for a few hours, and merely put their demands on the table."
Before the expected resumption of the negotiations late Tuesday, Albanian and Macedonian representative held separate talks with diplomats from several Western diplomats in Skopje.
In particular, US Ambassador Michael Einik met with Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, while the heads of the Albanian parties, Arben Xhaferi et Imer Imeri, were received at the French embassy.
A source close to the Macedonian political parties said the talks were "very difficult on Monday, with each camp remaining firm in their stances."
The Macedonian side has demanded that the Western powers put pressure on the Albanians to tone down their requests, the source said.
The Albanian parties, whose requests have been supported by the NLA, are demanding that their community be given the status of a "constituent people" in Macedonia, as well as for the recognition of Albanian as an official language.
They also called for a post of deputy president to be created and given to a member of the Albanian community.
This demand was rejected by the Macedonians, who for their part have accepted a change in the constitution to make it say that Macedonia is a "state of citizens" rather than of ethnic groups.
They would also accept a wider use of the Albanian language, notably in the parliament, but without giving it an official status.
The negotiations are taking place during an uneasy halt to hostilities announced by both sides last week.
However, Macedonian authorities Tuesday reported rebel fire against govement positions in the mountains above Tetovo, in the northwest of the country, as well as in Lopate, a village in the zone occupied by the NLA near Kumanovo in the north.
Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski emphasized that "no official decision has been taken on a cease-fire" and that the pause in military operations is aimed at facilitating the political discussions.
He added that "measures had been taken to strengthen security in Skopje, in particular in public buildings" and that "everything possible has been done to avoid an expansion of the conflict."
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in Geneva that the number of ethnic Albanians fleeing Macedonia has dropped dramatically, with just over 500 people arriving in Kosovo on Monday.
The conflict, which broke out in February in the northern mountains bordering UN-run Kosovo but this month moved to the edges of Skopje, has created around 50,000 refugees, according to the UNHCR.
Powell assures Albanian-Americans of US engagement in Macedonia Posted June 19, 2001
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Wednesday June 20, 12:29 AM
Powell assures Albanian-Americans of US engagement in Macedonia
WASHINGTON, June 19 (AFP) -
Representatives of the Albanian-American community said Tuesday that Secretary of State Colin Powell had assured them the United States would remain deeply engaged in efforts to equitably resolve the current unrest in Macedonia.
Powell "said that the United States would remain engaged and would continue to press the Macedonian government to deal with the problems" of the ethnic Albanian community there, according to Representative Eliot Engel.
Engel, co-chair of the House of Representatives Albanian Issues Caucus, called on the secretary to step up Washington's insistance that Skopje deal with them.
"The fact is that there has been nothing but talk on the part of the Macedonian government in ten years and very little action," Engel told reporters after meeting with Powell at the State Department.
Disparate government treatment of ethnic Albanians compared to that of Macedonia's majority-Slav population has fueled Albanian resentment and sparked a now four-month-old insurgency by the National Liberation Army (NLA).
Negotiations have been underway since last week between the leaders of the country's four main parties -- two Macedonian and two Albanian -- to find a political solution to the insurgency, but no result has been reported so far.
The rebels are demanding wide-ranging concessions, including a constitutional change to name them as an equal community with the Slav majority.
Washington is backing Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski's peace plan which calls for political reform to ease the concerns of ethnic Albanians.
Engel said there was no way to end the insurgency unless those concerns were addressed.
"If the government of Macedonia dealt with the Albanian concerns, the insurgency would dry up," Engel said, adding that a way should be found to bring the NLA into the political dialogue.
Trajkovski, backed by the United States and the European Union, has refused outright to include the rebels in the process but Engel said such a position was "unrealistic."
"If you're going to get the rebels to put down their arms then ... you have to involve them in the political process," he said.
Ilirjan Rusi, the president of National Albanian-American Council, agreed and said his group would like to see Washington demand sweeping political reforms from Skopje.
"In our view, Macedonia is one nation of two people and it ought to reflect that reality," Rusi said.
Rusi, Engel and others in their delegation also expressed to Powell their concern about a Russian role in resolving the disputes which has been discussed by Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin.
They noted Moscow's past support for Slavs in the Balkans, notably in Yugoslavia where it supported former president Slobodan Milosevic during his campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
"Whenever we hear the words 'Russia' and 'the Balkans' in the same sentence it makes us very nervous," Rusi said.
Macedonia races clock to strike deal for NATO help Posted June 19, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010619/3/12bq3.html
Tuesday June 19, 11:46 PM
Macedonia races clock to strike deal for NATO help
By Daniel Simpson
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's politicians are running out of time to thrash out a deal intended to persuade Albanian guerrillas to disarm if they want early agreement from NATO to send in troops, Western diplomats said on Tuesday.
Five days after the start of talks to agree concessions to Macedonia's Albanian minority, designed to undercut support for a four-month rebellion that has widened the ethnic divide, the meeting was deadlocked despite heavy foreign pressure.
Some European NATO allies are ready to start another Balkan operation and could announce an initial decision on Wednesday -- but only if the cross-party talks in Skopje can hammer out terms for averting civil war, including major constitutional changes.
Diplomats say the details of a workable amnesty are almost in place, but Albanian parties are sticking to demands for a wholesale rewriting of the constitution that Macedonia's Slav majority refuses to countenance.
Politicians on both sides are being told that a NATO role, the one thing they agree on, depends on quick progress in finalising disarmament terms and the wording of key clauses in the constitution.
Even then, troops would not be deployed immediately.
"We have to give some results by tonight or tomorrow, before a NATO meeting," a senior Albanian party official told Reuters. "The goal is to find a political solution to the issues that generated the crisis ... but we also surely need NATO's help."
The main obstacle is the wording of the preamble to the tiny state's 10-year-old constitution, which Macedonia's Albanians say is discriminatory and has made them second-class citizens.
Albanian parties in a fractious coalition, formed in a bid to prevent war, also want a new post of vice president to be created and reserved for an Albanian, as well as an effective veto over sensitive government decisions.
"We have no intention of giving in to their demands," said a senior Macedonian party official. "They have to compromise."
PARTIAL DEAL ENOUGH
The one-third Albanian minority, whose ancestors have lived in what is now Macedonia for centuries, want the constitution rewritten to name them as a founding ethnic group, not one of several minorities in a country of "the Macedonian people".
But majority leaders of Slav descent would rather delete all references to ethnicity than approve changes that would in their eyes deny Macedonians their own nation, after years of denials by their neighbours that Macedonians were a true ethnic group.
The carrot of NATO involvement may help them haggle their way to a solution that would show Albanians their calls for greater minority rights -- the cause for which the guerrillas claim to be fighting -- are being heard, diplomats say.
"If you take away the sense they are second class citizens you open the way to solving the other issues," one Western envoy said, pointing to calls for wider use of the Albanian language and more jobs for Albanians in the civil service and police.
These, and demands for more funding for Albanian-language education and media, are unlikely to be agreed by next Monday's European Union deadline for politicians to finalise peace plans.
But EU sources say a basic deal and promises to keep talking could satisfy foreign powers.
The other issue NATO wants resolved is the terms of an amnesty, which the rebels want to cover their commanders -- a prospect the government has so far refused to consider.
"Discussions about an amnesty are realistic and pragmatic and are directed towards a conclusion ensuring that people do lay down their weapons," a Western diplomatic source stressed.
Although both sides called ceasefires last Monday, the rebels' lasting until June 27, their shaky truce is punctured almost daily by exchanges of small-scale firing.