Macedonia Near Ruin, Albanian Politician Says Posted March 30, 2001
http://www.latimes.com/print/asection/20010330/t000027336.html
Macedonia Near Ruin, Albanian Politician Says
By RICHARD BOUDREAUX, Times Staff Writer
TETOVO, Macedonia--His face is rigid from Parkinson's disease, and his words come in hoarse whispers, far behind his racing thoughts. But it's impossible to miss the panic in Arben Xhaferi's eyes or the urgency of his message: Macedonia is running out of time to reform.
Xhaferi, the country's leading ethnic Albanian politician, appears to be the only player in touch with Macedonia's Slavic leaders, as well as a nascent guerrilla movement fighting for the country's disaffected Albanian minority and the Western officials scrambling to contain the latest Balkan bloodshed.
Since the guns erupted more than a month ago, he has been pleading with all three sides--for the rebels to back off, the government to convene talks on bettering the status of minorities, the West to facilitate those negotiations and help make any agreements stick.
"I think we have only a month to do that," he said in an interview Thursday, explaining that the rebels who withdrew from the edge of this city Sunday have offered to wait that long before any new offensive.
"The offer is very rational," he said. "If we fail with our negotiations, their numbers will increase very fast," bringing "total ethnic war" to the former Yugoslav republic.
President Boris Trajkovski has hinted at talks but insisted that the insurgent National Liberation Army must first be ousted from Macedonia.
As government troops battled Thursday to drive the rebels across the border, mortar shells struck just inside Kosovo, killing an Associated Press Television News producer and a teenage resident in the hilltop village of Krivenik. Sixteen other civilians were wounded.
It was the worst spillover of Macedonian fighting into Kosovo, which has been under United Nations control since NATO's 1999 bombing raids drove Yugoslavia's repressive army from that predominantly ethnic Albanian province of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic.
Kerem Lawton, 30, a Kosovo-based British national, became the first journalist killed covering Macedonia's conflict. He was wounded by shrapnel from mortar fire that hit his car. He was driven by NATO medics to Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in Kosovo, where he was pronounced dead.
Macedonia government spokesman Antonio Milososki called the army drive "our final operation to establish control of this stretch of land" and "create conditions for . . . dialogue" with Albanian politicians.
But he rejected Xhaferi's one-month deadline for reforms, saying Macedonia prefers a slow, gradual path toward European standards of behavior. "The other path might be faster," he said, "but if emotions overcome the mind, we will face what happened in Bosnia and Croatia," two remnants of the former Yugoslavia federation ripped apart by war.
Albanians make up at least a quarter of Macedonia's 2 million people and share formal political power but have complained since the country won independence in 1992 of second-class status in employment, education and treatment by the police.
Xhaferi's Democratic Party of Albanians is a minority partner in the coalition government, with five of the 15 Cabinet posts and representatives in all ministries, but it is increasingly powerless and losing popular support. Xhaferi likened inter-ethnic disputes here to a soccer game in which one team, the majority Slavs, has no goal and thus cannot be scored upon.
The Albanian party's minority rights agenda--which includes giving more power to local governments and making Albanian an official state language--has stalled in parliament and is being usurped by the guerrillas.
One party member, Hysni Shakiri, resigned from parliament Wednesday to join the rebels and urged other Albanians to do the same. Xhaferi, replying coolly, called it "an emotional reaction."
"I'm trying to be rational in an irrational situation," the 53-year-old party leader said at the start of the hourlong interview at his headquarters here. "The crisis is not only a threat but also an opportunity to do something constructive."
He is pressing the European Union's security chief, Javier Solana, who was here this week and is due back next Wednesday, to sponsor negotiations on constitutional changes that would guarantee equal rights for all citizens.
"The concept of the state is ethnocentric but the reality is multiethnic," Xhaferi said. "If we try to change the reality, we must ethnically cleanse the territory, which is genocide. It would be much easier to change the concept of the state and create a multiethnic constitution," one that he said should give proportional representation to each ethnic group in state bodies and require decisions by consensus rather than majority rule.
Like many Albanians here, Xhaferi has been hardened by suffering. His late parents, both tailors, were harassed by police, who repeatedly seized their sewing machines during the Communist era. His father spent three years in jail for protesting a mass expulsion of Albanians to Turkey in the 1950s.
Xhaferi, who studied philosophy at Belgrade University, was directing cultural programming for Kosovo's official Albanian television station in 1991 when the Yugoslav government expelled all Albanians from state jobs. He returned home to Tetovo, de facto capital of Macedonia's Albanian community, to lead his party.
Some critics say he is trying to exaggerate the guerrilla threat to salvage his own agenda and his leadership of the Albanian community. But many concede that failure could drive him out of the government and polarize the country beyond repair.
"It's obvious the government will have to negotiate, but with whom?" said Iso Rusi, editor of the Albanian-language weekly Lobi. "Xhaferi's party is being frozen out of key government decisions and is in the process of disappearing."
Xhaferi said he has indirect contact with guerrilla leaders and believes they command about 500 well-trained fighters, 90% of them from Macedonia. He disputes the government's claim that the rebels aim to carve off the predominately Albanian sliver of northwestern Macedonia and combine it with Kosovo and Albania into one state.
He also said the government is making too much of its success Sunday in turning back the rebel occupation of villages overlooking Tetovo.
"The guerrilla is like mercury," he said. "If you hit the mercury, the mercury splinters into many pieces, and the pieces go in different directions. This is what is happening now."
Presidency of the Islamic Community in Macedonia (FAKTI) Posted March 30, 2001
Presidency of the Islamic Community in Macedonia
THE EXISTING PROBLEMS HAVE NO RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND
FAKTI 30/03/2001
1. “The Presidency of the Islamic Community in Macedonia – PICM, as a legitimate representatives of the religious interests of a true ethnic conglomerate made of Albanians, Turks, Bosniaks, Rhomas, Tobesh etc, stands decisively against the violence and appeals for peace, overall justice and true togetherness.
2. Traditionally, there had never been problems between PICM and other religious institutions of other confessions in this country – Orthodox Church of Macedonia, catholic Church, Methodist Church and Jewish Church. On the contrary, the relations were always described with mutual respect and correctness.
Due to this, PICM avails itself of this opportunity to inform both the internal and international public that all attempts to pain the existing problems with religious background, as well as those that might occur, would be a direct misuse of religion for daily politics, which is full contradiction with the religious principles of all confessions.
3. For ten years now, the PICM is in a direct conflict with a certain state segment that Names itself as ‘Commission on Religion Affairs’, an institution that keeps existing as a ghost, a reminiscence of the communist past. Unfortunately, this bastard-Commission still aims to implement the dark secret plans of secret agencies for a genocide, ethnocide and culturocide against Islam believers, this time hidden under the thin layer of the Commission intention: “One State, One Nation, One religion”.
It is beyond any doubt that these plans are well hidden within the new Draft-Law on the Macedonian Orthodox Church and religious communities, prepared by this Commission without even a smallest consultation of religious communities themselves! As an illustration, here is the Article 2 of this Draft-Law that clearly says: “Orthodox Religion is the traditional religion of Macedonia.” And article that directly denies Islam as a religion of at least half of the population of Macedonia, as well as it denies all other religions in the country.
4. The noble attempt of the NGO Macedonian Center for International Cooperation to gather the representatives of three leading religious communities in RM and sign a joint message (which was supported by all three communities), had been sabotaged from the beginning by this Commission and finally blocked and failed. All the efforts of many international factors to build this initiative had failed.
There is a lack of logic in attempts, such as the letter addressed to United Nations by the head of MOC, written with a vocabulary of daily politics, on the threat that Macedonian experiences from the “Albanian terrorists and extremists’, but hiding the true intention of silently imposing the infamous project “One State, One Nation, One Religion”.
PICM addresses a request to the Government of RM and other relevant political factors to get read of this surrogate, known as ‘Commission on Religion Affairs’ that had been terrorizing the freedom of religions for half a century now. We consider that such act would free MOC from the claws of this Commission and would contribute to building better relations between all believers of all religions in the country.
ALBANIAN SOLDIERS IN ARM ARE BEING THREATENED (PDP Press Conference) Posted March 30, 2001
PDP press conference
ALBANIAN SOLDIERS IN ARM ARE BEING THREATENED
FAKTI 30/03/2001
”The security situation in Macedonia continues to aggravate, with a tendency of complicating further, due to the actions taken by security forces,” PDP spokesman Zahir Bekteshi stated at the press conference.
PDP has many objections concerning the inappropriate treatment of citizens by security forces while raiding the houses of innocent citizens in Tetova villages.
“We are in possession of information that the Ministry of Defense, i.e. at the ARM barracks, the ethnic Albanian soldiers are kept under a continuous psychological pressure, threatened and blackmailed, as they are a priori presented and considered as suspicious element in the Macedonian Army.”
“We consider that DPA and VMRO-DPMNE are not capable to control the situation. Besides, it is obvious that all is done with party competences and orders.”
PDP considers there are no reasons for keeping the police curfew in Tetova and appeals for urgent opening of Macedonia – Kosova border.
The party welcomes the opening of a Albanian – Macedonian dialogue, with the mediation of EU and USA. “We don’t think that the changes of Constitution should be only cosmetic, as some parties and individuals aim to direct the further course of events. The changes must include a solution to the Albanian cause and guarantee the full national and citizens equality of Albanians.”
Will Macedonian Attack on Kosovo Go Unpunished? (Zëri) Posted March 30, 2001
Will Macedonian Attack on Kosovo Go Unpunished?
ZËRI
The conflict in Macedonia, which is nearer to total war than dialogue,
resulted yesterday in one of the biggest tragedies. The thing that happened
in the village of Krivenik, Han i Elezit, can be “compared” to the gravest
crimes of the Kosova war.
This act seriously violates the territorial integrity of Kosovo.
Another DPA official joins NLA (balkanreport.com) Posted March 30, 2001
balkanreport.com
Due to the present circumstances and the war between the National liberation Army and the Macedonian Army and Police, and due to my discontent with the sterile and pro-Macedonian policy of the DPA leadership, I, Emerllah K. Ukshini, born on 05.03.1963, in Kumanovë, I am resigning on my position of a member of the DPA Presidency in Kumanova and I am joining the NLA ranks in their fight for freedom and equality of the Albanian people with the Macedonians.
I call on my colleagues from DPA and other political parties to join the freedom fighters, as by doing so they will prevent the Macedonian massacres against the unprotected Albanian people. This way we would also resist easier the offensives of Macedonian Army and Police.
I am leaving DPA as if I would have done otherwise, I would had to share responsibility for the attacks and killings of my people.
Macedonia blamed for shell attack Posted March 30, 2001
Full article at: http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/03/30/macedonia.fighting.02/index.html
Macedonia blamed for shell attack
March 30, 2001 Web posted at: 8:28 AM EST (1328 GMT)
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- Kosovo's main political parties have blamed the Macedonia Government for the shelling of a Kosovo village in which three people died.
The attack took place near the border area where Macedonian forces have clashed with ethnic Albanian rebels.
The U.N. said 10 shells landed in the village of Krivenik, three-quarters of a mile inside Kosovo. U.S. army investigators are analysing craters to try to determine where the shells came from.
A British television journalist and two Kosovo Albanians died in the incident. Around 16 other people were wounded, according to NATO and U.N. sources.
Hans Haekkerup, the U.N. administrator of Kosovo, raised the attack with Macedonia's foreign minister and prime minister during a visit to Skopje on Friday, underlining "the urgent need for restraint by the Macedonian forces and for dialogue to replace the shooting."
....
How Does an Albanian that ‘ENJOYS ALL THE RIGHTS’ Looks Like? (FAKTI Editorial) Posted March 30, 2001
Balkanreport.com
30/03/2001
FAKTI
HOW DOES AN ALBANIAN THAT ‘ENJOYS ALL THE RIGHTS’ LOOKS LIKE? by Emin Azemi
“Albanian enjoy all the rights”. This is the refrain that foreign journalists most often hear from the mouths of ethnic Macedonians.
“OK, fine. Then, why the ethnic Albanians are fighting in the hills,” the foreign journalists would ask, just to face an avalanche of answers “They are fighting for Great Albania.”
And when the same foreign journalist comes to visit you, first things he does is to take a goooooood look at you, from head to toes. And he looks at you again. And again. And then he tries to look at you face, trying to find a glimpse, at least one small, the smallest piece of “the Great Albania” tittering on your face. And he keeps looking, staring at you. He still looks at you. And while looking at your face, he tries to behave nicely by looking straight into your eyes, but always on the edge of popping ‘the question’: “Eh, and what about Great Albania… I mean, where do you stand on that …”
And even after you say that 80% of the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are unemployed, and even when you say that you can count on one hand the number of Albanian doctors and nurses in Skopje hospitals, and when you say that you can’t find any Albanian working in local banks (not even as cleaning ladies), and even when you say that the share-holders in the biggest companies are almost exclusively Macedonians (and few naturalized Vlachs), and when you say that there are not more than 3% of Albanians in police forces, and that 99% of Army officers are ethnic Macedonians, and when you say that 150.000 Albanians from Macedonia are working abroad in western countries, and when you explain that Albanian pupils are still reading in own books the names of towns written on Macedonian, and even when you say that 112.000 ethnic Albanians are without citizenship status, the foreign journalist will still ask you “And what about Great Albania …”
But one cannot blame on the foreign journalists why they persist in their attempt to fine the glimpse of Great Albania in the background of Albanian grievances. The red-cart known as ‘Great Albania’ that is constantly waved in the face of Albanians, whenever they ask for more policeman, more doctors, army officers, bank clerks etc., actually represents the essence of the conflict in Macedonia. So, what we witness these days in the hills is not the conflict. The real conflict is in the heads of some Macedonians that are deeply convinced that Albanians really enjoy all the rights.
The concept of “all the rights”, according to ethnic Macedonians, means that Albanians must me cured only by an ethnic Macedonian doctors, that the Albanian must be tortured exclusively by an ethnic Macedonian policeman and that the Albanian soldier in ARM must be only commanded by an ethnic Macedonian army officer.
“Macedonian healthcare, Macedonian torture and Macedonian command,” this is the vulgar concept of preventing the creation of a ‘Great Albania’.
“We gave all the rights to Albanians,” this is how Macedonians like to say whenever someone from abroad would ask them about the Albanians. As long as they consider and present themselves as exclusive owners of human rights and especially as owners that have rented such right by labeling the Albanians with a continuous guilt for destroying the state, one cannot speak about any ethnic or citizen harmony in this country.
---
Mr. Emin Azemi is the publisher of Shkupi daily newspaper FAKTI
Newsman, Villager Killed in Kosovo Border Shelling Photos Posted March 29, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010329/wl/balkans_leadall_dc_119.html
Thursday March 29 12:27 PM ET
Newsman, Villager Killed in Kosovo Border Shelling Photos
By Beth Potter
NEAR (news - web sites) KRIVENIK, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - A Kosovo Albanian and a British journalist were killed on Thursday when shellfire from Macedonia hit a village inside Kosovo.
It was by far the most serious spillover incident in two weeks of intense shelling close to the border with the U.N.-administered Yugoslav province as Macedonian forces try to drive ethnic Albanian insurgents from their territory.
The dead were named as Baki Krasniqi, a 19-year-old Kosovo Albanian, and Kerem Lawton, 30, of Britain, a producer for Associated Press Television News (APTN).
The pair were killed near the village of Krivenik. Local people said the fire came from Macedonian forces, who have been trying to flush out an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group operating near the Kosovo border.
A witness said the APTN crew had arrived at Krivenik and a cameraman had got out of their vehicle to film while Lawton parked. As he did so, a shell hit the vehicle.
The Associated Press said the cameraman, Syllejman Klokoqi, was unharmed.
In all at least 20 civilians were injured in Krivenik, a hilltop village lying close to the border. Troops of NATO (news - web sites)'s KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo also had a narrow escape in a similar incident.
Macedonian forces have been shelling ethnic Albanian guerrillas around the village of Gracani on their side of the border for five days. They denied responsibility for Thursday's deaths.
``The commander of operations in the Gracani area has said no Macedonian forces have used fire against targets inside Kosovo,'' said Defense Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov. ``We have sent a special investigative commission to the area.''
Asked who else might be responsible, army spokesman Blagoja Markovski said; ``Everything is possible, this is a dirty war.''
Last Friday, Defense Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov acknowledged that Macedonia had struck across the border on at least one occasion. ``It's true that we attacked targets inside Kosovo because they were fortifying positions to launch a grenade attack on our security force,'' he said.
Daja Ali, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla commander, blamed the Macedonian Army for the deaths and denied that rebel forces were responsible for the shelling.
``This is not the first time they've done it. The National Liberation Army does not have this type of weapons. We have only infantry weapons,'' he told Reuters by telephone.
Nato Wants The Facts
In Brussels, NATO spokesman Mark Laity said senior NATO representatives in Skopje were seeking the facts.
``We have asked the government for clarification. We are obviously very upset about the tragedy and we are concerned to ensure no such thing happens again. But we obviously need to find out exactly what happened,'' Laity said.
KFOR said one of its patrols had withdrawn earlier in the morning after mortar rounds exploded as troops went forward to identify a group of armed men, possibly ethnic Albanian guerrillas escaping the Macedonian attack.
Later, Reuters reporters heard two groups of three detonations in Krivenik, which lies behind a border ridge over one kilometer (about one mile) from the frontier.
Krivenik is an ethnic Albanian village of steep muddy lanes and wattled fences at the southern tip of a leg of Kosovo that juts into northern Macedonia, where security forces launched an offensive against guerrillas on Wednesday.
Beyond it lies an empty high plateau where U.S. and Polish troops of KFOR have been observing the battle for the past few days. The monitoring included U.S. Apache combat helicopters with laser range-finders, capable of video-recording the fire for later analysis.
Reuters reporters said two Apaches were on station hovering near Krivenik when the shelling occurred.
APTN's Lawton, a British national with an English father and Turkish mother, was previously based in Turkey. After several assignments in Kosovo, he moved to work there full-time last year.
Colleagues described Lawton as outgoing, highly motivated and a mainstay of the Pristina press corps.
``Final'' Push To Oust Rebels
The Macedonian attack, after four days of pounding the hills around the ethnic Albanian village of Gracani, was billed as a final drive to clear their territory of rebels.
Reporters near Gracani, just 15 km (nine miles) north of the capital, Skopje, heard sporadic mortar fire. Journalists who ventured close to the area came under small arms fire and a police source confirmed opposition had not yet been quelled.
``They are still fighting. We estimate we face numbers ranging from 10 to a respectable force,'' the source said.
Smoke billowed from the northern hills stretching toward the border with Kosovo, where the guerrillas have rear bases.
A commander of the National Liberation Army rebel force, speaking by telephone, said the guerrillas still held positions inside a strip of land along northern Macedonia.
NATO forces in Kosovo were due to deploy 400 additional troops on the border on Thursday to cut rebel supply lines.
``This is to stop east-west resupply between NLA and NLA, `` said Major Fergus Smith, spokesman for the British sector of the NATO-led KFOR force in Kosovo. The forces will fire starburst shells at night to illuminate hillside tracks.
Macedonia launched its assault at Gracani and further east near Tanusevci a few days after a major push against the guerrillas above Tetovo, the northwestern city regarded as the unofficial capital of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority.
The guerrillas say they want greater rights for the Albanian minority, one-third of Macedonia's population.
But the government says the rebels are ``terrorists'' who have infiltrated Macedonia from Albanian-dominated Kosovo to split the multi-ethnic republic and seize territory.
Pushing the last rebels back toward Kosovo would clear the way to addressing the political demands of the ethnic Albanians, who complain of discrimination.
Western leaders have urged the Slav majority to defuse the resentment that has stoked the Albanian rebellion and roused fears of another major Balkan war.
Officials in Skopje say talks between leading political parties on ways to ease ethnic tension may start soon.
INNOCENT CIVILIANS ARE BEING ACCUSED OF TERRORISM, PPD SAYS Posted March 29, 2001
INNOCENT CIVILIANS ARE BEING ACCUSED OF TERRORISM, PPD SAYS
Skopje, March 29 (KosovaLive)
The Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD) in Macedonia said Thursday that it possessed information that Macedonian security forces were taking revenge on Albanian civilians and arresting them in suspicious circumstances.
In a party press release, the PPD said that these arrests seemed to show up what the Macedonian security forces could not do at the front.
The security forces are accused by the PPD of trying to compensate by taking revenge on innocent civilians, who are being arrested and taken to Shutka, allegedly charged with terrorism.
The PPD warned that approaching the current problems in a repressive way was a big mistake, politically, and could lead to an escalation of the crisis and make the Albanian-Macedonian dialogue more difficult.
PPD warns, in particular, about reprisals against the villagers who have remained in Selce and some other Albanian villages, including the looting and burning of houses by the police in these villages.
The party lodged its protest over the current situation and said it would inform all international factions that are included in the opening of the dialogue, requesting the immediate release of those arrested and the end to repressive tactics. (ar)
INVESTIGATIONS TO BEGIN IF THERE IS EVIDENCE OF WAR CRIMES IN MACEDONIA, SAYS HAGUE'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR Posted March 29, 2001
INVESTIGATIONS TO BEGIN IF THERE IS EVIDENCE OF WAR CRIMES IN MACEDONIA, SAYS HAGUE'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR
Skopje, march 29 (KosovaLive)
If there is evidence of war crimes in Macedonia, the Hague Tribunal will begin investigations in order to clarify these actions, said Carla Del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia. She said that the Tribunal will soon send an investigative team to work with Macedonian leaders to uncover what is happening in the region.
After meeting with Macedonian Minister for Internal Affairs Dosta Dimovska and Justice Minister Xhevdet Nasufi, Del Ponte said the Tribunal has jurisdiction over all criminal activities that occur in the Federal Republic of Macedonia.
"It is not clear if war crimes have occurred or not," Del Ponte said. However, she expressed hope that the announcement of this jurisdiction would prevent such criminal acts. "I hope all problems will be solved in a peaceful and democratic way," Del Ponte said.
Macedonia's Minister Dimovska reported that during the meeting with Del Ponte and Minister Nasufi, there was an exchange of opinions regarding cooperation. The discussion also dealt with a few cases of war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and activities undertaken for the arrest and hand over of the accused.
The Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia is visiting Kosova on Thursday. (a.ratkoceri)
ONE BRITISH JOURNALIST and TWO ALBANIAN CIVILIANS KILLED, MANY OTHERS WOUNDED IN SHELLING OF KRIVENIK Posted March 29, 2001
TWO ALBANIAN CIVILIANS AND ONE BRITISH JOURNALIST KILLED, MANY OTHERS
WOUNDED IN SHELLING OF KRIVENIK
Prishtina/Ferizaj, March 29 (KosovaLive)
Two Albanian civilians and a British citizen lost their lives and 15 others were wounded by a projectile that fell Thursday near the school of the Krivenik village in Kacanik, on the border with Macedonia.
The Albanian civilians that were killed were Baki Krasniqi and Ilaz Thaci, whereas the British citizen was a producer of the Associated Press Television News (APTN), Kerem Lawton.
According to KFOR's spokesman Axel Jandesek, on Thursday around 8:30 a.m. KFOR soldiers spotted a group of armed persons in the region of Krivenik of Kacaniku. "When the KFOR troops moved towards the group, mortar fire came down approximately 200-300 metres from the KFOR patrol, who then withdrew. There were no casualties amongst the KFOR troops and no fire was returned," KFOR's spokesman Axel Jandesek told KosovaLive Thursday.
According to him, later on, after 10:30 a.m., mortar fire began in Krivenik, which is in Kosova territory, continuing until 12:15 p.m.
The residents of Krivenik told KosovaLive that the incident had happened Thursday around 11 a.m. where some 20 residents of Krivenik had gathered near the village school in order to give information to the journalists.
"Five projectiles have fallen in Krivenik since morning from the direction of Macedonia, whereas the sixth one hit the mass," a resident of Krivenik said.
The artillery fire in the Kosovar village of Krivenik was also confirmed through a press release of the Task Force Falcon in Camp Bondsteel. According to them, artillery fire initially opened in the area near the KFOR troops in the south of the Krivenik village, which is located about one kilometer north of the Macedonia-Kosova border.
"Our first priority is the evacuation and assistance of the wounded civilians," James Marshall, spokesman of U.S. Task Force Falcon stated, who was assured that the wounded would receive the best possible assistance. Regarding the wounded, according to reports, the American and Polish-Ukrainian KFOR personnel are handling them.
It is also reported that there were no victims among the KFOR troops. Meanwhile, KFOR continued to evacuate the wounded and seeks other persons that might be wounded. At the same time, KFOR is also conducting investigations regarding the incident. (bf/mb)
NAAC's Ilir Zherka on "a NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" Posted March 29, 2001
Full transcript: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/kosovo/kosovo_3-26.html
...
ILIR ZHERKA: I think it is. I think the military attack yesterday was not needed. The NLA announced a....
...
ILIR ZHERKA: That's right. ... announced a unilateral ceasefire last week. I think the government should have taken that opportunity to bring the political parties together to enter into a dialogue to solve this problem. Instead it went ahead with this attack. Numerous homes were destroyed. Some civilians were shot. None were killed fortunately. But this sort of action I think has potential to really, really radicalize the Albanian population. That's not what we need right now. We need for cooler heads to prevail, for people to come together and address the serious problems before the Macedonian people.
...
ILIR ZHERKA: I don't. I don't think the ambassador or anyone else really knows exactly who these people are or where they're from. I know that the National Liberation Army says that the majority, vast majority, are from Macedonia, and … part of this coalition government with the Macedonians says the same. So based on what he says and what other people say I think most of this is inbred. A lot of the former KLA soldiers were from Macedonia so --
...
ILIR ZHERKA: To get all the acronyms right.
...
ILIR ZHERKA: And have gone back home.
...
ILIR ZHERKA: I think Albanians have been frustrated over the last decade since the independence of Macedonia. They feel like they're second class citizens in their home, in their homeland. They don't have the same equal opportunities when it comes to work, the use of language, use of cultural symbols. Even though Macedonians make up a little bit over 50% of the population they have over 90% of the public sector jobs. The police force is predominantly Slavic Macedonia. Even the constitution itself says Macedonia is a state of Macedonians and then others. I think there's been an incredible amount of frustration over the last decade. Now what you've had in the last two years or so is I think the Albanian population has looked at the new coalition government… and also their Albanian partners and decided we're going to give them a chance because they talked about addressing all of these fundamental inequalities. In the last two years, they really haven't been able to do that. They've done it in small steps but not significant steps.
...
ILIR ZHERKA: I think a more immediate goal is mediation. I think the United States can play a unique role here because it's a friend both to the Macedonians and to the Albanians, especially to the Albanians. The U.S. ought to send a special envoy to the region, someone who is high profile, who has respect of both sides, who can talk this through, who can talk to all of the parties and can talk to the rebels as well and talk to the government and find a peaceful resolution of this. I think the elements are there. If you look at what the rebels are calling for, they're calling for the same thing that the Albanian politicians have called for over the past ten years: More rights. And so the elements for change are there. Secretary Powell talked about changes to the constitution. I think that's the first place that they ought to make those changes but that's our role. I think our role ought to be mediation and it ought to happen very quickly.
...
EU OFFICIAL URGES MACEDONIAN, ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADERS TO BEGIN TALKS Posted March 29, 2001
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/
EU OFFICIAL URGES MACEDONIAN, ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADERS TO BEGIN TALKS.
Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign and security policy official, said in Brussels on 29 March that Macedonian leaders must hold talks with ethnic Albanian officials to help resolve the crisis in the country, AP reported. Solana, speaking during a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said he told Macedonian leaders in Skopje that "after the consolidation of the military situation the time has now come to concentrate on the political agenda." He said ethnic Albanians "must be shown that there is a real opportunity for promoting the interests of their community through political means." He added that Macedonian leaders are worried that it will appear as though they are acceding to demands by the insurgents. Solana warned that the situation remains "dangerous" and that "the disintegration of Macedonia remains every Balkan expert's worst nightmare." Ethnic Albanians make up some 23 percent of the country's population. PB
MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES POSSIBLE Posted March 29, 2001
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/
MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES POSSIBLE
Srgan Kerim said in Vienna on 28 March that it is not "taboo" to talk about changes to Macedonia's Constitution, as some ethnic Albanian leaders have called for, Reuters reported. Kerim said if ethnic Albanian parties in parliament decide to raise this issue, it "will be discussed and dealt with accordingly." But he added that "we must avoid the false impression that the terrorists succeeded in forcing this onto the agenda now." Kerim said that "the target of our security forces was and will remain terrorists and extremists, not the local Albanian population." Kerim was in Vienna for talks with his Austrian counterpart, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. He is to address the permanent council of the OSCE on 29 March. PB
Macedonian Fire Kills Civilians in Kosovo Posted March 29, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010329/wl/balkans_leadall_dc_117.html
Thursday March 29 9:20 AM ET
Macedonian Fire Kills Civilians in Kosovo
By Beth Potter
NEAR (news - web sites) KRIVENIK, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Macedonian shellfire landed in Albanian-dominated Kosovo on Thursday, killing two civilians, injuring others and endangering NATO (news - web sites) soldiers in the area.
The incidents will embarrass Macedonia's government, which had so far been largely successful in avoiding civilian casualties in their military drive to quash a month-long insurrection by ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
A spokesman for KFOR, the NATO-led peace force in Kosovo, confirmed a figure of two dead and 10 injured, with a search going on for further wounded, after shellfire landed inside the village of Krivenik.
Shellfire had come perilously close to a KFOR patrol earlier in the morning as it went forward to identify a group of armed men in the region. The men may have been ethnic Albanian guerrillas escaping Macedonian attack. In a second shelling incident Reuters reporters heard two sets of three detonations in Krivenik, which lies behind a border ridge and is around two-thirds of a mile from the frontier.
They saw several cars race by soon afterwards carrying casualties. One man had blood on his leg, head and face, said a Reuters cameraman, who saw the car pass.
``KFOR regrets that this incident took place and that civilians have been involved and that the lives of our soldiers were endangered in an area that is clearly inside Kosovo territory,'' KFOR's commander General Carlo Cabigiosu said in a statement.
Situation Still Unclear
NATO sources said the Macedonian authorities were denying responsibility for the shelling but the situation was still confused and the alliance was urgently seeking clarification.
However, NATO sources in the region said the Macedonian Ministry of Defense had told peacekeepers that its forces had stopped shelling in the direction of Kosovo after the incident.
Krivenik is an ethnic Albanian village of steep muddy lanes and wattled fences at the southern tip of a leg of U.N.-run Kosovo that juts into northern Macedonia, where security forces launched an offensive against guerrillas on Wednesday.
The Macedonian attack, billed as a final drive to clear their territory of rebels, appeared to be facing stubborn resistance on Thursday.
Reporters near the village of Gracani, in hills north of the capital Skopje, heard sporadic mortar fire in the area where the army launched a major assault with tanks and artillery.
Contrary to army claims that it had driven the insurgents out of Gracani and into the forests, it appeared that the rebels were still dug into positions in the mountain hamlet.
Journalists who strayed close to the area came under small arms fire and a police source confirmed opposition had not yet been quelled.
``They are still fighting. We estimate we face numbers ranging from 10 to a respectable force,'' the source said.
Smoke billowed from the northern hills stretching toward the border with the U.N.-governed Serbian province of Kosovo, where the guerrillas have rear bases.
A commander from the National Liberation Army rebel force, speaking from the region by telephone, said the guerrillas still held positions inside a strip of territory along northern Macedonia.
Nato Reinforces
NATO forces in Kosovo were due to deploy 400 troops along the border on Thursday in an effort to cut rebel supply lines.
``This is to stop east-west resupply between NLA and NLA, `` said Major Fergus Smith, spokesman for British sector of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The forces will fire starburst shells at night to illuminate hillside tracks.
The army launched its assault at Gracani and further east near Tanusevci a few days after a major push against the guerrillas above Tetovo, the northwestern city regarded as the unofficial capital of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority.
The guerrillas say they want greater rights for the Albanian minority who make up one-third of Macedonia's population.
But the government says the rebels are ``terrorists'' who have infiltrated Macedonia from Albanian-dominated Kosovo to fracture their multi-ethnic society.
Pushing the last rebels back toward Kosovo would clear the way to addressing the political demands of the ethnic Albanians, who complain of discrimination.
Western leaders have urged the Slav majority to defuse the resentment that has stoked the Albanian rebellion and roused fears of another major Balkan war.
Officials in the capital say talks between the leading political parties on ways to ease ethnic tension may start soon.
DIALOGUE IS ALREADY BEING SABOTAGED Posted March 29, 2001
DIALOGUE IS ALREADY BEING SABOTAGED
By Emin Azemi
FAKTI 29/03/2001
The ethnic Macedonian public opinion is not yet prepared, neither spiritually nor politically, to accept the fact that the violence must and can be replaced only by a dialogue. The denouncing semantics that has been imposed over the dialogue as "defeat in peace', does not correspond with the newly established reality of a fragile and temporary peace after the armed confrontations and after the appeal and suggestions by the international community on the absolute need for establishing an institutional dialogue and social and economic reforms. None of the legitimate ethnic Albanian leaders had refused or denied these appeals. On the contrary, Albanian leaders demonstrated own readiness to harmonize the Albanian national interests with the interests that originate from the international standards.
However, the sabotaging of the dialogue is heavily assisted by the massive arrests of intellectuals, interpreters in international organizations, school principles, teachers, all of them ethnic Albanians. An artificial alibi has been forged in order to present Macedonia as threatened from within, which aims to prove that "it is impossible to open the dialogue in this moment, as long as the courts say their final verdict on who was and who was not involved in terrorist activities." A scenario that reminds us of the campaign that had been launched by the previous, Crvenkovski government that organized a broad campaign following the Kicevo trial, few months before the 1998 parliamentary elections. The trial was completed by sentencing 12 young Albanians to prison.
The (mis)use of ethnic Albanians as permanent destabilizators of Macedonia, as an alibi for strengthening the international positions as well as for building the Macedonian points of view, aims to criminalize and penalize the Albanian positions in case of eventual negotiations.
"We shall not allow the changes of Constitution," is a headline that appeared on the pages of many ethnic Macedonian newspapers. Such standing enjoys support of the Macedonian opposition, especially in Crvenkovski's SDSM, who didn't hesitate to publicly demonstrate his fear that "Macedonia could lose own internal organizational structure."
It is rather possible that DPMNE Georgievski would also attempt to compensate own lost ratings among ethnic Macedonians. Now he would most likely get down from his helicopters and tanks and dive into the wide spectrum of defaming the political ideas of the Albanians.
One thing is for sure: this is going to be a difficult dialogue, as it is sabotaged even before it begun.
THERE ARE NO ALBANIAN POLICEWOMAN'S IN POROJ Posted March 29, 2001
Albanian policewoman denies 'Dnevnik' lies
THERE ARE NO ALBANIAN POLICEWOMAN'S IN POROJ
FAKTI 29/03/2001
An ethnic Albanian policewoman from Tetova village Pirok, says that there is not one ethnic Albanian policewoman in the Ministry of Interior that is by origin from Poroj All ethnic Albanian policewoman that are from the Tetova region are actually working only in offices and administration.
"I can confirm that it is a shear lie and a speculation that NLA had raped two policewoman," says the policewoman from Pirok, denying the speculations published by daily 'Dnevnik', which launched a lie that NLA soldiers had raped two Albanian policewomen from v. Poroj in Tetova.
INNOCENT CITIZENS ARE BEING ACCUSED FOR TERRORISM (FAKTI) Posted March 29, 2001
PDP slams security forces
INNOCENT CITIZENS ARE BEING ACCUSED FOR TERRORISM
FAKTI 29/03/2001
Available informations in relation to arrests carried out during the last few days in doubtful circumstances clearly indicate that the security forces are now trying to compensate what they were not capable to achieve in the war zone, by retaliating against innocent citizens who are being deported to Skopje Shutka prison, accused for alleged terrorism.
PDP considers that the oppressive manner of solving the problems is a big political mistake and could only aggravate the situation. PDP warns especially about the mistreatments of villagers in Selce and other villages, as well as about the looting and torching that had been carried out by police in these villages.
WE WILL FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS SITUATION, SAYS THACI (FAKTI) Posted March 29, 2001
WE WILL FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS SITUATION, SAYS THACI
FAKTI 29/03/2001
DPA vice-President Menduh Thaci, joined by Dep/Minister of Interior Refet Elmazi visited the Municipality of Likova and met with local officials. “Our joint conclusion was that the situation is difficult and tensed. However, we have high hopes that the situation will improve, as we are getting closer to an open institutionalized dialogue on the rights of Albanians. I am an optimist that things will turn to better,” Thaci stated.
Commenting on the strong security forces deployed in the region, Thaci reminded that he had been saying always “it is bad on both sides. And DPA has to stand between the two bad aspects. I appeal to all that DPA path is the best one for the Albanians, at least for the time being.”
Asked to comment on the fact that army and police keep their gun barrels turned against the civilians, Thaci stated that he does not think so. “There is no normal person or government that would turn their guns against the civilian population. They 9security) are just as well in a difficult situation and overwhelmed by an overall fear.”
In relation to his ex-MP Shaqiri decision to join NLA, Thaci stated “Shaqiri, as many other Albanians, is frustrated by the ignorance of implementing the rights of Albanians in a peaceful manner. He made a decision that we consider as wrong. It is still possible for him to revert his decision and return to DPA.”
CHANGES AND DIALOGUE NEEDED IN MACEDONIA, SAYS HAEKKERUP (FAKTII) Posted March 29, 2001
CHANGES AND DIALOGUE NEEDED IN MACEDONIA, SAYS HAEKKERUP
FAKTI 29/03/2001
Kosova Transitory Council called on Macedonia Government to begin dialogue with Albanians in Macedonia. "The issue in Macedonia should be politically resolved. Dialogue among leaders of Albanian politics and Macedonian Government should start as soon as possible", U.N administrator in Kosova, Hans Haekkerup, stated after the KTK meeting.
He regarded as unacceptable the closure of borders of Macedonia with Kosova.
"The only thing we can say to the Macedonian officials is that this act causes serious consequences not only for Kosova but also for Macedonia", stressed Haekkerup.