Albanians slaughtered in Macedonia; Fleeing Albanians shot in the back by police; Macedonian Troops Accused of Rampage Posted August 15, 2001
1. Albanians slaughtered in Macedonia
"MACEDONIAN security forces shot dead five unarmed ethnic Albanian
villagers in cold blood on the eve of Monday's ceasefire signing,
witnesses said yesterday."
"The victims on the hillside had each been shot from behind as they
fled. Bajram Jashari, a 30-year-old farmer was lying on his back,
not far from two dead cows."
2. Fleeing Albanians shot in the back by police
"They had black clothes and masks that covered their faces. I couldn't
recognise them. They had Macedonian police insignia on their arms.
They were shouting 'Come out, come out from the house', and were
swearing at us."
"He said the police then began to set alight to his house. "I ran and
hid in a ditch, and I shouted to my sons to run away."
3. Macedonian Troops Accused of Rampage
"The few ethnic Albanians who remained in Ljuboten on Tuesday said
police entered the village Sunday and killed at least nine civilians,
burned and looted 25 houses and killed as many as five dozen sheep and
cattle. The victims' bodies, scattered on the streets, remained unburied
until Tuesday."
### (1) ###
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/15/wmac15.xml
Albanians slaughtered in Macedonia
(Filed: 15/08/2001)
MACEDONIAN security forces shot dead five unarmed ethnic Albanian villagers
in cold blood on the eve of Monday's ceasefire signing, witnesses said
yesterday.
In the worst atrocity in the six-month conflict, dozens of soldiers and
police stormed into Ljuboten on Sunday opening fire on villagers and
burning at least a dozen houses, locals said.
Two men were said to have been dragged from a cellar in which they were
hiding and killed in the street. Three more were said by villagers to have
been shot as they tried to escape across fields.
The bloodied bodies of the Albanians lay yesterday as they had fallen. One
was on his back at the end of the small tobacco grove, two more were higher
up the hill.
On the narrow road leading back into the hillside village were the corpses
of the two who witnesses said had been singled out by Macedonian troops and
executed.
Witnesses said that at least another five were killed, that many more were
beaten and that 12 were missing, last seen being led away by Macedonian
police officers.
In the bloody annals of the Yugoslav wars the scale of the killings merits
barely a footnote, but with a peace deal only a day old and cease-fire
violations beginning to multiply they threaten to plunge Macedonia back
towards civil war.
They also underline the risks for British troops who are expected to deploy
in Macedonia on Saturday as the first elements of a 3,500-strong Nato
force.
Nato's North Atlantic Council meets this morning to discuss the mission to
disarm the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Force rebels. Their task was
given hope last night after Nato officials said that the rebels had signed
a letter of intent promising to hand over their weapons.
The Macedonian government yesterday denied that the dead were civilians,
insisting that they were guerrillas. The Interior Ministry said "five
terrorists" had died in Ljuboten on Saturday and Sunday.
But the scene in Ljuboten, four miles north of Skopje, yesterday was grimly
reminiscent of crimes committed in Kosovo and before that Bosnia.
The victims on the hillside had each been shot from behind as they fled.
Bajram Jashari, a 30-year-old farmer was lying on his back, not far from
two dead cows.
He was dressed in brown trousers, a studded black leather belt, white socks
and black slip-on shoes. His body was punctured by bullet holes.
Nearby his 65-year-old father Qani rocked gently, tears streaming down his
creased face. He said: "They set fire to the house we were hiding in and we
all jumped out of a low window. I hid in a ditch and told my sons to run
for their lives. That's when they were shot."
A little higher up the hill was the body of Bajram's 28-year-old brother,
Kadri. Wearing a tight black suit embossed with the label Phoenix and a
bloodied grey T-shirt and black shoes, Kadri had two bullet wounds in his
back.
About 50 yards from the bodies of Kadri and Bajram lay Xhelal Bajrami, a
29-year-old cousin. Xhelal had been shot in the back three times. His arm
lay at an unnatural angle underneath him.
According to evidence collected from interviews and a continuing
investigation by Western monitors the Ljuboten operation began early on
Sunday morning.
Macedonians were furious after eight of their soldiers were killed nearby
last week by anti-tank mines. Several dozen special police units, backed up
by soldiers and reservists, entered the village and moved from house to
house.
Witnesses say they began burning, looting and killing. Some of the houses
were still smoking yesterday. As people hid in cellars, police and soldiers
sprayed automatic fire through the narrow streets.
Witnesses said that at least two men were called out of the cellars by name
and summarily shot. The body of one, Sulejman Bajrami, was still
spreadeagled in the road yesterday.
His head had been crushed, after, locals said, an armoured personnel
carrier was driven over his corpse. His shoes lay neatly by his feet,
placed there by his grieving mother.
Locals said that Muharem Ramadani, 68, whose head was covered by a piece of
plastic sheeting, was shot when he tried to prevent soldiers taking away
one of his sons.
Misim Jashari, 76, survived. He said: "They had balaclavas on and
Macedonian police insignia. "One rolled up his mask and his hair was blonde
underneath."
When the police finally left Albanians claimed that they heard them singing
"Long Live Macedonia" and "We killed the Albanians".
### (2) ###
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,537034,00.html
Fleeing Albanians shot in the back by police
Guardian gains access to site of alleged atrocity by Macedonian police
force
Nicholas Wood in Ljuboten
Wednesday August 15, 2001
The Guardian
The discovery of the bodies of five men shot in the head and chest in a
village five miles north of Skopje yesterday prompted the accusation of
war crimes by the Macedonian police and further undermined the chance of
resolving the country's conflict.
The bodies were found in Ljuboten, a mainly Albanian village, two
days after teams of police swept though the village in what was
described as an anti-terrorist operation.
Local people say the men were shot in the back as they tried to flee
the police, and deny that they were members of the ethnic Albanian
guerrilla group the National Liberation Army, a claim backed up by a
western observer who was nearby at the time.
The observer said the police operation and the killing that followed
may have been prompted by a clash between the NLA and the security
forces close by.
It is the first time such a serious allegation has been made since
the insurgency began in February.
The men were all killed on Sunday afternoon after the security
forces shelled Ljuboten and the surrounding area.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and
the International Committee of the Red Cross had tried to enter the
village but had been denied access by the Macedonian police. The
Guardian was among the first to go into the village since Sunday.
Relatives of the dead say the police began to move into the village
and set buildings alight once the shelling had stopped. They also forced
people out of their homes.
Qani Jashari said he was hiding in his house with his two sons,
Bajram, 30, and Kadri, 27, when the police arrived at about 3pm.
"They had black clothes and masks that covered their faces. I
couldn't recognise them. They had Macedonian police insignia on their
arms. They were shouting 'Come out, come out from the house', and were
swearing at us."
He said the police then began to set alight to his house. "I ran and
hid in a ditch, and I shouted to my sons to run away."
Both of his sons were shot dead. Bajram's body lay on a slope in a
tobacco field. A British police officer working with the OSCE examined
his and all of the bodies lying where they had been shot.
Bajram had been shot several times in the legs, and in the lower
back. The exit wound by his neck suggested that the bullet had struck
him as he lay on the ground facing away from his assailant.
"This one here they killed and the other one is further up," Mr
Jashari said, looking at Bajram's body. A hundred metres up the hill in
a straw field lay his other son, also shot in the back. He had returned
from Austria 10 days earlier to bring money to the family.
Halfway between the two brothers lay the body of Xhelal Bajrami, a
25-year-old farmer. He had two small bullet holes in his back, another
in his backside, and three more in his legs.
In the village another two bodies lay beside the road, one of them
Xhelal's brother Syliman.
Villagers say the men were among a group of 12 ordered out of a
basement; 10 were arrested by the police and taken away. Syliman was
shot in the head. A piece of plastic sheeting covered the gaping hole in
his skull.
Next to him was a long bloody tyre mark where an armoured personnel
carrier had run over his body.
Fifty metres away Muharem Ramadani, 68, lay on his back with his
mouth open. Two small holes in his back and wounds in his chest suggest
that he, too, had been shot in the back and left to lie on a concrete
slope. Next to his hand lay two cigarette lighters, a cigarette holder
and a comb.
A statement by the ministry of the interior, the department
responsible for the police operation, described the dead men as
"terrorists".
Antonio Milososki, a government spokesman, dismissed the allegation
that the men had been killed in cold blood.
"This is one more trap for Macedonia's democratic elected government
to be accused about the repression of the poor Albanians who are
fighting for their human rights," he said.
There is no other way to find justification for the rebel movement."
He added that Ljuboten had been too dangerous for the police to
enter and launch their own investigation.
Shortly after the Guardian's visit, the police closed access to the
village.
oThe rebels have agreed to hand their weapons over to the Nato
soldiers who will be sent into Macedonia when promises of an amnesty and
political reforms have been secured, a diplomatic source said yesterday.
The political leader of the NLA, Ali Ahmeti, agreed the deal with
brokers: a breakthrough towards implementing the political peace plan
was agreed on Monday.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
### (3) ###
http://www.latimes.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=la%2D000066137aug15
Macedonian Troops Accused of Rampage
From Associated Press
August 15 2001
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Ethnic Albanians on Tuesday accused government
troops of rampaging through their village near Macedonia's capital,
killing civilians and burning houses. The government said five ethnic
Albanians were killed but that none was a civilian.
International officials who visited the village of Ljuboten
confirmed that bodies had been found but would not say how many.
The accusation against the government came the same day that ethnic
Albanian guerrillas agreed to hand their weapons to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, in a huge boost for a landmark political accord to
end discrimination against the minority Albanians, diplomatic and rebel
sources said. Rebel reluctance to disarm before the sweeping range of
reforms took effect was overcome when the government promised the
guerrillas amnesty and a definite timetable for minority rights, the
sources said.
Government forces pounded Ljuboten with mortars and tanks Sunday in
an offensive that officials said was in response to a land mine that
killed eight soldiers two days before.
The few ethnic Albanians who remained in Ljuboten on Tuesday said
police entered the village Sunday and killed at least nine civilians,
burned and looted 25 houses and killed as many as five dozen sheep and
cattle. The victims' bodies, scattered on the streets, remained unburied
until Tuesday.
"There are seven killed civilians who have been summarily executed,"
Iljaz Bajrami, a Ljuboten resident, said by telephone.
"Apart from the seven, we earlier buried two others in the
courtyards of private houses," he said.
Harald Schenker, a spokesman for a delegation of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe that visited Ljuboten on Tuesday,
said that "some bodies have been found." He declined to elaborate.
Amanda Williamson, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of
the Red Cross, said police refused to let them into Ljuboten.
A police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that
a massacre occurred and that police were blocking access to
international organizations.
Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski said five ethnic Albanians who
were killed in the fighting belonged to a "terrorist group."
Albanians slaughtered in Macedonia Posted August 15, 2001
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/15/wmac15.xml
Albanians slaughtered in Macedonia
(Filed: 15/08/2001)
MACEDONIAN security forces shot dead five unarmed ethnic Albanian villagers in cold blood on the eve of Monday's ceasefire signing, witnesses said yesterday.
In the worst atrocity in the six-month conflict, dozens of soldiers and police stormed into Ljuboten on Sunday opening fire on villagers and burning at least a dozen houses, locals said.
Two men were said to have been dragged from a cellar in which they were hiding and killed in the street. Three more were said by villagers to have been shot as they tried to escape across fields.
The bloodied bodies of the Albanians lay yesterday as they had fallen. One was on his back at the end of the small tobacco grove, two more were higher up the hill.
On the narrow road leading back into the hillside village were the corpses of the two who witnesses said had been singled out by Macedonian troops and executed.
Witnesses said that at least another five were killed, that many more were beaten and that 12 were missing, last seen being led away by Macedonian police officers.
In the bloody annals of the Yugoslav wars the scale of the killings merits barely a footnote, but with a peace deal only a day old and cease-fire violations beginning to multiply they threaten to plunge Macedonia back towards civil war.
They also underline the risks for British troops who are expected to deploy in Macedonia on Saturday as the first elements of a 3,500-strong Nato force.
Nato's North Atlantic Council meets this morning to discuss the mission to disarm the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Force rebels. Their task was given hope last night after Nato officials said that the rebels had signed a letter of intent promising to hand over their weapons.
The Macedonian government yesterday denied that the dead were civilians, insisting that they were guerrillas. The Interior Ministry said "five terrorists" had died in Ljuboten on Saturday and Sunday.
But the scene in Ljuboten, four miles north of Skopje, yesterday was grimly reminiscent of crimes committed in Kosovo and before that Bosnia.
The victims on the hillside had each been shot from behind as they fled. Bajram Jashari, a 30-year-old farmer was lying on his back, not far from two dead cows.
He was dressed in brown trousers, a studded black leather belt, white socks and black slip-on shoes. His body was punctured by bullet holes.
Nearby his 65-year-old father Qani rocked gently, tears streaming down his creased face. He said: "They set fire to the house we were hiding in and we all jumped out of a low window. I hid in a ditch and told my sons to run for their lives. That's when they were shot."
A little higher up the hill was the body of Bajram's 28-year-old brother, Kadri. Wearing a tight black suit embossed with the label Phoenix and a bloodied grey T-shirt and black shoes, Kadri had two bullet wounds in his back.
About 50 yards from the bodies of Kadri and Bajram lay Xhelal Bajrami, a 29-year-old cousin. Xhelal had been shot in the back three times. His arm lay at an unnatural angle underneath him.
According to evidence collected from interviews and a continuing investigation by Western monitors the Ljuboten operation began early on Sunday morning.
Macedonians were furious after eight of their soldiers were killed nearby last week by anti-tank mines. Several dozen special police units, backed up by soldiers and reservists, entered the village and moved from house to house.
Witnesses say they began burning, looting and killing. Some of the houses were still smoking yesterday. As people hid in cellars, police and soldiers sprayed automatic fire through the narrow streets.
Witnesses said that at least two men were called out of the cellars by name and summarily shot. The body of one, Sulejman Bajrami, was still spreadeagled in the road yesterday.
His head had been crushed, after, locals said, an armoured personnel carrier was driven over his corpse. His shoes lay neatly by his feet, placed there by his grieving mother.
Locals said that Muharem Ramadani, 68, whose head was covered by a piece of plastic sheeting, was shot when he tried to prevent soldiers taking away one of his sons.
Misim Jashari, 76, survived. He said: "They had balaclavas on and Macedonian police insignia. "One rolled up his mask and his hair was blonde underneath."
When the police finally left Albanians claimed that they heard them singing "Long Live Macedonia" and "We killed the Albanians".
Macedonia Deployment Moves Forward Posted August 15, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010815/wl/macedonia.html
Wednesday August 15 11:06 AM ET
Macedonia Deployment Moves Forward
By JEFFREY ULBRICH, Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO (news - web sites) leaders presented a proposal to their national governments for the partial deployment of a 3,500-member military mission to Macedonia, moving forward Wednesday with a plan the alliance hopes will pave the way for peace in the Balkan nation.
The alliance's ruling council set a 6 p.m. (noon EDT) deadline for any of NATO's 19-member governments to object to the plan. If they do not, the council will authorize deployment of the mission's headquarters, communications and other essential support elements - about 400 personnel.
Macedonia's government, meanwhile, on Wednesday formally approved the deployment of NATO troops, and President Boris Trajkovski asked parliament to amend the constitution to give the ethnic Albanian minority more rights in line with a peace accord signed Monday.
``The Macedonian government today made the decision to give permission to NATO to deploy,'' Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said.
Macedonian lawmakers will ratify the amendments three days after NATO informs the government that the rebels have been disarmed, state television reported.
The 3,500-strong British-led force would collect and destroy arms and ammunition held by the rebels. The 30-day mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest, would include troops from the United States and 11 European nations.
The exact number of American troops has not been determined, officials at the Pentagon (news - web sites) said. But they will be mostly support units and will be drawn largely from forces already in the area, in Kosovo and Bosnia.
NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said a decision to deploy partially does not imply a similar later decision on deployment of the entire task force. That decision will only be made after NATO determines that there is a durable cease-fire.
``We are in a very active dynamic,'' Brodeur said. ``Things are moving quickly. It's been very positive since the signature of the agreement. Lots of things have happened and we are encouraged by what has happened so far.''
If the council approves the partial deployment, another meeting will be held later this week or possibly on Monday to discuss full deployment.
Once the mission is approved and a permanent-cease fire is established, the deployment will last about 10 days, said Maj. Gen. Gunnar Lange of Denmark, a senior NATO representative in Skopje. ``We will have preliminary training and we will establish (weapon) collection points. Within 30 days, we expect to complete the mission.''
NATO set four conditions for sending to troops: a political agreement between the parties, a NATO-Macedonia agreement setting out the legal basis for the deployment, an agreement with the rebels for turning in weapons, and a cease-fire.
The first three have been fulfilled. Despite the signing of the peace agreement on Monday, however, sporadic violence has continued.
The Macedonian Defense Ministry said Wednesday there was fighting overnight between the insurgents and government forces in the second-largest city of Tetovo and surrounding villages.
The ministry said ethnic Albanian rebels attacked Macedonian security forces deployed near the city's soccer stadium, and around Sara Mountain and other villages near Tetovo and in the Kumanovo area, north of Skopje. Government forces returned fire. There was no word on casualties.
NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson had been pressing the ambassadors to move quickly to keep up the momentum of the political agreement.
Once NATO gives the activation order, the first elements can be on their way almost immediately.
The British, who will lead the Macedonia mission, say the headquarters group could start deploying over the weekend.
The initial deployment is expected to be drawn from Britain's 16 Air Assault Brigade.
The complete deployment of troops from Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United States, would take about two weeks, though the first weapons collection could begin earlier.
NATO officials insist that this is a very narrowly defined mission and will involve collecting weapons being turned in voluntarily. It is not a mission to disarm the Albanians.
Monday's peace deal, which came after six months of bloody conflict, gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police, parliament and education.
On Tuesday, NATO reached deals with the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanians on the deployment of alliance soldiers and the disarming of rebels in this impoverished country.
The rebels officially declared they intend to hand in about 2,000 weapons, a figure NATO is trying to persuade the Macedonian government to accept.
NATO and ethnic Albanian officials said the insurgents pledged to hand in their weapons to the British-led force.
Macedonia formally agrees to NATO disarmament force Posted August 15, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010815/1/1bwss.html
Wednesday August 15, 10:00 PM
Macedonia formally agrees to NATO disarmament force
SKOPJE, Aug 15 (AFP) -
Macedonia signed an agreement Wednesday with NATO outlining the status of a British-led force to be deployed to the republic to disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas, Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva told a news conference.
"Today President Boris Trajkovski exchanged letters with NATO Secretary General George Robertson after the government reached a decision on NATO's operation in Macedonia," the minister said.
Albanians Accuse Macedonia Troops Posted August 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010814/wl/macedonia_438.html
Tuesday August 14 2:14 PM ET
Albanians Accuse Macedonia Troops
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Ethnic Albanians accused government troops Tuesday of rampaging through their village on the outskirts of Macedonia's capital, killing civilians and burning houses.
International officials who visited the village confirmed bodies had been found, but would not say how many.
The massacre allegations dashed hopes of a quick reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians and overshadowed NATO (news - web sites)'s preparations to launch a mission to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.
Government forces pounded Ljuboten with mortars and tanks Sunday in an offensive that officials said was in response to a land mine that killed eight soldiers two days before.
The few ethnic Albanians who remained in Ljuboten Tuesday told The Associated Press that police entered the village Sunday and killed at least nine civilians, burned and looted 25 houses and killed up to five dozen sheep and cattle. The victims' bodies, scattered on the streets, remained unburied until Tuesday.
``There are seven killed civilians who have been summarily executed,'' said Iljaz Bajrami, a Ljuboten resident who spoke by telephone. ``Their brains have been blown out after their legs and arms were broken.''
``Apart from the seven, we earlier buried two others in the courtyards of private houses,'' he said.
Harald Schenker, a spokesman for an Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe delegation that visited Ljuboten on Tuesday, said ``some bodies have been found.'' He declined to elaborate.
Amanda Williamson, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said Macedonian villagers prevented members of her organization from entering Ljuboten on Sunday, and she said police refused to let them in on Tuesday.
A police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied a massacre had taken place. During clashes, he said, ``two terrorists dressed in women's clothes fired on our forces and were liquidated.'' He denied that police were blocking access to international organizations.
Earlier, police said they arrested 70 ethnic Albanians from Ljuboten in connection with the clashes and a land mine explosion in the village that killed eight government soldiers Friday.
Bajrami said the 70 men were released Monday, but the whereabouts of about 23 arrested civilians remained unknown. He said he was among a few people who stayed in the village ``to bury our dead,'' and that some 3,000 others fled to Skopje after the government offensive.
Soon after the peace deal was signed Monday by Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders, fresh clashes occurred near the border with Kosovo and near Tetovo, Macedonia's second-largest city, injuring at least one civilian.
Despite overnight shooting, the overall fighting - which has killed at least 20 government soldiers over the past 10 days - appeared to have died down by Tuesday afternoon.
The peace deal gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police, parliament and education.
The 15 military experts from NATO who arrived Tuesday will ``inspect whether the conditions are right'' for the mission to start, said Barry Johnson, NATO's spokesman in Skopje.
``We said it very clearly that there has to be a durable cease-fire and full commitment by the rebels that they will turn in their weapons'' before NATO starts deploying, Johnson said.
In Brussels, NATO officials said both sides in the conflict had met two key conditions for carrying out the mission, but the last - a durable cease-fire - is still outstanding.
They said a status of forces agreement was reached Tuesday between NATO and the Macedonian government - giving a legal status for NATO troops in the country. Later, the rebels officially declared how many weapons they intend to turn in. They were working with the Macedonian government to get them to accept that figure, estimated at 2,000 weapons.
The British-led mission would involve 3,500 troops from the United States and 11 European countries and would last for a month.
The rebels, who say they are fighting for greater rights for ethnic Albanians, were not involved in the negotiations that led to the peace deal and did not sign the peace accord.
Bush Applauds Macedonian President Posted August 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010814/wl/bush_macedonia_1.html
Tuesday August 14 6:31 PM ET
Bush Applauds Macedonian President
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) congratulated Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski on Tuesday for a landmark peace pact meant to quell violence in the region, saying the deal could ``put Macedonia back on the road to Europe.''
But with more deaths reported in the fighting, Bush went out of his way to condemn ``those armed extremists who have tried to take democracy hostage in Macedonia.''
``President Trajkovski and I agree that their tactics are despicable and their methods undemocratic,'' Bush said in a prepared statement issued during his trip here. The statement came after Bush telephoned Trajkovski. ``The time has come for these armed groups to turn over their weapons to NATO (news - web sites) and disband.''
Hoping to end six months of bloody conflict, Macedonia's feuding factions signed a landmark peace deal Monday that clears the way for U.S. and other NATO troops to launch the daunting mission of disarming ethnic Albanian rebels.
The success of the accord, however, depends on a durable cease-fire, and the rebels were not a party to the talks that produced the deal. Soon after the signing, clashes erupted between rebels and troops on the border with Kosovo and near the second-largest city of Tetovo, police said.
Ethnic Albanians accused government troops Tuesday of rampaging through their village near Macedonia's capital, killing civilians and burning houses.
Nevertheless, Bush said, ``The settlement promises to strengthen democracy and avert civil war, while protecting Macedonia's territorial integrity and political unity.''
``A political settlement has been signed, and we now need to ensure the peace and put Macedonia back on the road to Europe,'' Bush said. ``The United States offers its strong support to President Trajkovski and to the democratic government of Macedonia as they move forward to achieve this goal.''
Ethnic Albanian rebels sign deal with NATO to disarm Posted August 14, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010814/1/1brgm.html
Wednesday August 15, 3:43 AM
Ethnic Albanian rebels sign deal with NATO to disarm
SKOPJE, Aug 14 (AFP) -
Ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting in Macedonia on Tuesday signed an agreement with NATO to give up their weapons, a spokesman for NATO negotiator Pieter Feith told AFP.
"The NLA has signed a committment to disarm," spokesman Paul Barnard said, referring to the rebel National Liberation Army (NLA).
Barnard said the Macedonian government had also offered a partial amnesty to the rebels, the details of which would be released later.
"The two moves together represent a significant step forward for the peace process," Barnard said.
A source close to the office of President Boris Trajkovski confirmed that he had given a verbal commitment on the amnesty, and gave a cautious welcome to the rebel decision.
"It's obvious that it's a very important element for the whole process," he said.
"But bearing in mind that NATO will only be collecting the weapons on a voluntary basis and the numerous violations of the ceasefire, we have justified fears and doubts about the success of this process," he said.
The disarmament deal will pave the way for the deployment of a 3,500-strong NATO peacekeeping force to enter Macedonia and set up collection points on rebel-held territory to receive surrendered weapons.
The deal comes after Macedonian party leaders on Monday signed up to a peace plan designed to boost the rights of the country's ethnic Albanian minority.
NATO military advisers arrived in Skopje on Tuesday to prepare for the deployment of the British-led disarmament mission, which alliance officials said could get underway "within days".
The alliance's ruling North Atlantic Council will meet on Wednesday and is expected to give the green light to the deployment.
Government troops and rebels exchanged sporadic fire early Tuesday but the situation on the ground was calmer than on previous days.
The NLA)launched an armed rebellion in February in what they said is a fight for greater rights for the Balkan republic's ethnic Albanians.
Its forces now control a swathe of territory along Macedonia's northern and western borders with the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo and with Albania.
Fighting between the NLA and government forces had threatened to plunge Macedonia into civil war.
Who are the Albanian National Army? Posted August 14, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010814/1/1brib.html
Wednesday August 15, 4:02 AM
Who are the Albanian National Army?
SKOPJE, Aug 14 (AFP) -
The Albanian National Army is a shadowy organisation which says it is fighting for a Greater Albania in the strife-torn southern Balkans and which opposes the peace deals in Macedonia and southern Serbia.
But after the group issued a statement Tuesday vowing to destroy Macedonia and overturn a Western-brokered peace plan, international observers dismissed them as a tiny group of radical nationalists with little military clout.
"They're a bunch of nutcases. There's little evidence they're capable of serious trouble," a senior Western diplomat with long experience in the Balkans told AFP.
"It seems they're a group of nationalist intellectuals spread out around the Balkans. Everyone I've talked to about this has said not to be distracted by the ANA, they're not a threat to the peace process."
The ANA first came to light at the beginning of August, when it claimed responsibility for the August 3 killing of two Serbian police officers in southern Serbia, near the internal border with Kosovo.
Last week, it claimed another two attacks, this time against security forces in Macedonia, in which a total of 17 people were killed.
But Tim Ripley, a defence expert and writer for Jane's Defence Publications, said that the group was thought to have been behind occasional attacks on Macedonian police and border guards in recent years.
"They went quiet in January when the National Liberation Army (NLA) arrived on the scene," Ripley told AFP.
The NLA, whose political leader has been damned as a traitor by the ANA, launched a rebellion against Macedonian forces in January demanding greater rights for the republic's ethnic Albanian minority.
But the group, which now controls a swathe of territory along Macedonia's northern and western borders with Kosovo and Albania, says it does not to want to split Macedonia and on Tuesday signed a agreement to disarm its forces.
Reacting against this the ANA declared that its struggle would go on, raising fears that the hardliners could prolong the conflict and endanger NATO troops due to arrive in Macedonia to oversee the disarmament of the NLA.
But Western observers do not yet see the ANA as a serious threat, despite signs that it may be trying to recruit NLA units to its cause.
"Throughout this conflict the NLA has always shown itself to be very well organised and controlled," Ripley said. "We have seen no evidence that the ANA has significant forces."
And the Western diplomat dismissed the idea that the ANA had been behind the recent successful attacks on security forces.
"They don't seem to have a military presence. Anyone can pay someone to carry out a few attacks around here," he said.
The figures behind the ANA, which is thought to have members in Skopje as well as Tirana and in Kosovo, are thought to be former members of the Albanian nationalist movement which spawned the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The KLA is now theoretically disbanded, but its members have been blamed for inspiring the guerrilla rebellion in southern Serbia, which was snuffed out earlier this year, and the uprising in Macedonia.
NATO meets on Macedonia as rebels offer to disarm Posted August 14, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010815/3/1bsl6.html
Wednesday August 15, 8:29 AM
NATO meets on Macedonia as rebels offer to disarm
By Alister Doyle
SKOPJE (Reuters) - NATO ambassadors meet in Brussels on Wednesday to decide whether to go ahead and deploy 3,500 troops in Macedonia after a leap towards peace with a pledge by ethnic Albanian rebels to disarm.
With bewildering speed, Macedonia has stepped back from the brink of a new Balkan war in the past two days. A ragged ceasefire is in place after six months of conflict.
Envoys from the alliance's 19 member states will be briefed in Brussels at a closed-door meeting starting at 10:15 a.m. (0815 GMT), boosted by news that the rebels have signed a document committing them to hand over weapons to NATO troops.
An official in Brussels said the ambassadors were unlikely immediately to give the green light for deployment of the troops since they would probably have to consult their governments first. But a decision could be made by the end of the week.
Under the plan, NATO will deploy 3,500 troops to Macedonia to set up weapons collection points around the former Yugoslav republic where guerrillas will voluntarily dump guns, bullets and mortars. NATO will destroy the stockpiles.
The scheme got a giant boost on Tuesday when the political leader of the National Liberation Army (NLA), Ali Ahmeti, signed a deal with NATO brokers committing the rebels to hand over their weapons to the alliance.
Arben Xhaferi, the pre-eminent Albanian party leader in Macedonia and his community's top negotiator, welcomed the pact.
"Things are quickly falling into place for NATO," a Western diplomat said. The deal follows the bloodiest week in the conflict so far, with at least 30 people killed.
NO DURABLE CEASEFIRE
But NATO says that there is not yet a durable or sustainable ceasefire in Macedonia -- one of the main conditions still to be met before deployment. A team of 15 NATO experts arrived in Macedonia on Tuesday to help assess the truce.
Automatic rifle fire could be heard around the flashpoint town of Tetovo on Tuesday night. And both government and rebels have accused each other of repeated violations of a truce declared on Sunday night.
In a first big step towards peace, leaders of the main Macedonian and Albanian parties signed an agreement on Monday to give ethnic Albanians more rights ranging from wider use of Albanian to better funding for education.
The rebels say they have been fighting for the rights for ethnic Albanians, who make up a third of the population. The government accuses them of wanting to split up the nation.
Rebel disarmament is meant to go in tandem with the package of political reforms, due to be voted by parliament within 45 days. NATO deployment is likely to take about two weeks before all 3,500 soldiers are in place to start a 30-day mission.
President Boris Trajkovski is expected to send a letter to parliament on Wednesday outlining needed constitutional changes, a first formal step towards implementing the package of reforms.
In Colorado, U.S. President George W. Bush congratulated Trajkovski on Monday's political deal and said: "We're making good progress on Macedonia, it looks like; that part of the world is beginning to calm down a little bit."
But some Macedonian hardliners would still prefer an all-out onslaught on the rebels, reckoning reforms are concessions at gunpoint. And they say that continued ceasefire violations raise doubts about Ahmeti's grip on the NLA.
On their side, many guerrillas have argued that they should not give up arms and territory until the peace deal is more than a piece of paper.
The lightly armed NATO troops will have no way to force rebels to disarm. Many Macedonians fear the guerrillas will simply bury most weapons and dig them up once NATO leaves.
Trajkovski helped pave the way to the rebel disarmament pledge by promising NATO mediators that he would grant an amnesty, except for crimes that could be prosecuted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
But an amnesty has to be voted through the Macedonian- dominated parliament wary of concessions. Macedonian prosecutors on July 30 said they were asking for arrest warrants against 11 NLA members, including Ahmeti.
Albanian Divisions Threaten Accord: Peace hopes are threatened by the launch of a splinter Albanian rebel group and continuing divisions within Albanian political parties Posted August 14, 2001
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010814_2_eng.txt
Albanian Divisions Threaten Accord
Peace hopes are threatened by the launch of a splinter Albanian rebel group and continuing divisions within Albanian political parties
By Veton Latifi in Skopje (BCR No. 271, 14-Aug-01)
While commanders of the National Liberation Army, NLA, have confirmed that they will accept the peace agreement for Macedonia, a new military organisation has emerged rejecting any settlement.
In communiqué no. 9, distributed to various media outlets, the self styled Albanian National Army stated that it and "patriotic commanders of the NLA do not plan to stop the war at any moment or recognise any political agreement".
The group also claimed responsibility for the killing of ten Macedonian soldiers on the Skopje-Tetovo road on August 8.
Little is known about the new group. Its leaders have not appeared, and it has only communicated through a handful of statements sent to the media. One such statement prohibits all of its commanders from being interviewed by the media or being photographed or filmed.
Local media believe the Albanian National Army might be reassembling groups of former fighters who disagree with the peace deal. They may come from organisations now no longer in existence, such as the Kosovo Liberation Army or the National Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, which operated in southern Serbia until a settlement, including disarmament, was reached earlier this year.
In its statements, the breakaway faction has accused the NLA's Ali Ahmeti and leaders of Albanian political parties of making compromises that betray Albanians' national interests.
A recast Albanian rebel group in Macedonia could seek to continue the guerrilla war.
Of course, such a development would make NATO's Essential Harvest mission of disarming the rebels more difficult. According to the agreement, the Atlantic alliance will send some 3,500 troops for one month to assist the process.
With NLA commanders and Albanian politicians acknowledging that certain rebel elements are not under their control, delays and incidents are likely, creating pressure for NATO to extend its stay.
Western resistance aside, such a prolongation could increase ethnic Macedonian distrust in NATO and its mission. Ethnic Macedonians are already sceptical over what they fear could be the establishment of an international protectorate. Concerns over rebel demilitarisation could block the implementation of the peace agreement.
Of course, such a move would give a pretext to Albanian fighters, either from the NLA or other configuration, to delay disarmament. Such a turn of events could swell the ranks of the splinter Albanian National Army.
Meantime, the two main Albanian political parties have their own disagreements. Both have participated in the peace talks. But while Arben Xhaferi's Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, has expressed satisfaction with results, the Party for Democratic Prosperity, PDP, has said it does not go far enough to secure Albanians' rights.
The PDP has complained about the small number of Albanians included among police. It has also raised questions about the future status of Macedonian Albanians who fought with the rebels.
According to the Ohrid agreement, after disarmament, the Macedonian authorities are to declare an amnesty for all fighters, except those suspected of war crimes. But some former fighters might not accept a mere amnesty and might demand positions within state institutions.
Another contentious issue is Albanian-language education. According to participants in the negotiations, during the final days in Ohrid the two parties clashed openly over education policy. Xhaferi's DPA backs the South-European University for Albanians in Macedonia proposed by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Max van der Stoel. The PDP wants public financing for the unrecognised Tetovo University, which was launched several years ago with private funds against great resistance from the government. The agreement backs the first option, pledging to finance it for four years.
Sentiment over the issue should not be underestimated. The Tetovo University Students' Union has already accused the Albanian representatives of "walking on the blood of martyrs and the ruined houses during the fighting".
Such frictions among the Albanian parties will flare during the general elections planned for January 20, 2002. Even holding elections at such an unstable time could be asking for trouble, with both Albanian and Macedonian political parties tempted to use less-than-fair means in their race for parliamentary seats. They may try to exploit dissatisfaction on both sides with the agreement. Militant groups such as the Albanian National Army could also seek to take advantage of an election to gather support.
Still, hopes remain that the divisions within the Albanian parties which could threaten the deal will be overcome by the momentum created by the negotiations and the signing of the accords before international representatives. With continuous monitoring by the international community, all parties will be under strong pressure to comply.
Ironically, the signing of the contentious Prizren agreement back in June may serve as a positive sign, suggesting that Albanians will respect the current agreement.
That agreement unified the demands of parliamentary parties and the NLA. It was harshly criticised at the time by the Macedonian authorities and foreign diplomats in Skopje. But, in the event, it did give an unofficial voice at the peace table to the rebels, who now accept the process.
Indeed, despite inevitable criticisms that too many compromises were made, sources at the Ohrid talks insist that Albanian political representatives made no compromises without first gaining the approval of NLA commanders.
Thus there are hopeful signals that, despite the challenges and potentially destabilising political and military splits, the Ohrid process will be accepted by the majority of Albanians, who will agree that the only solution in Macedonia is through political means.
Veton Latifi is a political analyst and IWPR editorial assistant in Macedonia.
Last Chance for Peace: Despite the new peace deal, Macedonian political and military factions are split, leaving prospects for peace as precarious as ever Posted August 14, 2001
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010814_1_eng.txt
Comment: Last Chance for Peace
Despite the new peace deal, Macedonian political and military factions are split, leaving prospects for peace as precarious as ever.
By Iso Rusi in Skopje (BCR No. 271, 14-Aug-01)
The question of war or peace in Macedonia will be decided not by the signing of an agreement but by the reactions of the political and military factions in the coming weeks. There are two main sources of danger. The first is Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski and his interior minister, Ljube Boskovski. While the Social Democrats have opposed military means to resolve the conflict, the premier and his party - Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity - consistently engaged in provocations. Will Georgievski realise that he has lost his struggle for a military solution and that now is the time to support the peace plan?
The second source of danger, of course, comes from the Albanian side. Ali Ahmeti and the National Liberation Army, NLA, have stated clearly that they will support the agreement. Ahmeti has a good record of standing by his word in recent months. In the agreement over the withdrawal from Aracinovo, the July 5 ceasefire and other arrangements, even Western diplomats agree that he has been reliable. NLA commander Shapti has said that the force will start cooperating with the peace process within 15 days, and there is little reason not to believe him.
But in recent days a new armed faction, the Albanian National Army has appeared. Its strength remains unclear. But from the declaration of the ceasefire, it was immediately obvious that some NLA structures were not under central control but were acting more or less independently. These may be potential components of the new grouping.
According to local press reports, Xhavid Hassani, a former NLA commander in Kosovo and Macedonia, has said that he will kill one Macedonian policeman and one Macedonian soldier for each Albanian house which has been destroyed. He also claimed responsibility for the landmine explosion which killed eight Macedonian soldiers in Skopska Crna Gora, near Ljuboten village, on August 10. This has led the Macedonian media to speculate that Hassani is a member of the Albanian National Army.
So, we do not yet know if Ahmeti and the NLA will remain in control of the situation. Will the new group win support from hardline rebels and other radical elements within Albanian society? According to an unnamed Macedonian security services official, Hassani already has around 100 soldiers under his control. Many ethnic Albanian fighters are young and highly emotional. Other Albanians have lost family members and will be angry and vengeful no matter what. So it is possible that some may be convinced to keep fighting, waging a kind of private war against Macedonia.
The situation is further complicated because it seems that the leading politicians on both sides are effectively finished. Georgievski has almost certainly lost the next election, and through his rash behaviour and irresponsible statements, he has behaved like someone who knows it. Peace will almost certainly bring a change in leadership. This would be constructive, but adds to the instability and sense of risk.
On the Albanian side, again, the situation is more complicated. It might seem like Arben Xhaferi and Imer Imeri, leaders of the two main Albanian political parties, should be the big winners of the peace deal. Xhaferi, in particular, has maintained his position between radicals, ethnic Macedonians and international mediators. He has played a role helping Macedonia avoid the worst, while signing an accord bringing important, if not perfect, benefits to Albanian people.
But, in fact, Xhaferi's career is probably finished. There was strong criticism of him before the fighting began, not only about his failure to achieve Albanian rights but also concerning corruption, organised crime and other issues. In the event, rather than moderating the rebels and winning peace, he is seen as having acted as the radicals' puppet. He was forced to support all their demands, and effectively served in the talks as their representative because they were excluded. But no Albanian doubts that positive changes in Macedonia will have been brought by the NLA, and that left on his own, Xhaferi would have accomplished nothing.
So we can expect new voices to speak up for the Albanians. But we do not know who the new leaders will be, so we cannot predict in what direction they will lead the Albanians.
In the end, as with so much in the Balkans, it probably comes down to the Western powers and NATO. So far, they have played a positive role. The efforts of the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, have probably saved Macedonia from the worst.
But now it is a question of how quickly NATO will act. The signing of the peace agreement must be matched by a meaningful ceasefire and a technical agreement with the NLA over disarmament. Will NATO enter in the next seven days, or will it wait for ideal conditions? The longer it delays, the greater the room for frustration and provocation. NATO must act, and act soon. Of course, NATO's role will be to disarm the rebels, but it is much more than that. NATO offers a chance to calm the chaos. So far, there has been nothing but confusion. When an incident occurred, each side would make its claim, and there was no way of knowing what actually happened. We have even had the Ministry of the Interior (Georgievski-controlled) and the Ministry of Defence (Social Democrat-controlled) contradicting each other on the same day about alleged infiltration by Albanian fighters from Kosovo.
With NATO monitors and experts, each party will have responsibilities and obligations, and everything will be watched. So it should be possible to know who is playing a double role: Arben or Ljubco? From now on, it will be clearer who is really working for peace.
Interestingly, as for the people themselves, there has been little debate in the Albanian media over the pros and cons of the agreement and what it actually delivers. Those things matter but, in the face of war and more chaos, most want to return to normal life.
Many Macedonians will, naturally, be angry and there may be more 'spontaneous' demonstrations against any peace agreement with the 'terrorists'. But much of this sentiment has been fuelled by state media under Georgievski's influence. The real lesson to be drawn from the protests, even from the dispersal of arms among civilians is just how few problems it has all caused - indicating that the potential for disruption should be even less.
But this is really the last chance. We had the start of ethnic cleansing: Macedonians fleeing Tetovo and Aracinovo; Albanians leaving Bitola and Veles. For the moment, most of these people - except those from the most tense areas - do want to return. But it shows the scale of the risk.
If the peace falls apart, then NATO could be forced to try to divide the warring 'sides'. The first step would be to divide the territory. That would signal the start of massive ethnic cleansing, which simply could not be achieved without huge bloodshed.
So each step would be worse and worse. Macedonia has been given a final opportunity to save itself from the abyss. Only the coming days will tell.
Iso Rusi is editor of the Skopje-based Albanian-language weekly Lobi.
Ethnic Albanians are bittersweet on returning to their homes in the ruined village of Aracinovo Posted August 14, 2001
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010814_6_eng.txt
Picking Through the Debris
Ethnic Albanians are bittersweet on returning to their homes in the ruined village of Aracinovo
By Adnan Hajdari and Nexhmedin Asani in Haraçinë (Aracinovo)
(BCR 271, 14-Aug-01)
Haraçinë - as ethnic Albanians call the village of Aracinovo - is still the scene of real chaos, despite the fact that villagers have been free to return home since the end of July.
Electricity and water supplies as well as telephones were knocked out during the occupation by ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army, NLA, in June and many houses were later destroyed in the subsequent bombing by the Macedonian air force.
Haraçinë's inhabitants, numbering 10,000 before the occupation, no longer have the basic conditions for survival. Only 60 mainly old people remained during the fighting, while thousands of others fled the village to the capital Skopje or across the Kosovo border to seek shelter with friends and relatives.
For the large number who have returned, the experience has been bittersweet. There is joy in their faces to be back home again, but real sorrow too as they assess what has happened to their houses and property.
"My house is destroyed," said 60-year-old ethnic Albanian Hasip Ferati, "but I am happy to be back ... because this is my land which I have earned with my sweat". But he was angry at the destruction, saying there were ways of resolving the crisis other than destroying innocent people's property.
Sefi Salihu, 72, another Albanian resident, was equally happy to be back in the ruins of his shattered home. "There is no future for us outside Haraçinë," he said. "A foreigner's house cannot become yours. That is why Haraçinë should be rebuilt with all the facilities it used to have."
Salihu's family of 10 has nowhere to live now. "The government should protect its citizens," he said, "not destroy them like this."
People are genuinely shocked by what happened to their livelihoods during their enforced exile in Skopje, or across the border. Many claim that members of the Macedonian army and police burgled their houses.
Femi and Qani said that Macedonian police members stayed in their house for several days after the NLA withdrew. "They not only used whatever we had left," said Qani, "they broke everything when they left, and burnt everything at our houses at the top of the village. They did around 100,000 DEM worth of damage."
"When we returned," said 45-year-old Latife, who lives near the mosque in the upper village, "we found my daughter's entire dowry had been stolen and many other items produced by my husband were destroyed."
The mosque near Latife's home was also destroyed by mortar fire from the security forces. Two other Muslim monuments were also ruined and burned.
The government has been trying for several weeks to establish the conditions of security required to encourage people to return to their homes. But villagers traveling home for the first time were horrified to discover landmines planted by the NLA in and around Haraçinë.
Unexploded ordnance is a further hazard to the returnees. "When I returned home I thought the security situation was fine," said 35-year-old Albanian resident Sazan. "But then I found an unexploded grenade in my backyard, probably launched by one of the government helicopters. I let the security officials know about it and they defused it."
Life remains difficult for the 80 per cent of residents who are estimated to have now returned. Lack of electricity means villagers no longer have access to pumped water. "We are trying to get our private wells operational, but the water is not safe," said 50-year old Albanian Sali. "In fact, I would say it is dangerous, according to the hygiene teams who inspected the village."
But first of all, they need help before winter sets in. "We need urgent humanitarian aid from NGOs and the government," said 63-year old Nejaz, with tears in his eyes. "Most of us have no money left with which to rebuild our burnt houses." Nejaz is unemployed and dependent on the small salary of one of his sons.
But Haraçinë's inhabitants don't give in easily. They are doing their best to create the minimum conditions needed to revive the damaged village. And they lend each other a hand to build weatherproof shelters for their families. Before the fighting, the majority made a good living from farming, though a few were businessmen.
Commune head Reshat Ferati does not hide local concerns, but he made a strong appeal for all residents to return. "There is room for everyone in Haraçinë," he said. "It belongs to everyone who wants to live there, irrespective of nationality or religion. They should return and live together in harmony and co-existence, as before."
Adnan Hajdari and Nexhmedin Asani work in the Albanian department of the Macedonian state television
Macedonian parliament links approval of peace deal to disarmament Posted August 14, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010814/1/1bpxj.html
Tuesday August 14, 9:13 PM
Macedonian parliament links approval of peace deal to disarmament
SKOPJE, Aug 14 (AFP) -
The Macedonian parliament will not approve a peace accord to end an ethnic Albanian insurgency until NATO has collected a third of the weapons held by the rebels, speaker Stojan Andov said Tuesday.
President Boris Trajkovski is expected on Wednesday to formally request a parliamentary session to debate the Western-backed peace accord that was signed Monday between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian politicians.
Andov said deputies will take up debate on ratifying constitutional changes outlined in the peace accord in 15 days once the NATO force has certified that a third of the weapons had been collected.
A second session will be held after the second third of the weapons are handed in and a final meeting to ratify the peace provisions will be scheduled once all rebel arms are accounted for, he said.
NATO is planning to dispatch a 3,500-strong disarmament force in Macedonia if the rebels agree to surrender their weapons while the changes are being adopted.
Macedonia Peace Signed, but Soon After, Artillery Booms Posted August 14, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/14/international/14MACE.html
August 14, 2001
Macedonia Peace Signed, but Soon After, Artillery Booms
By IAN FISHER
SKOPJE, Macedonia, Aug. 13 The bitter and distrustful leaders of Macedonia's two main ethnic groups signed a peace deal today to end six months of fighting, although hours later the not-so-distant sound of artillery fire rumbled from north of Skopje, the capital.
The volleys lasted just a few minutes. But they did not constitute the most hopeful start to a pact meant to turn a fundamentally new page in Macedonia's brief history, as well as to steer another Balkan country from ethnic war.
On paper, the deal put Macedonia a major step closer to a deployment of 3,500 NATO troops. The troops, officials said, could begin arriving in days on a limited mission to disarm the ethnic Albanian guerrillas who launched an insurgency six months ago for greater political and cultural rights.
Fifteen NATO military advisers are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday to pave the way for the full force, which will include troops from Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United States.
The NATO secretary general, Lord Robertson, made clear here that the full disarmament mission depended on Macedonia's meeting several conditions, most importantly a "sustainable" cease-fire.
"Clearly, both sides have got to mean it, and they've got to deliver it," he said at a news conference here just after the signing. "Otherwise, there will be no deployment of NATO troops, and therefore there will be no disarmament."
The conditions cut to a decidedly unanswered question, whether there is the political will for peace.
Last week, leaders from both the Slavic Macedonian majority and the ethnic Albanians put their initials to the deal that was formally signed today. But the deadliest round of fighting yet broke out after that, continuing to this morning even after another cease-fire was in place.
Today, Albanians said Macedonian forces shot several civilians on Sunday in a village just north of Skopje, where on Friday eight Macedonian soldiers were killed by antitank mines. Some Albanians called the incident a "massacre" of perhaps 12 men, although it was not possible to confirm that.
Western officials tried to put a hopeful face on the accord, brokered by the United States and the European Union. They said it would in theory remove the root causes of the war by granting significantly expanded rights to ethnic Albanians.
In Crawford, Texas, President Bush said he welcomed the agreement "to work out the language as well as the policing. It's a good sign but now they need to lay down their arms so we can implement the deal."
But Parliament would have to approve most of the changes in 45 days, and the rebels, known as the National Liberation Army, have to turn in their weapons or the deal could easily collapse with more fighting.
"All I can say is we've given them a chance," a Western diplomat said. "I hope they take it."
"We're a lot closer to peace today than we were this morning," he added, referring to the fighting hours before the ceremony.
Ethnic Albanians comprise up to one-third of the two million people in Macedonia, a nation formed 10 years ago from the wreckage of Yugoslavia. Once considered a model for a multiethnic state, it has slowly fallen apart over its founding concept, that it was fundamentally meant for the majority, Macedonians mostly of Slavic descent.
The deal would allow Albanians greater participation in several ways. It would make Albanian an "official" language in areas where Albanians make up more than 20 percent of the local population.
By 2003, 1,000 Albanians would join the national police force of 6,000 officers, now almost entirely Macedonian. The pact would also devolve power to localities and remove from the Constitution most references to Macedonians as the principle ethnic component of the state.
Many Slavic Macedonians view those changes as a threat and see any peace deal as rewarding a violent insurgency. The fear of a backlash among Slavic Macedonians is strong enough that President Boris Trajkovski sought to make the ceremony low key, with the document signed quietly in his official residence.
Still, the tensions rubbed through. At a news conference after the signing, the leader of a main Albanian party, Arben Xhaferi, refused to address reporters in Macedonian, citing the new agreement as the reason.
"According to the second paragraph of Article 7, I have the right to speak the Albanian language," Mr. Xhaferi said. "Languages are not good or bad by themselves. But the messages that languages give are what is good or bad."
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, a hawk who has repeatedly called for the army to defeat the rebels, walked out of the news conference. Later, Mr. Trajkovski, a moderate, demanded a public apology from Mr. Xhaferi.
"I am so sorry that people tried to profit by provocation," he said. "Nobody was able to understand what he said, apart from people who speak the language."
Though the deal itself is significant, the chain of the events that begins may be more so.
Lord Robertson repeated the conditions that have to be met, now that the deal is in place, before NATO leaders will send troops. A pivotal element would be an amnesty for liberation army fighters, who would otherwise not hand in their weapons.
Then the NATO command in Brussels would have to decide that the cease-fire was sturdy enough to allow the deployment. A diplomatic official said that would require a judgment call that all sides were committed to the cease-fire. The recent fighting, the official said, has left NATO officials "skeptical, but willing to be persuaded."
It is unclear whether Macedonia will meet those conditions in days, weeks or longer. But Lord Robertson stressed that it should be done as soon as possible, to allow for troops to arrive and head off further bloodshed.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel, a very dark tunnel," he said. "But this agreement must be implemented quickly."
Even as the deal was being prepared for the ceremony, reports trickled from Luboten, six miles north of here, that the police or soldiers had shot and killed civilians this weekend. Since Friday, the village had been heavily shelled by the government after the mine blast had killed the eight soldiers near there. Villagers contacted by telephone said the police shot at least nine male civilians to death on Sunday.
Today, Dilaver Fetahu, 20, an ethnic Albanian man who escaped from the village on Sunday, lay beaten in a clinic in the Albanian part of town. His father lay bruised and sedated on a nearby cot.
Mr. Fetahu said that his family had hidden in the cellar for two days, after the shelling began on Friday, but went outside on Sunday when the police started burning houses. He said that the police began beating his father and that when he and a friend, Ejup Hamiti, 20, tried to run away, a police officer opened fire, hitting his friend.
"I said to my friend, `Come, run,' " Mr. Fetahu recounted. "He said, `I can't.' " The friend died shortly afterward, Mr. Fethau said.
No outside monitors have been able to visit the site, and Macedonian officials said they would investigate the allegations.
Macedonia Truce Shaky After Accord but NATO Upbeat Posted August 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010814/wl/balkans_macedonia_fighting_dc.html
Tuesday August 14 10:05 AM ET
Macedonia Truce Shaky After Accord but NATO Upbeat
By Mark Heinrich
SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonia's army and ethnic Albanian rebels battled on in some sectors Tuesday despite a milestone civilian peace deal, but NATO (news - web sites) sources said conditions were almost right to send in a NATO force to collect weaponry.
Skepticism reigned in Macedonia, however. ``Paper is cheap these days,'' said a Western diplomat doubtful of prospects for implementing the treaty on minority Albanian rights by getting guerrillas to disarm and curbing hard-line security forces.
Major Macedonian newspapers were guarded at best and cynical at worst in their appraisal of Monday's Western-brokered agreement. One daily ran a cartoon that portrayed ethnic Albanian party leaders signing the document with bullets.
``Macedonia has yielded its constitution, will the Albanians yield their weapons?'' the independent daily Dnvenik asked in a banner front-page headline, alluding to the so-called National Liberation Army (NLA) which rose up six months ago.
Russia, a traditional patron of fellow Slavs in the Balkans, said raising minority rights in Macedonia to world standards and salvaging a unified state would not succeed without disarmament and dispersal of ``illegal armed Albanian extremist groups.''
About 15 special NATO experts were expected in Skopje later Tuesday to review the oft-broken cease-fire. NATO wrung a fresh truce pledge from combatants on the eve of the treaty ceremony, but gunfire echoed on some fronts as it went ahead.
A solid truce, a rebel commitment to disarm and an amnesty for rebels to deter future reprisals by security forces that could reignite hostilities after NATO leaves are the key terms for a 30-day deployment of 3,500 NATO troops to collect weapons.
NATO says rebels will be required under disarmament to withdraw to lines of July 5 -- a big retreat from the fringes of Skopje and Tetovo, the second largest northern city, that may be opposed by hard-line elements in the less than cohesive NLA.
FIGHTING AFTER POLITICAL ACCORD
Defense Ministry spokesman Marijan Gurovski told Reuters battlefronts were calm after 10 a.m. -- but only after what Western observers and the army said were serious clashes on several fronts overnight.
Government tanks and artillery bombarded the rebel-held villages of Matejce and Nikustak following guerrilla small-arms fire earlier in the day, a Western diplomatic observer said.
He said there were many exchanges of fire through the evening in the mountainous zone some 12 miles north of the capital, but that the Macedonian army's use of tanks and artillery was disproportionate.
The Macedonian state news agency MIA said guerrillas in Matejce and neighboring hamlets fired at least 20 mortars at government forces early Tuesday.
Macedonian forces fired back but fighting stopped after an hour at the request of monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe (OSCE (news - web sites)) and European Union (news - web sites) Monitoring Mission, according to MIA.
Western observers also said guerrillas had burned more abandoned Macedonian homes in occupied northwestern villages and torched a textile plant in Tearce.
MIA said ``Albanian terrorists are continuing to rob and terrorise'' Macedonians left over in rebel-held villages on the main road northeast from Tetovo to the Kosovo frontier.
Exchanges of fire also shook the northwestern village of Radusa close to the border with the ethnic Albanian-dominated Yugoslav province of Kosovo, they said.
MIA said the flashpoint northwestern city Tetovo, the largest urban concentration of ethnic Albanians, was tense after guerrillas launched grenades into one of its suburbs overnight, seriously wounding a Macedonian civilian.
NATO WAXES POSITIVE
In Brussels, a NATO official who asked not to be identified said the cease-fire was ``not holding badly.'' Alliance sources said conditions for deploying the weapons-collection force to Macedonia were close to being fulfilled.
``It could take place earlier than we thought,'' said NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur.
A NATO source said the alliance was ``in the process of finalizing'' a demilitarization deal requiring disarmament and withdrawals and that terms could be agreed with the NLA could be wrapped up this week.
But alliance officials could give no time frame for the arrival of the multinational ``Operation Essential Harvest'' contingent that would amass rebel weapons for removal abroad.
Some rebel chieftains praised the political accord granting Macedonia's one-third Albanian minority greater language, job, religious and higher education rights and one predicted the NLA would disband if they were implemented.
Majority Macedonians, however, believe the NLA is bent on seizing territory for fusion with Kosovo and Albania.
President Boris Trajkovski is due to present Monday's peace deal to parliament Wednesday. The plan is meant to be implemented by the legislature within 45 days, in parallel with disarmament.
In one sign that politicians will try to win public support for the deal, the centrist Macedonian Social Democratic party, one of the two Macedonian signatories, placed full-page advertisements urging people to rally around the deal.
``Although nowhere and never has a deal been a full guarantee, honestly, we believe that this deal is better than war,'' the party said.
Key Elements of Peace Accord Posted August 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010813/wl/macedonia_peace_plan_1.html
Monday August 13 11:27 AM ET
Key Elements of Peace Accord
By The Associated Press,
Key elements of the Macedonian peace agreement:
- Amends the introduction of Macedonia's constitution to delete reference to Macedonian Slavs as the only ``constitutional'' people, and to make the country a civic society of all its ethnic groups.
- Creates a ``double majority'' system in parliament requiring that half the lawmakers voting on a measure must come from one or more minority groups for it to be enacted.
- Makes Albanian the second official language in communities where ethnic Albanians comprise more than 20 percent of the population.
- Provides state-funded higher education in the Albanian language in communities where ethnic Albanians comprise more than 20 percent of the population. Previously, the state funded only lower education in Albanian in such communities.
- Ensures proportional representation of ethnic Albanians in the Constitutional Court, which has the final say in legislative matters, and proportional representation of ethnic Albanians and other Macedonian minorities in government administration and police.
- Calls for ethnic Albanian police commanders in communities where ethnic Albanians form a local majority.
- Gives broader authority to local governments, essentially awarding a degree of self-rule to predominantly ethnic Albanian areas.
- Provides for a census this year that would establish the exact ethnic composition of the country ahead of early general elections. An international donors' conference would follow to provide funds to revive the moribund economy.
- Gives equal status to the Orthodox, Muslim and Catholic faiths.
- Clears the way for a 30-day NATO (news - web sites) deployment to oversee the disarming of ethnic Albanian rebels, and grants amnesty to militants who did not commit crimes during clashes with government forces.
Key Events in Macedonia's Standoff Posted August 13, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010813/wl/macedonia_chronology_1.html
Monday August 13 11:25 AM ET
Key Events in Macedonia's Standoff
By The Associated Press,
Key events in Macedonia leading up to Monday's peace accord signing:
Jan. 2 - One policeman killed, three injured in grenade attack on Macedonian police station in the predominantly ethnic Albanian village of Tearce.
Feb. 12 - First clashes between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army near Tanusevac.
March 4 - Three Macedonian soldiers killed in fighting near northern border.
March 8 - Rebels attack government convoy, killing driver. NATO (news - web sites) allows return of Yugoslav forces into part of buffer zone around Kosovo.
March 14 - Rebels attack police in Tetovo; 10 civilians are wounded.
March 15 - Rebels move to within 12 miles of capital, Skopje.
March 20 - Rebels issue ultimatum demanding talks to transform state into a confederation.
March 21 - Rebels announce they'll hold fire following government ultimatum.
March 22 - President Boris Trajkovski announces tough action against rebels. Security forces launch offensive near Tetovo with little success.
April 28 - Eight soldiers and police are killed in rebel ambush.
May 3 - Government offensive in Kumanovo area also fails.
May 13 - Government of national unity government is formed, including two major ethnic Albanian parties; political feuds start.
June 8 - Rebels take control of Aracinovo just outside Skopje.
June 15-20 - Negotiations between Macedonian and Albanian government parties fail.
June 24 - After more fighting, European Union (news - web sites) security chief Javier Solana wins cease-fire; NATO evacuates rebels from Aracinovo without disarming them.
June 28 - EU appoints Francois Leotard as Macedonia envoy; he joins U.S. envoy James Pardew at peace talks.
July 5 - Another cease-fire under U.N. auspices, but fighting persists around Tetovo.
July 19 - Albanian parties suspend negotiations. Two EU monitors and a translator killed in mine explosion.
July 22-24 - Fierce fighting around Tetovo. Government accuses NATO of pro-rebel bias; foreign embassies attacked in Skopje.
July 28 - Peace talks resume in Ohrid.
Aug. 5 - After agreement on Albanian as second official language in ethnic Albanian-dominated areas, rival factions also agree on police reform. Rebels control more territory, road links.
Aug. 7 - Macedonian police kill five ethnic Albanians accused of planning ``terrorist actions'' in Skopje.
Aug. 8 - Ten Macedonian soldiers killed in an ambush just outside Skopje. Parties agree to sign deal in formal ceremony Aug. 13.
Aug. 10 - Army truck hits land mines north of Skopje, killing eight soldiers.
Aug. 11-12 - Scattered clashes between rebels and government forces.
Aug. 13 - Rival sides sign peace accord.
Macedonian Leaders Sign Peace Accord Posted August 13, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010813/ts/macedonia_427.html
Monday August 13 11:23 AM ET
Macedonian Leaders Sign Peace Accord
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Macedonia's rival political leaders signed a landmark peace accord Monday aimed at ending six months of bloody conflict and clearing the way for NATO (news - web sites) troops to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.
Political leaders representing the Balkan country's Macedonian majority and its minority ethnic Albanian population formally endorsed the agreement, which gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police ranks, parliament and education.
NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, European Union (news - web sites) envoy Javier Solana, French mediator Francois Leotard and U.S. envoy James Pardew were among those attending the signing ceremony at President Boris Trajkovski's residence.
Robertson called it ``a remarkable moment for the history of Macedonia. This day marks the entry of Macedonia into modern, mainstream Europe.''
Macedonia Peace Pact Signed with Scant Publicity Posted August 13, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010813/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_296.html
Monday August 13 11:33 AM ET
Macedonia Peace Pact Signed with Scant Publicity
SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - The Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian political leaders signed a Western-mediated peace accord Monday meant to end a guerrilla uprising despite repeated cease-fire violations, witnesses said.
The timing and venue of the ceremony was kept secret until the last moment because of the government's sensitivity to nationalist public opinion charging that it has made sweeping concessions on Albanian minority rights at gunpoint.
But European Union (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites) sponsors of the accord said it was the only way to undercut support for an insurrection that has absorbed large swathes of northern Macedonia and reached the outskirts of the capital Skopje. The pact, stipulating improved educational, language, job and other rights for Albanians together with guerrilla disarmament, was signed at 5:23 p.m. on a large table in a nondescript room in President Boris Trajkovski's residence, according to a Reuters Television cameraman allowed to film it.
No other coverage was permitted except by the state news agency and television, which did not broadcast the event live.
Ethnic Albanians happy with peace accord but want NATO peace force Posted August 13, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010813/1/1bj98.html
Monday August 13, 9:01 PM
Ethnic Albanians happy with peace accord but want NATO peace force
SKOPJE, Aug 13 (AFP) -
Only a NATO peacekeeping force can end the conflict in Macedonia and ensure the implementation of a peace plan to be signed Monday, a senior ethnic Albanian politician told AFP.
"We are going to sign the accord, it represents a new phase of openness in the peace process. It opens the door for NATO to bring peace and stability to the Republic of Macedonia," Muhamed Halili, secretary general of the Party for Democratic Prosperity, told AFP.
The Atlantic alliance has earmarked 3,500 troops to conduct a month-long mission to recover rebel arms from Macedonia if the Western-brokered peace accord leads to a "durable ceasefire".
But NATO chiefs have repeatedly insisted that the force would not stay longer and would not take on a broader peacekeeping or peace-enforcement role which could drag it into fighting.
Halili urged NATO to reconsider this mandate, calling for a six-month deployment that would create stability in the run-up to legislative elections planned for January next year.
"We have reached a political deal, we are going to work hard to bring it into effect, but both Albanian and Macedonian parties have lost political credibility. Only NATO can bring stability," he said.
Halili said that NATO envoys would probably be able to reach an agreement with ethnic Albanian rebels for them to lay down their arms, but that they should also try to disarm what he called "Macedonian paramilitaries".
Otherwise, he said, the fighting which has raged for six months between the ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces would get worse.
The deputy leader of Macedonia's other main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Party of Albanians, was more optimistic about the accord's chances but he too insisted on the need for international guarantees.
"I am an optimist about this question because we have guarantors, the United States and the European Union, as well as the citizens of Macedonia who have made it clear that they want peace," Menduh Thaci said.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana were in Skopje on Monday to attend the signing of the accord, which was brokered with the help of US and EU envoys.
Robertson said last week in a letter to Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski that any troop deployment would be limited to 30 days.
"Ultimately, the responsibility for bringing the crisis to a peaceful solution lies with the people of your country and not with NATO," he said.