Macedonia's chief of staff dismissed as violence continues Posted August 9, 2001
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Friday August 10, 2:07 AM
Macedonia's chief of staff dismissed as violence continues
Macedonia's defense minister called on his nation to put bitterness aside and support a peace deal with the country's ethnic Albanian minority, but ongoing violence jeopardized chances the Western-mediated agreement can be signed next week as planned.
And Macedonian army chief of staff, General Pande Petrovski, was dismissed by President Boris Trajkovski following the killing of 10 Macedonian soldiers in an ambush by ethnic Albanian guerrillas on Wednesday, sources in the president's office said.
They said Petrovski had told Macedonia's National Security Council late Wednesday that he "would take responsibility" for the attack -- one of the most serious incidents since fighting erupted in February. His deputy, General Metodij Stamboliski, has been named as his temporary replacement.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, meanwhile, expressed his condolences to the families of those killed in the ambush, state television announced.
Earlier Thursday, Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski appealed for restraint after rioters attacked ethnic Albanian shops in retaliation for the rebel ambush.
"Let us give peace a chance. May this major tragedy mark the end of the war and not the beginning of a bloody civil war," Buckovski told a news conference.
"It is very difficult in these moments to find words to demand from people that they show patience and think of peace. Believe me, the situation will be even more difficult if war comes to our homes."
But with sporadic fighting continuing between rebels and government forces in ethnic Albanian areas of northwest Macedonia, it appeared far from certain Thursday if cooler heads would prevail so that a peace accord initialled by leaders of both communities late Wednesday can be signed Monday on schedule.
The guerrillas launched their insurgency in February in what they say is a fight for rights for the large ethnic Albanian minority, who make up about one-third of the Macedonia's population.
Fighting erupted overnight in the flashpoint town of Tetovo, where a soldier was killed and an army barracks attacked on Thursday.
Three ethnic Albanian civilians were also injured Thursday during clashes near Tetovo Thursday, said the head of the Tetovo hospital.
Macedonian government officials in Skopje said the rebels were firing machineguns and using grenade-launchers against a base and an army barrack in the north of the city.
In another development, the government's crisis management center said rebels kidnapped six Macedonian civilians on Wednesday from the village of Lesok, about 10 kilometers (six miles) northeast of Tetovo. It said the six men included one 74-year-old.
An army spokesman, Blagoja Markovski, warned Thursday that the situation was worsening in the Tetovo area.
"The citizens have to understand that there are only two options: all-out civil war or preserving a unified state, using all possible political and military measures," Markovski said.
He said the military had sent helicopters and additional troops to Tetovo.
In Skopje, police said they have found 235 kilograms (520 pounds) of explosives they suspect belonged to the guerrillas. The explosives were found hidden under the road between Skopje and Tetovo, near the site where the guerrillas had set up their ambush on Wednesday.
Police believe the rebels had been planning to use the weapons and ammunition for assassination attempts on senior government figures and security forces.
The peace agreement, worked out under intense pressure from US and European mediators, calls for use of Albanian as an official language, police reforms in Albanian areas and the deployment of 3,500 NATO troops to disarm rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA).
NATO poised to send weapons collectors into Macedonia once accord signed Posted August 9, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010809/1/1attm.html
Thursday August 9, 11:56 PM
NATO poised to send weapons collectors into Macedonia once accord signed
BRUSSELS, Aug 9 (AFP) -
NATO on Thursday was going ahead with preparations to send some 3,500 troops into Macedonia to disarm ethnic Albanian fighters once a political accord, expected Monday, is signed.
However, fresh fighting that killed 10 Macedonian soldiers in a rebel ambush Wednesday was casting a shadow over that fragile timetable.
In Skopje, Macedonian Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski called on his countrymen to "give peace a chance" and put the killing behind them.
Macedonian army chief of staff, General Pande Petrovski, was dismissed Thursday following the slaying, a statement from President Boris Trajkovski's office said.
The rebel ambush in a village west of Skopje was the worst single act of bloodshed in the six-month-old conflict that has brought Macedonia to the brink of civil war, and brought hundreds of angry Macedonians into the streets in protest.
But NATO was nonetheless continuing preparations for operation "Essential Harvest," a planned month-long collection of weapons that would be based, an alliance official acknowledged, largely "on trust on both sides," an allusion to the fact that light weapons could easily be hidden.
He stressed that no NATO troops would be dispatched until the political deal was concluded.
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian negotiators were meanwhile due to leave the southwestern Macedonian town of Ohrid to hold meetings in the capital Skopje after a draft accord was reached, a source said Thursday.
"The delegations will leave Ohrid and will continue the talks over details of the agreement in Skopje," a Macedonian official said.
The overall peace accord, brokered by EU and US mediators, is due to be signed in Skopje on Monday.
But the flareup of violence in the northwest kept a lingering question mark over the signing ceremony.
"If an accord is reached, the NATO Council (of ambassadors) could take up the question (of sending troops) next week and give a rapid green light" to the operation, said the official.
"Once that is done, our experts tell us the first troops could be in place within 48 hours of the decision," he said.
The 19 NATO ambassadors reaffirmed at their weekly meeting Wednesday their resolve to go ahead with preparation for "Essential Harvest" despite the snags, the official said.
He said that, once begun, all 3,500 troops would be on the ground and operational within two weeks, and that the arms collection should be accomplished within 30 days from then, although he added that an extention "was not excluded."
The weapons collectors will be troops specially chosen and contributed for the mission by NATO member states, but could also be drawn from the multinational peacekeeping forces currently deployed in Kosovo (KFOR) and Bosnia (SFOR).
The arms-collecting details would be protected by other NATO troops, said the official, but would themselves be armed as well, although he would not say to what degree.
They would "obviously defend themselves if fired upon," he said. "We will not tolerate attacks on them."
According to current allied plans, still subject to change, the 3,500 troops will be based in four locations -- an area northeast of Skopje, around the airport at Petrovec, in Kumanovo in the north and in Krivolak in the center.
These sites will be fitted out with gear to destroy arms and munitions not capable of being safely transported.
However, most of the materiel, said the NATO official, will be transferred to an unspecified location outside Macedonia.
Twelve of NATO's 19 members -- Germany, the United States, Spain, France, Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Turkey -- will be participating in the operation.
Macedonians Will Sign Peace Deal on Monday -Envoy Posted August 8, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010808/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_258.html
Wednesday August 8 12:51 PM ET
Macedonians Will Sign Peace Deal on Monday -Envoy
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Leaders of Macedonia's political parties will formally sign a peace deal next Monday aimed at averting civil war, a European Union (news - web sites) envoy said on Wednesday.
News of the peace deal came only hours after 10 Macedonian soldiers were killed in an ambush by ethnic Albanian guerrillas, the bloodiest single incident since the rebels began an insurgency in the former Yugoslav republic in February.
A Macedonian political source said all the main party leaders from the Macedonian majority and the ethnic Albanian minority had already initialed the deal. No official confirmation was immediately available.
``The political process will continue until next Monday, August 13, the date when the text of the political accord will be signed in Skopje,'' EU peace envoy Francois Leotard told reporters after talks in the lakeside resort of Ohrid.
He side-stepped questions about whether the accord had already been initialed.
But a source from the smaller of the two parties representing the Macedonian majority, the Socialist SDSM, said all the leaders from Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties involved in the talks had initialed the document.
Earlier, Western sources had told Reuters the leaders had begun initialing the text one by one.
The apparent deal came after more than a week of Western-sponsored peace talks in Ohrid at which Macedonian leaders agreed to allow more ethnic Albanians to join the police and to greater official use of the Albanian language.
``I hope it's possible now to have peace on the ground and stabilization of the situation but I know that it's very complex,'' Leotard told Reuters after the latest round of talks.
The guerrillas say they are fighting for equal rights for the country's ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up around 30 percent of the population of two million.
But leaders of the Macedonian majority have branded the rebels terrorists intent on trying to break up the state.
Evidence of a Macedonian Execution: "...victims appeared to have been shot as they were lying on the floor." (WashingtonPost) Posted August 8, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44213-2001Aug7.html
Evidence of a Macedonian Execution
Scene in Ethnic Albanian House in Skopje Belies Police Account of Killing
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page A12
SKOPJE, Macedonia, Aug. 7 -- Four thick puddles of blood stained the mattresses on the floor of a little house in an ethnic Albanian neighborhood of Skopje today. Bullets had pierced the wooden flooring; the victims apparently were shot from above as they lay on the mattresses.
The Macedonian government said five ethnic Albanian rebels died in the house, killed in a police raid on a hideout. Interior Ministry officials said the guerrillas resisted arrest.
But several hours after the deaths, the house looked more like the scene of a summary execution. A reporter saw no signs that the victims had fired a shot at the raiders. Windows were closed, and no bullet holes nicked the walls or ceiling. The front door had not been forced open.
"There was no evidence at the scene to support the government version of events," said Peter Bouckaert, an investigator in Skopje for Human Rights Watch, who also inspected the house. "There was no sign of an exchange of fire, and the victims appeared to have been shot as they were lying on the floor."
As negotiators from Macedonia's majority Slav community and its minority ethnic Albanian population haggled over a peace plan today at the lake resort of Ohrid, southwest of here, the scene in Skopje gave a suggestion of horrors to come in the event of failure. Despite an official cease-fire while talks have dragged on, conflict and violence have continued daily.
The ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army still control northern roads and fire on government soldiers and policemen from hill and mountaintop positions. Macedonian forces seem mostly to be in a defensive crouch -- except for today's raid, which was unusual both for its brutality and for the possibility that rebels were infiltrating Skopje, the capital.
The threat of larger scale and more vicious fighting has deterred thousands of people on both sides of the conflict from returning to homes they fled to escape combat. In Skopje, it is hard to find an optimist among Slavic Macedonians or ethnic Albanians. "The signs of disaster continue to build," said Slobodan Chashule, an opposition politician from the majority community. "We seem already Humpty-Dumpty."
"There is a fear of ethnic cleansing -- even Albanians who live here in Skopje think so. Things have gone so far," said Kim Mehmeti, an ethnic Albanian journalist.
The Ohrid talks pulled back from the brink of collapse today. On Monday, negotiators from the majority community balked at signing a political deal to end the rebellion. They said they wanted an immediate disarming of the rebels after signature. Today they backed off, opening the way for talks on final details.
The accord would grant ethnic Albanians expanded rights to use their language in official activities and would add 1,000 ethnic Albanians to the 6,000-member police force. Once the agreement is signed and then ratified by parliament, NATO troops would move into the country to collect weapons from the rebels.
In return for dropping their demands, the Macedonians won the promise of a visit by NATO Secretary General George Robertson, perhaps as early as this week, Macedonian and Western officials said.
However, as of late tonight, negotiators had failed to close the deal. They were haggling over constitutional issues. Negotiations were to continue Wednesday, diplomats said.
Each day's delay brings with it the risk of explosive violence. Today's police raiders wore masks when they entered Skopje's Gazi Baba quarter between 4 and 5 a.m., witnesses said.
Neighborhood residents said they heard shouting at the Alimi family house on Vergino Street: "Stop! Go back in! Lie down!" Then shots rang out.
Nimi Shadije, a woman who lives in the house, said the noise woke her. Police confronted her, and seeing her husband, teenage son and brother-in-law in a side room, called to them to come out. They were ordered to lie on the floor and were handcuffed. Later, police took them, along with Muzafer Alimi, a relative and owner of the house, to jail.
Shadije confirmed that there had been guests in the house that night, but said she did not know their identities, adding that Alimi had invited them. Throughout the neighborhood, there was a veil of silence about the victims; everyone a reporter questioned about the men claimed ignorance.
Police said the dead were part of a rebel training unit. On television, the government displayed a cache of arms that they said had been recovered from the house.
Ten Macedonian Soldiers Killed in Ambush Posted August 8, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010808/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc.html
Wednesday August 8 9:40 AM ET
Ten Macedonian Soldiers Killed in Ambush
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed 10 Macedonian soldiers in an ambush Wednesday and fighting broke out in a northwestern town in Macedonia as the Balkan nation veered toward war from hopes of peace.
The attack was the highest toll in a single clash since the rebels, fighting for more rights for the one-third ethnic Albanian minority, took up arms six months ago. Eight soldiers were killed in an attack near the Kosovo border on April 28.
The 10 soldiers died when rebels attacked a military convoy on the main road between the capital Skopje and the northwestern town of Tetovo, officials said. It was a new blow to hopes of averting a fifth Balkan war in a decade.
Several vehicles were set ablaze in the attack, which followed the killings of five rebels in Skopje Tuesday by police.
The fighting seemed likely to derail 10 days of Western-brokered peace talks in southern Macedonian between leaders of the main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties, who had been tantalizingly close to a final deal.
Shooting also broke out in Tetovo, until now under government control but with guerrillas active in the mountains nearby. Rebels were occupying houses near an army barracks.
``There is fighting in the town,'' Tetovo Mayor Murtezan Ismaili told Reuters. ``The situation is very critical. In the town nobody is on the streets.''
``It's verging on a civil conflict,'' a Western source said, adding rebels were searching houses for police and members of the armed forces.
A chief surgeon at a local hospital, Rahim Thaqi, said one civilian was admitted to hospital after being wounded in fighting. Shops were shuttered and many residents took to basements to avoid the fighting.
HELICOPTER ATTACKS
Macedonian forces responded to the ambush by sending attack helicopters to pound rebel positions in the area, officials said.
In Ohrid, Western mediators at peace talks condemned the violence but expressed hopes of persuading both sides at least to initial a peace deal later Wednesday. The talks had apparently been poised for success Wednesday before the violence flared.
``We condemn all acts of violence and call on all parties to refrain from any violations of the cease-fire,'' mediators Francois Leotard of the European Union (news - web sites) and American James Pardew said in a joint statement.
``It is now all the more important to rapidly conclude the political discussions under the chairmanship of President Boris Trajkovski,'' they said. Trajkovski would chair a meeting of the Macedonian security council later Wednesday.
But a senior official of the larger of the two Albanian parties at the talks told Reuters: ``Killings on both sides, yesterday and today, can worsen the situation and make talks harder as real hard-liners wanted to.''
REPEATED CEASE-FIRE VIOLATIONS
Both sides have accused the other of repeated violations of a truce meant to be in place since last month and, even before the new violence, the politicians were apparently wary of taking the final plunge to embrace any peace pact.
``It's like buying a house or a car, you always wonder if you've got the right price or whether if you'd pushed a little bit harder you could have done better,'' a Western source said.
A Macedonian construction company said five Macedonian workers were freed late Tuesday after being detained by suspected guerrillas on the main road from Tetovo to Skopje in what had been feared was a revenge attack for the killing of the five guerrillas Tuesday.
``They were freed last night,'' Sasha Srtzev, a manager of the Mavrovo company, told Reuters.
LANGUAGE RIGHTS
The peace package, including wider use of the Albanian language, more jobs for ethnic Albanians in the police force and greater recognition of Islam, aims to improve life for ethnic Albanians who make up about 30 percent of the 2 million population.
The negotiations got back on track Tuesday after the Macedonians toned down demands made Monday for NATO (news - web sites) to give firm guarantees that the guerrillas would disarm.
NATO has repeatedly said it will deploy up to 3,500 troops only once an unconditional cease-fire is in place, the politicians' peace plan is signed and the guerrillas have pledged to hand in weapons voluntarily.
The alliance says it will not disarm the rebels by force for fear of possible reprisals both on NATO troops in Macedonia and its peacekeeping force in neighboring Yugoslav province of Kosovo, with an overwhelming Albanian majority.
(With additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Skopje, Ana Petruseva in Ohrid and Shaban Buza in Pristina)
Macedonian peace talks back on track after rebels die in Skopje Posted August 7, 2001
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Wednesday August 8, 1:58 AM
Macedonian peace talks back on track after rebels die in Skopje
OHRID, Macedonia, Aug 7 (AFP) -
Macedonian peace talks were back on track on Tuesday, amid new tensions caused by the police killing of five suspected ethnic Albanian guerrilla fighters in Skopje and reported violations of a July 5 ceasefire.
"It seems like the process of negotiations is back on track," a western official said as the talks, now into their tenth day, resumed in the Balkan country's southwestern resort town of Ohrid.
Several western and Macedonian sources said they believed the negotiators would on Wednesday reach a global peace accord to end a six-month insurgency by ethnic Albanian rebels.
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders and international mediators took a break from the negotiating table on Monday after the Macedonian side made a surprise eleventh hour demand for rebels to fully disarm before a peace accord was implemented.
That demand dashed hopes that an accord was imminent.
NATO's envoy to the Balkans, Pieter Feith, rushed into Ohrid on Tuesday to reassure Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski that a planned NATO disarmament of the rebels, who call themselves the National Liberation Army (NLA), would be carried out efficiently.
Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva told reporters the peace talks were now focussing on the way changes to the country's constitution would be voted on and the mandate NATO would have for its peacekeeping mission.
Changes to the constitution have been made necessary by reforms agreed at the talks.
NATO said on Monday it could send 3,500 troops into Macedonia once a peace deal was signed to help disarm the rebels, saying the force could be deployed within 48 hours of a peace accord being reached.
But Macedonian officials said Feith had reminded them NATO would only enter the country once a peace accord had been struck, the terms of an eventual amnesty for rebels had been agreed and the rebels had declared they would voluntarily lay down their arms.
Government sources showed AFP a draft agreement, shown by Feith to Trajkovski, which the rebels will be expected to sign.
"The NLA welcomes and accepts the (amnesty) offers for all former members of NLA who voluntarily disarm, with the exception of those who have committed crimes for which the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia competent," the draft declaration says.
"In addition members of NLA wish to benefit from the opportunities offered by the government for reintegration into society in accordance with President Trajkovski," it continues.
In a reminder of the tensions which have thrust the former Yugoslav republic towards war since February, Macedonian police said they had shot five suspected rebels dead in a raid in the capital Skopje.
Army spokesman Blagoja Markovski told AFP the Macedonian army also accused rebels of violating a fragile July 5 ceasefire 24 times overnight in the flashpoint north.
A police source identified the five killed as "terrorists", the term used by the authorities to refer to NLA rebels, who have been taking on government forces mainly in the northwest of the country.
Macedonia's independent A1 television said the interior ministry had imposed a 10 pm to 5 am curfew in Aracinovo, the village near Skopje from which the rebels came. The curfew was to come into effective on Tuesday night.
Uniformed incursions by rebels into the capital are rare.
The setback for the talks on Monday came when Macedonian political leaders demanded guarantees that the NLA rebels would be disarmed before a peace plan was implemented, a demand attributed by western officials to the hardline stance taken by Georgievski.
In another ill-wind for peace efforts, Macedonia's media widely reported on Tuesday that parliamentary deputies had doubts over a peace deal, fearing it would divide the country into two.
Parliamentarians might not pass a peace deal unless rebels were removed first, it said.
The rebels, who began launching attacks on the government forces in February, say they are fighting for rights for the country's ethnic Albanian minority, who make up nearly one third of the former Yugoslav republic's population of two million.
PEACE TALKS SUCCESSFUL, CIVIL WAR INEVITABLE IN MACEDONIA? Posted August 7, 2001
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2001/08/5-NOT/not-070801.html
END NOTE 7 August 2001
PEACE TALKS SUCCESSFUL, CIVIL WAR INEVITABLE IN MACEDONIA?
By Ulrich Buechsenschuetz
EU envoy Francois Leotard announced in Ohrid on 1 August that the peace talks between the leaders of the main ethnic Macedonian and Albanian political parties produced a compromise on the use of the Albanian language in Macedonian state institutions. This was widely seen as a major breakthrough, but Leotard himself hurried to add that "this accord is conditional on the continuation of the political discussions, notably on the issue of the police. Therefore, it is a conditional agreement."
Leotard's U.S. counterpart, James Pardew, was not willing to show too much optimism, either. According to AP, Pardew said: "This is a good deal for everyone, but I am not euphoric. There's a lot of tough work ahead. This is not the end of the negotiations."
The two mediators were joined by Javier Solana, the EU's representative for foreign and security policy, who came to Macedonia on 5 August. After several meetings with the Macedonian and Albanian party leaders, he told a press conference that an agreement had been reached on the police issue, but did not give any details.
Some Western as well as domestic observers, however, are becoming increasingly skeptical as to whether a negotiated peace will be stable and lasting, even if the negotiations should produce what looks like a workable compromise. There are too many open questions about whether and how any agreement reached by the political leaders can actually be implemented.
First, it is unclear what role the National Liberation Army (UCK) will play after a peace agreement. Will the rebel organization accept an agreement that only the legally elected representatives of the Albanian minority have negotiated? Or will the UCK leadership start a new round of violent clashes because its original demands have not been met?
It is clear that Arben Xhaferi of the Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH) and Imer Imeri of the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD) are in close contact with the guerrillas. The rebels, for their part, have placed immense pressure on Xhaferi and Imeri -- there are rumors that both party leaders were given silver bullets as a warning. Whether or not this is true, the Albanian negotiators are likely to try to avoid any conflict with the UCK.
On the other hand, the Albanian population of Macedonia will most likely gain from any agreement, at least at first glance. The legal status of the minority will improve and their representation in state institutions will increase. But what about their future coexistence with their Macedonian neighbors, many of whom have become increasingly suspicious and resentful in recent months? The question is whether the Albanians' improvement in status will outweigh the long-term damage to interethnic relations.
Second, there is no guarantee that any agreement can gain approval in the parliament. The current peace talks have been held under the auspices of President Boris Trajkovski and mediated by U.S. and EU envoys. The leaders of the four main ethnic Albanian and Macedonian political parties have been the main participants. But there is widespread criticism that neither the Macedonian parliament nor the smaller ethnic minorities have been included in the political dialogue.
For his part, parliamentary speaker Stojan Andov of the Liberal Party, who is more of a hawk than a dove, said in his speech on the Ilinden national holiday on 2 August in Krusevo that the parliament will decide on any peace agreement only after the rebels' disarm.
Third, there is no guarantee that the Macedonian public will accept any peace deal signed under pressure from armed rebels. In this respect, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's speech on 2 August was symptomatic. Speaking at Prohor Pcinjski monastery, he said: "I would like to point out that Macedonia has military equipment and capable soldiers and policemen, who are ready to restore the constitutional order in the country. Territorial integrity must be reestablished prior to the signing of any agreements, which have to be in the interest of the Republic of Macedonia."
It is not clear whether by "military equipment and capable soldiers" he also meant the paramilitary formations that have recently been formed in Kicevo and Mavrovo. What is clear, however, is that Georgievski is well aware of the militant mood among broad sections of the ethnic Macedonian population.
An opinion poll published by the Skopje bimonthly "Forum" on 27 July shows that some 61 percent of those interviewed -- including Macedonians, Albanians, and members of other minorities -- opt for a peaceful solution to the current crisis. But while a military solution does not have any support among the Albanian respondents, some 30 percent of the Macedonians preferred an armed conflict to a negotiated agreement.
This finding was underscored by the answers given to the second question: "Would you [support] any action against the terrorists?" Some 83 percent of the Macedonians answered positively to this question. Thus, any military option triggered by hard-liners inside or outside the Macedonian government would likely find broad support among the population.
If one accepts the results of this opinion poll as being representative of society as a whole, the future of Macedonian does not look very promising. Even if a civil war can be avoided, the country will remain divided along ethnic lines.
Here again, the respondents from the two major ethnic groups clearly differ. Asked whether they think that the Albanians and the Macedonians can live together in the future, both groups overwhelmingly (some 60 percent each) answered in the affirmative. But while 40 percent of the Albanians responded "don't know" or did not answer the question at all, 22 percent of the Macedonian respondents thought that peaceful coexistence of the two communities is not possible.
07-08-01
Macedonia: New Demand Sets Back Peace Talks Posted August 7, 2001
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2001/08/07082001121703.asp
Macedonia: New Demand Sets Back Peace Talks
By Ron Synovitz
Peace talks in Macedonia are facing a new hurdle after the prime minister's party yesterday demanded that ethnic Albanian fighters must disarm before any political accord is ratified in parliament. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz looks at how mediators' hopes of a speedy agreement could be set back by the issue of implementing a future accord.
Prague, 7 August 2001 (RFE/RL) -- International mediators at Macedonia's peace talks say a new demand from Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's VMRO party has raised doubts that an agreement can be reached quickly on ending the six-month-old ethnic Albanian insurgency.
The problems arose yesterday when Georgievski demanded that a clear timetable for disarming ethnic Albanian fighters be included in the political accord being negotiated by the country's main ethnic Albanian and Macedonian political parties.
Parliamentary speaker Stojan Andov initially raised the VMRO's concerns last week, saying it would be "shameful" for the legislature to consider any accord before ethnic Albanian fighters surrender their weapons and disband.
The U.S. mediator at the talks, James Pardew, says the latest demands are particularly troubling because they raise questions about the government's commitment to fully implement any future agreement.
Pardew says he does not think the international community can accept the new conditions, and that ethnic Albanian negotiators would be even less inclined to agree.
He said that by trying to link parts of the political accord to a separate military agreement -- involving NATO -- to disarm the rebels, Georgievski's party has moved the negotiations beyond the mandate of international mediators.
Commanders of the ethnic Albanian fighters have said they will disarm only after the accord is ratified by the parliament.
NATO officials insist they will not deploy peacekeepers in Macedonia to disarm the guerrillas unless a political accord has been signed by leaders of all major parties. They also want assurances from the ethnic Albanian fighters that they will voluntarily disarm.
But NATO's chief spokesman in Skopje, Major Barry Johnson, tells RFE/RL that deployment could conceivably come before an accord is ratified by parliament:
"If it facilitates the process for peace, and if it has the confidence of the elected government as well as the NLA (ethnic Albanian fighters) for their disarming, then based on the decision of the North Atlantic Council, if the conditions are right, they will authorize a deployment in full coordination with the government of Macedonia. So yes, there is definitely a very real possibility that [NATO deployments] could come before the formal parliamentary action."
Johnson also says an amnesty for ethnic Albanian fighters probably would have to be included in any peace deal before guerrilla leaders will agree to voluntarily disarm.
Despite the apparent setbacks cause by the VMRO's demands, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said officials in Washington think there eventually will be agreement between the leaders of the main ethnic Albanian and Macedonian political parties.
"I think there have been demands, charges, and countercharges throughout this process, but we have seen the parties, including the Macedonian government, work constructively in this process. We've seen them be able to reach agreements based on compromise on some very important issues, and we think that will continue."
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said on 5 August that negotiators were close to a final political agreement after breakthrough compromises were reached on the two most contentious issues -- making Albanian an official language in parts of Macedonia and restructuring the country's police forces to increase the number of ethnic Albanian officers.
Under a tentative compromise, Albanian would become an official language along with Macedonia in the parliament, as well as in parts of the country where more than 20 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian.
The agreement on restructuring the police calls for 1,000 ethnic Albanian officers -- or about 20 percent of the entire force -- to be working by the end of the year 2003. Currently about six percent of Macedonia's police are ethnic Albanians.
The agreement on police also would allow municipal committees to have input on local police matters, but it would leave the central control of police in the hands of the government in Skopje.
As talks in the southwestern resort town of Ohrid continued today, there were fresh reports of more violence -- this time in Skopje.
Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski said that five ethnic Albanians -- including a guerrilla commander known as "Teli" -- were killed this morning during a police operation in a predominantly ethnic Albanian suburb of the capital called Bergino.
MASSACRE IN SKOPJE QUARTERS OF GAZI BABA: Police Executed Five Albanians While Sleeping Posted August 7, 2001
"FAKTI" / Albanian Daily in Macedonia
(via e-mail: fakti@MOL.COM.MK)
MASSACRE IN SKOPJE QUARTERS OF GAZI BABA
Police Executed Five Albanians While Sleeping
By Lirim Dullovi
SKOPJE 7 August 2001 - Five ethnic Albanian citizens have been executed today by the ethnic Macedonian police forces in Skopje.
The event took place this morning at 05.30hrs in a house in Gazi Baba quarters in Skopje, populated by mainly ethnic Albanian population. More than 300 policeman and members of MIA special units have surrounded the Gazi Baba at 05AM, specifically the region along the Virgino street. One part of the police broke inside the house of Muzafer Halimi and executed at least three people while there were still sleeping.
Members of the family of Muzafer Alimi (60), Fikri Halimi (37), Elham Halimi (16) and Hajredin Halimi (45) are arrested by the Macedonian police.
Neighbors tell say they have seen the Macedonian police while taking bodies out of the house. However, it is still unknown the identity and the number of victims, as the man of the family are not available, nor that anyone can tell whether they are alive or dead.
Traces of blood were clearly visible in two rooms of the Halimi home. Blood, pieces of skull and brain are scattered all over the pillows and walls of the rooms. Judged by the traces of blood, one can conclude that at least three persons were killed. However, Macedonian police sources confirmed that five people were killed.
Situation in this Skopje quarter, populated by a mainly ethnic Albanian population is very tensed after this, latest provocation of the Macedonian police. Based on the arsenal used in this action, it is obvious that the Macedonian police came prepared for a wider confrontation with the local population.
Skopje raid casts shadow over talks Posted August 7, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1476000/1476940.stm
Tuesday, 7 August, 2001, 09:21 GMT 10:21 UK
Skopje raid casts shadow over talks
Bloodshed has continued despite peace talks Five ethnic Albanians rebels have been killed in a police raid in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, the country's interior minister reported on Tuesday.
The dawn operation - the first of its kind in the capital - came hours after a tentative peace deal with the ethnic Albanians was put on hold when the Macedonian Government added extra demands at the last minute.
The deal had been reached after days of hard bargaining at talks near the resort of Lake Ohrid. The most divisive issues - the status of the Albanian language and policing - had been resolved, but the Macedonian Government then demanded a timetable for rebel disarmament.
As international attempts to breathe life back into the peace talks continued in Ohrid, news of the police raid in Skopje was given by Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski.
He told the French news agency AFP that the raid took place in the suburb of Bergino at 0500 (0300GMT) on Tuesday. The suburb is populated mainly by ethnic Albanians.
He said a rebel commander known as "Teli" was among those killed.
If confirmed, the deaths will be the first in the capital since the conflict began in February.
Most of the violence has been confined to northern towns and villages, where the rebels have their strongholds, although the rebels have held some territory outside Skopje.
The government demand for a timetable for rebel disarmanent came from Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who said the deal was off unless the extra condition was met.
The disarmament is scheduled to be supervised by Nato, and the organisation says it cannot give an exact timetable for disarmament.
A force of 3,500 Nato troops is ready to be deployed in the country when a peace deal has been finalised.
US envoy James Pardew told the BBC he was very disappointed by the Macedonian demands.
"They need to think seriously about what they did," he said.
He added that he hoped that no one was trying to undermine the whole process, saying that the deadlock could be partly due to "signing jitters".
Neither the rebels nor the international community could accept the government demands for a ceasefire timetable, he said, because they were an attempt to link a political deal to a military one, for which international mediators had no mandate.
The rebels say they are fighting for better rights, but they have been accused of wanting to split some ethnic Albanian areas from the rest of Macedonia.
Macedonia Demands Hurt Peace Talks Posted August 6, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010806/wl/macedonia_373.html
Monday August 6 9:53 PM ET
Macedonia Demands Hurt Peace Talks
By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer
OHRID, Macedonia (AP) - Peace talks suffered a major setback Monday when the Macedonian government demanded that ethnic Albanian rebels fully disarm prior to final approval of a political settlement.
A day after majority Macedonians and the restive ethnic Albanians achieved a breakthrough by agreeing on how to overhaul and jointly run the country's police force, the Macedonians came up with a new demand which a Western peace mediator called a ``serious setback.''
A negotiator representing the Macedonians said the demand came from VMRO, the governing party of hard-line Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who now wants to change the implementation of the Western-designed peace plan for the strife-torn Balkan country.
Under the plan, the rebel disarmament, aided by some 3,500 NATO (news - web sites) troops, would take place after an accord is signed and parallel to its ratification by Macedonia's parliament.
Georgievski and others now reportedly want much faster disarmament of the rebels.
President Boris Trajkovski and other top Macedonian leaders, including the defense and interior ministers and the chief army commander, issued a statement calling for the rebels to be disarmed.
They expressed ``concern regarding implementation of provisions from the peace agreement if there is no comprehensive disarmament of the armed terrorists'' and suggested NATO take ``urgent measures'' to make that happen.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said NATO forces would not deploy before a political arrangement is reached.
``The understanding has always been that when there was a general political agreement, which is what we're working toward, that NATO would deploy in support of this and carry out the action of voluntary disarmament by the ethnic Albanian insurgents. That remains the NATO plan, and we're not changing it,'' Boucher said.
The new demand appeared to disrupt negotiations, which have dragged on for almost a month. A Western diplomat in Ohrid, site of the peace talks, said that by putting new last-minute demands on the table, the Macedonians had raised questions about their credibility.
Francois Leotard, the European Union (news - web sites) peace envoy, sounded less pessimistic, saying, ``We need more time - one day, two days, not more, I presume.''
Earlier in the day, the two sides were said to have only a few minor points to iron out. Trajkovski said the talks would continue Tuesday.
On Sunday, the sides agreed on the contentious issue of having more ethnic Albanians in Macedonia's police force, which should help end the ethnic Albanian insurgency that has killed dozens of people and left thousands homeless since it erupted in February.
The sides agreed the number of ethnic Albanians in the force should reflect the country's ethnic mix. The ethnic Albanians account for nearly a third of Macedonia's 2 million people, but only about 5 percent of its 6,000 policemen are ethnic Albanians.
In return, the Macedonian-dominated government would retain central control of the police.
The plan also envisions the deployment of dozens of international police experts to help carry out the reform.
Before the setback, NATO spokesman Maj. Barry Johnson said Monday that the 3,500 troops could start deploying ``within as little as 48 hours'' after the peace agreement is signed to collect weapons from the rebels. Operation Essential Harvest would be British-led and last 30 days, Johnson said.
The ethnic Albanian rebels, who control swaths of territory in northern and northwestern Macedonia, have been a wild card in the difficult peace process.
On Sunday, a guerrilla commander told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that his fighters would not recognize any deal.
Macedonians regard ethnic Albanian demands as a strategy to carve off territory and break up the country. Yet, they have agreed to the expanded official use of the Albanian language, set a minimum of minority votes needed to pass laws in parliament, and earmarked funds for Albanian-language higher education.
Rebels clashed briefly with Macedonian police at a police checkpoint near the mostly ethnic Albanian city of Tetovo in northwestern Macedonia late Monday, state television reported. No casualties were reported.
Bush Pleased at Progress in Macedonia Peace Talks Posted August 6, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010806/pl/balkans_macedonia_bush_dc_1.html
Monday August 6 12:58 PM ET
Bush Pleased at Progress in Macedonia Peace Talks
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) is pleased with the progress made in Macedonian peace talks and hopes they come to a successful conclusion, the White House said on Monday.
Leaders of the main Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political parties had seemed poised to agree on a final political deal for ending a five-month ethnic Albanian insurgency, after a breakthrough on police reforms on Sunday.
But the talks hit a snag on Monday when Macedonian Slav political leaders made new demands.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush, on a month-long vacation in central Texas, talked to his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), by phone from Washington on Monday morning and discussed the situation in Macedonia.
``The president is pleased with the progress that appears to have been made and is hopeful that it will come to a successful conclusion,'' McClellan said.
He praised in particular U.S. envoy James Pardew, European Union (news - web sites) peace broker Francois Leotard and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
NATO notes progress in Macedonia peace talks Posted August 6, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010806/3/1a94f.html
Monday August 6, 5:36 PM
NATO notes progress in Macedonia peace talks
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO cautiously welcomed on Monday a breakthrough in peace talks in Macedonia and stepped up preparations to send troops to collect ethnic Albanian guerrillas' weapons if a final deal is signed.
A NATO official told Reuters: "We are encouraged by what has happened. The signs are pointing in the right direction, but I don't want to be too optimistic."
He said preparations were in high gear at NATO headquarters and the 19-nation alliance's policy-making North Atlantic Council, which must approve any deployment, might meet later on Monday to hear a report on progress in the talks between Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political parties.
European Union facilitators announced a breakthrough on Sunday night on the key outstanding issue of the Albanians' role in the future police force, following agreement last week on wider official use of the Albanian language.
Negotiations were to resume on Monday to put final touches to a peace plan meant to defuse a five-month-old ethnic Albanian revolt in the most southerly former Yugoslav republic.
The NATO official said the alliance would have to be sure that all parties were satisfied with the political accord, that the Macedonian authorities supported NATO's deployment and that technical details of disarmament and weapons collection were agreed before allied troops could go in.
However, he made clear that NATO would not have to wait until the Macedonian parliament had ratified planned constitutional amendments to give ethnic Albanians greater rights, a process that could take six weeks or so.
Asked how quickly NATO's planned 3,000-strong force could start to deploy, the official said: "The political agreement is the point of departure. There would have to be a NATO Council decision to authorise deployment. It can happen very quickly but all this (conditions) has to be there."
"We are very close but the conditions have to be met. What we are working on at NATO is to be ready ourselves," he added.
NATO has said its mission would be limited to about one month, but many Balkans experts believe a much longer term NATO presence will be necessary to stabilise fragile Macedonia.
Macedonian call for rebel guns rocks peace talks Posted August 6, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010806/3/1aclp.html
Tuesday August 7, 7:34 AM
Macedonian call for rebel guns rocks peace talks
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Western mediators meet Macedonian leaders on Tuesday to try to persuade them to drop a demand for guarantees of full ethnic Albanian guerrilla disarmament that could derail a delicate peace process.
The Macedonians sprung the demand on some mediators during talks on Monday that had been expected to wrap up an accord granting the ethnic Albanian minority greater rights to undercut support for a five-month-old rebel uprising.
NATO has offered to send a force of up to 3,500 troops to collect weapons from the guerrillas, who do not want to hand them to the Macedonian security forces.
But NATO says it will not disarm the rebels by force, fearing possible reprisals both on its troops in Macedonia and its peacekeeping force in neighbouring mainly Albanian Kosovo.
President Boris Trajkovski chaired a security council meeting with senior cabinet ministers from the Macedonian side on Monday night in the lakeside villa in Ohrid, where the talks are being held, to discuss how far to push the demand.
"If there is no full disarmament, the security council expects NATO to take urgent steps for complete disarmament," said a statement issued by the council after the session ended.
The statement made an oblique reference to a clause in the agreement in which the Macedonian side pledges to get it approved by parliament, along with any constitutional changes required to implement it, within 45 days of signing.
But it was not clear if the statement was conditioning the retention of that clause on full rebel disarmament. Diplomats say this will be all but impossible to verify, let alone implement, since guerrillas could simply conceal their weapons in remote places.
REBELS WANT TO SEE RIGHTS IMPROVED FIRST
The rebels, who are not at the talks, insisted they wanted to see concrete improvements in rights of Albanians, who make up about a third of the population, before giving up their arms.
"The percentage of implementation achieved will decide the percentage of disarmament. This is happening because of our distrust of the Macedonian side and not because we want to keep our weapons," a rebel commander codenamed Djini told Reuters.
Envoys from the United States, European Union and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been in Ohrid for more than a week trying to nail down the political agreement.
Before Monday's setback over disarmament they scored breakthroughs on the most contentious issues, first by persuading the two sides to agree on greater use of the Albanian language in the former Yugoslav republic.
The second main issue, agreed on Sunday, was the integration into the police of more ethnic Albanians, who currently make up only about six percent of the force.
A resolution of other disputes, including a quota for ethnic minority deputies in votes on constitutional amendments, the wording of the preamble to the constitution and the status of a so-far unrecognised ethnic Albanian university in Macedonia, had not been expected to take more than a day or two.
Diplomats say disarmament is a completely separate issue being dealt with in military talks brokered by other Western envoys indirectly with the National Liberation Army guerrillas.
The NLA had been expected to start disarming once an agreement was signed and an amnesty declared by the Macedonian government.
The Macedonian bid to mix the political and military tracks, diplomats say, could knock the whole process off track or at the very least encourage the Albanian negotiators at the Ohrid talks to try to reopen issues upon which agreement already exists.
With daily violations of a ceasefire reinstated late last month, time is short if Macedonia is to avoid slipping into civil war. "We're not trying to impose a solution," said one Western source. "But these talks can't go on forever."
Macedonia Peace Plan Hits Snag Over Rebel Guns Posted August 6, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010806/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_245.html
Monday August 6 6:02 PM ET
Macedonia Peace Plan Hits Snag Over Rebel Guns
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonian leaders on Monday demanded swift and complete rebel disarmament as part of a deal to end a five-month-old ethnic Albanian uprising, a move that could derail a Western-brokered peace process.
Leaders of the main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties, who have been meeting for over a week, had looked poised to nail down a final agreement to avert a new Balkan war after a breakthrough on the issue of police reforms on Sunday.
``I'm shocked,'' U.S. mediator James Pardew told Reuters as word of the hitch emerged from the talks in the lakeside resort of Ohrid.
Western sources said the Macedonians were angry because the political agreement included a Macedonian undertaking that reforms to give Albanians greater rights would be approved by parliament in 45 days, but no guarantee the rebels would disarm.
The rebels, who are not at the talks, insisted they wanted to see improvements in the rights of Albanians, who make up about a third of the population, before handing over their arms to a planned 3,500-strong NATO (news - web sites) force.
``The percentage of implementation achieved will decide the percentage of disarmament. This is happening because of our distrust of the Macedonian side and not because we want to keep our weapons,'' a rebel commander code named Djini told Reuters.
Two sources said the Macedonians had called NATO Secretary-General George Robertson to ask if he could give guarantees of fast and full disarmament. NATO has said it will only collect weapons handed in, not wrest them from the rebels by force.
NATO URGED TO COMPLETE DISARMAMENT
President Boris Trajkovski chaired a security council meeting on Monday night in Ohrid with senior cabinet ministers from the Macedonian side to discuss how far to push the demand.
``If there is no full disarmament, the security council expects NATO to take urgent steps for complete disarmament,'' said a statement issued by the council after the session ended.
Leotard, a former French defense minister who is the European Union (news - web sites)'s envoy at the talks, told reporters: ``I am not afraid. I think we are on a good way but we need more time. One day, two days, not more I presume.''
But a Western source said: ``These are deal-breaker demands.''
An Albanian source said: ``The international mediators do not agree with these demands because they are afraid our side will also try to reopen something they thought was closed.''
The peace talks were expected to resume on Tuesday. A shaky cease-fire has been in force since July 26, with only scattered shooting reported on Monday.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited the talks on Sunday to help push through a crucial deal on more jobs for ethnic Albanians in the ex-Yugoslav republic's police force.
The package of reforms is also due to grant greater use of Albanian as an official language and more recognition of Islam. Most Albanians are at least nominal Muslims.
Macedonians fear that granting ethnic Albanians more rights is tantamount to capitulation at gunpoint if the rebels do not disarm first.
Hardline nationalist prime minister Ljubco Georgievski, one of the party leaders at the talks, said on Thursday it would be shameful and insulting to sign a peace deal when rebels were in control of chunks of Macedonian territory.
NATO READY BUT CAUTIOUS
NATO said that it was ready for quick deployment of troops, but only after a string of conditions was met.
Major Barry Johnson, a NATO spokesman in the small Balkan republic, said the first NATO troops could be deployed at as little as 48 hours' notice and the force would be fully operational within two weeks.
He said conditions included the signature of a peace plan by political leaders, a lasting cease-fire and agreement by the rebels to hand in arms voluntarily. ``There are still many steps that have to be accomplished,'' he told a news conference.
Macedonian nationalists have staged violent protests several times over the past few months, insisting Albanians already have full rights. And guerrillas have expanded their control over territory in the northwest despite an agreement to pull back.
The Macedonian security council statement said the council was thinking of raising the issue of alleged involvement by members of a Western-backed civilian protection corps in Kosovo in guerrilla attacks in Macedonia.
The U.N. civilian administration in Kosovo and its NATO-led peacekeeping forces said last month they had suspended five top commanders of the corps because they had appeared on a U.S. blacklist of those aiming to destabilize the Balkans.
Macedonia's talks suffer setback Posted August 6, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010806/1/1aavp.html
Monday August 6, 11:50 PM
Macedonia's talks suffer setback
OHRID, Macedonia, Aug 6 (AFP) -
Peace talks in Macedonia hit an unexpected obstacle on Monday when the Macedonian side submitted fresh demands, Western diplomats said, but they insisted negotiations aimed at ending a six-month conflict in this former Yugoslav republic had not collapsed.
"This is a serious setback," US envoy James Pardew told AFP.
"The Macedonians submitted new demands. This is the deal-breaker," a Western diplomat said earlier.
He added that the demands "were a step backwards, but not a breakdown" in the talks which had earlier appeared close to an overall accord.
Both Western officials and Macedonian sources insisted the talks had not been "suspended," but were merely "taking a break" while the Macedonians considered their position.
A Western source said the Macedonians had demanded guarantees that the peace plan would be implemented along with the disarmament of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA), who have been operating in the country for more than six months.
A source close to the Macedonian presidency said a "pause" of the talks was also called because of the meeting of the country's national security council, set for 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) by President Boris Trajkovski.
The talks would resume after the meeting of the council was over, the source said.
In Skopje, an NLA commander, Captain Shpati, told AFP the rebels would lay down their weapons but that they would do so gradually, in steps that would mirror progress in implementing the peace deal.
Earlier Monday, as the internationally-brokered talks between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders entered their ninth day, European Union envoy Francois Leotard had expressed hope that a final peace accord would be struck "perhaps Monday, or in any case Tuesday."
Shortly after he spoke, however, the Macedonian defence ministry said minor clashes had erupted overnight in ethnic Albanian rebel strongholds in an ominous sign the guerrillas might be at odds with results achieved so far in the negotiations.
The rebels, who launched an insurgency in February in what they say is a fight for minority rights, have not been allowed at the negotiating table. Any peace accord would be unlikely to work if they did not agree with its terms.
Before Monday's last-minute drama, it had looked as if the final obstacle to a peace deal -- a reform of local police forces in areas with significant ethnic Albanian populations -- had been overcome Sunday.
The other key sticking point in the talks, the status of the Albanian language, was resolved last week, but is conditional on an overall accord being signed.
In Skopje, NATO spokesman Major Barry Johnson said the alliance was ready to send some 3,500 soldiers to Macedonia to oversee the disarmament of NLA rebels if a final peace accord was reached.
The first NATO soldiers could be deployed within 48 hours after the peace accord was reached and could start overseeing a rebel disarmament two weeks later, Johnson, said.
While international mediators have been upbeat about the chances of success, Macedonian and ethnic Albanian politicians have been markedly silent about progress.
A fragile July 5 ceasefire has been regularly marred by violence, and as the talks dragged on last week, the Skopje government also started to talk tough, saying it was ready to use military force to drive out rebels from areas they have occupied.
The deal would also have to go to parliament, where quick passage of what has been agreed is not assured. Parliament speaker Stojan Andov last week said rebels should withdraw from their positions before it passes.
The international community has weighed in to help secure peace in Macedonia, fearing another Balkans war will erupt as it did in Bosnia and the Serbian province of Kosovo in the 1990s.
Albanians form up to one third of the country's population of two million, living mainly in the north near the border with Kosovo and in the west near Albania.
Macedonia near to finalising peace plan Posted August 5, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010806/3/1a785.html
Monday August 6, 8:19 AM
Macedonia near to finalising peace plan
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonia's politicians try on Monday to put the final touches to a peace plan to defuse a five-month-old ethnic Albanian rebellion, but any pact will face big hurdles to avert a new Balkan war.
Leaders of the two mainstream Macedonian Slav and two ethnic Albanian parties, meeting for more than a week, made a breakthough on Sunday night by agreeing to give Albanians more jobs in the police force as part of a package of reforms.
Policing had been one of the biggest outstanding obstacles to a deal on ways to help ethnic Albanians, who make up about 30 percent of the two million population and complain of discrimination in everything from jobs to education.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who on Sunday visited the Western-brokered talks in a lakeside mansion in southwestern Macedonia, said only fine-tuning remained and that an overall deal was in reach for Monday.
Yet he was cautious about celebrating the big step back from the brink of a wider conflict when hardliners on both sides are advocating more fighting. And the guerrillas have not been involved in the talks.
"All of these efforts will be useless if the people of the country do not want to forget the past and move forward," he said. A shaky truce has been in effect in the former Yugoslav republic since July 26.
Macedonians have staged violent protests several times over the past few months against what they see as capitulation at gunpoint. Guerrillas have stealthily expanded their control over territory in the northwest despite an agreement to pull back.
On Monday, negotiators will have to address details of voting for constitutional changes, the wording of the preamble to the constitution and the status of an unrecognised ethnic Albanian university.
PARLIAMENT STILL TO VOTE
After a political deal is signed, it is meant to be voted by parliament within 45 days -- with at least a two-thirds majority. Macedonian deputies say getting approval for concessions to ethnic Albanians could be tough.
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, one of the party leaders at the talks, said on Thursday that it would be shameful and insulting to sign any peace deal when the rebels were in control of chunks of Macedonian territory.
And a key guerrilla demand, for a blanket amnesty before they hand over weapons to a planned 3,000-strong NATO force, has not yet been discussed. Eleven guerrilla leaders face arrest warrants in Macedonia for terrorism.
Although the rebels have not been at the negotiating table, their demands mirror those of the ethnic Albanian political parties.
Diplomats reckon that Arben Xhaferi, head of the main Albanian party, is in frequent touch with the guerrilla leadership and that anything he signed would have tacit rebel support.
Under Sunday's deal, ethnic Albanians would get 1,000 more police jobs within two years, but control of police forces would stay under Skopje's control, as demanded by the Macedonians. Only six percent of police are now ethnic Albanians.
A Western source said international monitors would be deployed as soon as possible to oversee the police.
The negotiators had scored the first big breakthrough on Wednesday by agreeing to give the Albanian language official status alongside Macedonian in areas where at least 20 percent of people are Albanian speakers.
(Additional reporting by Ana Petruseva in Ohrid and Alister Doyle in Skopje)
Macedonians, ethnic Albanians clear way for peace accord Posted August 5, 2001
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Monday August 6, 6:34 AM
Macedonians, ethnic Albanians clear way for peace accord
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders cleared the way for a peace accord in Macedonia, resolving the main remaining sticking point in attempts to avert a new Balkan war.
"Both the Albanians and Macedonians have accepted the content of the document that they have negotiated with our help," the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said, after brokering the deal on the crucial issue of police reform in areas of the country mainly inhabited by ethnic Albanians.
The agreement late on Sunday by the two sides at internationally mediated talks means that the major sticking points have now been cleared away and the two sides can move to tying up the loose ends of an overall peace deal.
The two sides will meet again early Monday to finalise the details of a comprehensive peace accord.
Once the peace accord has been signed NATO peacekeepers will sweep into the former Yugoslav republic, disarming rebels who have been carrying out an insurgency over minority rights, fighting Macedonian forces in the northwestern hills since February.
The ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army were not at the negotiating table, and whether peace sticks largely depends on how they view the accord.
Shortly after Solana's announcement, two loud explosions were heard near the tinderbox northwestern town of Tetovo, close to territory controlled by ethnic Albanian rebels engaged in a six-month-old rebellion.
Government spokesmen could not be immediately contacted to give details of the explosions. The talks, which move into their ninth day on Monday, were originally scheduled to be held in Tetovo, but moved to Ohrid because of the security situation around the northwestern town, which has borne the brunt of heavy fighting during the uprising.
Solana urged the people of Macedonia to accept the chance for peace, saying he had been impressed by the beauty of the country.
"All the efforts will be useless if the people of the country do not want to forget the past and look forward," he said.
He said the international community wanted to create a Macedonia which is "stable, prosperous and democratic, and has a European perspective."
The issue of the police was at the heart of rebel demands, as it concerns policing in the very areas where they had carried out their insurgency.
Ethnic Albanians form up to one third of the two million inhabitants in Macedonia, living mainly in the north of the country on the border with Kosovo and in the west near Albania.
The talks had been overshadowed by pressure, as a fragile July 5 truce had been marked by sporadic attacks.
Last week, as talks dragged on, the Skopje government also started to talk tough, saying it was ready to use military force to drive out the rebels from the positions they have occupied in the country.
Ethnic Albanians had demanded at the talks that the police make-up be proportional to the country's ethnic divide.
Under Sunday's deal an extra 1,000 ethnic Albanian police officers will be taken on in two stages over 2002 and 2003. When these are added to ethnic Albanians already in the police, they will make up 23 percent of the national police force.
The other major sticking point, the status of the Albanian language in the country, was resolved last week.
Macedonia Peace Talks Advance, Could End Monday Posted August 5, 2001
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Sunday August 5 4:38 PM ET
Macedonia Peace Talks Advance, Could End Monday
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonian peace talks made a breakthrough on Sunday with agreement on police reforms, and mediators expressed hope for an overall deal on Monday aimed at defusing an ethnic Albanian rebellion.
``I think we can say that parties have agreed on a document on police,'' European Union (news - web sites) foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters after a day-long visit to the talks among political leaders in a lakeside mansion in southwest Macedonia.
``Tomorrow they will finalize the fine tuning of the framework document,'' he said of a package of measures meant to undercut a five-month rebellion and avert a new Balkan war.
Leaders of the mainstream Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political parties have met for just over a week in Ohrid to hammer out a package of reforms to defuse the rebellion.
``The hard part is behind us,'' U.S. envoy James Pardew told Reuters after the deal to raise the role of ethnic Albanians in the police force. ``We'll try and get it done tomorrow, but no guarantees.''
The rebels are not represented at the talks, but many of their demands mirror those of ethnic Albanian parties. Discussions about an amnesty -- a key rebel demand -- will not even be addressed at Ohrid.
A guerrilla commander, contacted by Reuters, declined to comment on Sunday's breakthrough.
Ethnic Albanians make up one third of the country's two million population but only six percent of the police.
Under Sunday's deal, ethnic Albanians would get 1,000 more police jobs within two years but control of police forces would stay under Skopje's control, as demanded by the Macedonian Slavs.
Ethnic Albanian demands for a bigger role in the police had been one of the most contentious issues after the negotiators overcame a big hurdle on Wednesday and agreed to give the Albanian language a limited official status alongside Macedonian.
Other constitutional issues remain to be settled on Monday in a long haul to end a conflict fueled by demands for more rights for ethnic Albanians.
And it is unclear exactly how parliament will vote on the constitutional changes. The legislature is meant to approve the peace deal within 45 days.
If a deal is reached and guerrillas agree to disarm, NATO (news - web sites) has agreed to send 3,000 troops to help collect weapons for a month but wants to avoid a long-term mission.
Macedonia peace deal said to be very near Posted August 5, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010805/3/1a713.html
Monday August 6, 5:56 AM
Macedonia peace deal said to be very near
By Philippa Fletcher
OHRID, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonian peace talks made a second breakthrough on Sunday and mediators expressed hope a political deal aimed at defusing an ethnic Albanian rebellion could be finalised on Monday.
"We can say with some satisfaction that the two main difficulties, language and police...have been approved," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters after a day of tough talks in which the two sides agreed on police reform.
"Tomorrow they will finalise the fine tuning of the framework document," he said of a package of measures meant to undercut a five-month-old insurgency and avert a new Balkan war.
Leaders of the main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties have been meeting for just over a week at a lakeside mansion in southwest Macedonia to hammer out reforms designed to encourage the rebels to disarm.
"The hard part is behind us," U.S. envoy James Pardew told Reuters after the announcement by Solana, who made a one-day visit to Macedonia to add to pressure for an agreement.
"We'll try and get it done tomorrow but no guarantees."
The rebels are not represented at the talks but many of their demands mirror those by ethnic Albanian parties. A guerrilla leader contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the deal.
AMNESTY ANOTHER HURDLE
Discussions about an amnesty -- a key rebel demand -- is not part of the agreement under discussion at Ohrid and will have to be finalised afterwards.
They will be complicated by a move initiated by Macedonia's hardline Interior Minister to have rebel leaders arrested and charged with war crimes.
Ethnic Albanians make up one third of the population of the former Yugoslav republic but only six percent of the police.
Under Sunday's deal they would get 1,000 more police jobs within two years, but control of police forces would stay under Skopje's control, as demanded by the Macedonians.
Ethnic Albanian demands for a bigger role in the police had been one of the most contentious issues after a landmark agreement on Wednesday on giving the Albanian language limited official status alongside Macedonian.
"Nobody can be entirely satisfied or entirely dissatisfied by the agreement because it is a compromise," Nikola Popovski, a negotiator from the smaller of the two Macedonian parties at the talks, said by telephone, referring to the deal on police.
Minority voting for constitutional changes, the wording of the preamble to the constitution and the status of an unrecognised ethnic Albanian university remain to be settled in a long haul to end a conflict fuelled by demands from minority Albanians for more rights.
The legislature is meant to approve the bulk of the peace deal within 45 days but one of the Macedonian negotiators said it could take two months to get everything through parliament, where there is likely to be fierce criticism of any concessions.
INTERNATIONAL ROLE
Once the guerrillas agree to disarm, NATO has agreed to send 3,000 troops to help collect weapons for a month but is nervous about deploying without cast-iron guarantees of peace in case it gets dragged into a long-term mission.
Aziz Pollozhani, deputy head of the smaller of the two Albanian parties at the talks, also said the agreement on police reform was a compromise and that the Albanians had set conditions on the remaining issues.
"The essential thing is the presence of the international forces and the Albanian presence in the police in areas where they're in a majority," he said referring to the fact that the new recruits would mostly be sent to mainly Albanian areas.
A Western source said international monitors would be deployed as soon as possible to oversee the police.
There are currently only about 50 monitors from the European Union and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Macedonia and diplomats have said their numbers will have to be at least tripled.