[ALBSA-Info] Macedonia peace envoys announce language deal

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Macedonia peace envoys announce language deal

By Philippa Fletcher

  
OHRID, Macedonia, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Western mediators in talks to end a 
five-month-old ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency in Macedonia announced a 
provisional agreement on Wednesday on the toughest issue -- the use of the 
Albanian language. 

"We have obtained today an agreement from the four political parties on the 
question of language," European Union peace envoy Francois Leotard said after 
talks between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders in southern 
Macedonia. 

"But this accord...hinges on the outcome of the political discussions, 
notably on the issue of the police," he told reporters. 

It was the first piece of positive news from several days of talks, which 
Leotard is mediating with U.S. envoy James Pardew. 

Just as it emerged, Macedonia's hawkish interior minister cast a shadow by 
saying the only way to resolve Macedonia's crisis was to defeat ethnic 
Albanian rebels militarily. 

"We should convince even the last optimist that the only optimistic option is 
to defeat the terrorists to achieve peace and we have enough force to cope 
with the terrorists," Ljube Boskovski said in televised remarks. 

But Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski said the insurgency had grown too big 
for Macedonia to crush just by force. 

"One should be objective, and now, when the crisis has escalated, it cannot 
be settled by force alone," he told an internal ministry magazine called 
Defence. 

DEAL AT THE WEEKEND? 

A Western source had earlier predicted a deal could be finalised at the 
weekend if there was an agreement on language. Some Albanian sources cast 
doubt over how solid the agreement was, indicating that the negotiations 
still had some way to go. 

In Brussels, NATO said its policy-making council was skipping its summer 
holiday in case a peace deal opened the way for Western military deployment 
to gather in rebels' weapons. 

A NATO official said the alliance could deploy within a few weeks provided 
that all parties respected the ceasefire, the authorities in Skopje accepted 
the NATO force and the modalities and timetable for the weapons handover were 
agreed. 

The NATO plan calls for 3,000 troops to deploy for a month to gather in 
weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels and then leave, but many defence experts 
regard the timetable as unrealistic and believe the alliance faces a 
long-term presence in Macedonia. 

A Western diplomat told Reuters Wednesday's breakthrough at the talks gave 
Albanian the status of official language in certain areas and under certain 
circumstances. Albanians make up about a third of Macedonia's two million 
population. 

"Macedonian remains the primary language used everywhere but Albanians now 
have the status of official language for their language. In areas where they 
make up 20 percent or more of the population, interaction with their 
government will be in Albanian," the diplomat said. 

Vlado Popovski, a Macedonian constitutional expert, said Albanians would be 
able to speak their language during plenary sessions of parliament but not in 
government. 

An Albanian source close to the talks said the Albanian side had made a 
concession on language in order to open the way for talks on other issues and 
reserved the right to withdraw its agreement on language if it was not 
satisfied with these. 

Another source, Xhevdet Nasusi, an expert from the biggest Albanian party, 
DPA, said the compromise only referred to certain aspects of the language 
issue. "So the language issue still can be considered an open case," he said 
by telephone. 

The most difficult of the issues still to be worked out is the police force, 
over which the Albanians want greater control. 

TALKS TO CONTINUE FRIDAY 

Leotard said talks would resume on Friday after a break on Thursday for a 
national holiday. 

"The atmosphere is good and you feel a sense of responsibility from all the 
participants," he told reporters. 

"This is very important for the future of Macedonia." 

Macedonia was the only republic to break away from the Yugoslav federation in 
the early 1990s without a shot being fired and the relatively good relations 
between Macedonians and Albanians had prompted optimism a deal could avert 
civil war. 

Asked what fall-back plans NATO had in case there was no deal and civil 
strife worsened, the NATO official said: "We don't have a Plan B. We are 
concentrating on only one plan. 

"It's not worth thinking about the black scenario. In Bosnia, maybe people 
thought too much about Plan B and as a result, a quarter of a million people 
died."