[ALBSA-Info] Today's Articles on Albanian Issues, August 29, 2001

[National Albanian American Council - NAAC]

National Albanian American Council
1700 K Street, N.W., Suite 1201, Washington, DC  20006
(202) 466-6900    Fax: (202) 466-5593
Email: naac at naac.org
_______________________________________________________________________
For Your Information
August 29, 2001


NEW YORK TIMES

Smoothly, NATO Collects More Arms in Macedonia
By CARLOTTA GALL
BRODEC, Macedonia, Aug. 28 - Hundreds of ethnic Albanian fighters lined up to hand in their weapons to NATO troops today at a rebel training camp in this village high in the hills above Tetovo, in western Macedonia. 
It was the second day of NATO's weapons collection operation and, without a hitch, several hundred more weapons, including three ground-to-air missiles, were consigned for destruction.
The operation so far, part of a phased operation to try to halt a civil war, is being described as a success by NATO officials. Both the Macedonian Army and rebel fighters are complying with NATO's requests, a NATO spokesman said. 
The Macedonian Army has been required to pull back about three miles from weapons collection points during the operation and has complied readily each time, he said. "They are trying to help," he added.
Macedonian government officials and the news media that direct coverage to the majority Macedonian Slavs expressed skepticism at the operation, however. The rebels have been handing in "museum pieces," scoffed the leading daily, Dnevnik. A government spokesman, Antonio Milosovski, said that what NATO is calling Operation Essential Harvest was a "theatrical harvest." 
And as NATO troops continued to arrive in this small and divided country, the complexities of their operation are becoming more apparent. Although they insist that they are only here to collect weapons, they are having to work hard to reduce tensions, avert confrontations and even patrol roads.
About 3,300 NATO troops have arrived so far. When at full strength, the force will number 4,500 - significantly more than the originally planned 3,500. The additional troops are mostly for logistical support, including administration and supply units, that individual member countries found they needed to back up the troops they were sending for the disarmament operation, said a NATO spokesman, Maj. Barry Johnson. 
They hope that by Wednesday they will have taken in a third of the 3,300 weapons they plan to collect during their 30-day operation. Then, under an agreement earlier this month between Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders, Parliament should approve constitutional amendments to expand rights for the minority Albanians.
The rebel fighters were relaxed and cooperative as they arrived to disarm today. "We trust in NATO and the international community," said a rebel known as Commander Luli. But he said the NATO task force would be needed here for longer than the 30-day mission.
The potential for trouble is clear in Tetovo, scene of the worst fighting of the conflict, where rebels and the Macedonian police are still staring down their guns at each other. Rebels have sandbagged positions in the walled grounds of a hotel and a much revered Sufi shrine. Government police officers and paramilitary fighters are in a tall apartment building and at a sandbagged checkpoint.
The rebels said they expected to receive orders to pull out and dismantle their positions within days. They said they would obey because of NATO's involvement. Yet there is still tension in the air. 
"We are going to withdraw when the order comes in cooperation with NATO," said the commander of the rebel military police here. "But I am not sure about it. The problem is people are disarming up there in the hills, but here they are reinforcing." 
And he said he would hold back one weapon to keep at his home down the street in case the conflict flared, or in case the Macedonian police harassed civilians.
NATO officers admit that beyond their stated goal, building confidence between the two sides and persuading them to solve their problems politically is the much bigger task. "You have got to try to build the confidence," said one NATO official in Skopje, the capital. 
Two British officers crossed the front line today in Tetovo to do just that. They came from the Macedonian government side to ask rebels if they were holding any Macedonian Slavs in the grounds of the hotel. The rebels said no and took the two officers on a tour of the grounds. 
"We have liaison teams helping on the ground to prevent any misunderstanding and to make sure there is no shooting and stop it before it starts," Major Johnson said.
Elsewhere British troops were out in force watching as busloads of Macedonian Slavs visited the remote village of Lesok for a religious celebration. The Macedonian Slav village lies in a predominantly Albanian area, and most of its inhabitants fled the fighting and still do not dare return except on organized visits.
Albanian refugees have been rushing home since the NATO operation started. About 600 arrived over the weekend and 900 crossed into Macedonia on Monday, said Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee organization.
"We are really concerned about them returning to places that are not stable," she said. If NATO makes the two sides disengage and pull back, who will be in charge in the areas in between, she asked. "There will be a security vacuum and the situation is fairly unpredictable almost daily." 
RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY

MIXED SIGNALS FROM MACEDONIAN AUTHORITIES OVER COLLINS' DEATH 
In a statement in Skopje on 27 August, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski condemned the killing of British sapper Ian Collins by a gang of youths (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 August 2001), Deutsche Welle's "Monitor" reported. Trajkovski stressed that such violent incidents only help those who want to attain their political goals through violence. He later told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that there will be a full investigation, "The Independent" reported. Macedonian government spokesman Antonio Milosovski, however, criticized NATO for not informing the Macedonian authorities quickly of the killing, "Monitor" reported. He added that NATO hampered the police investigation by moving Collins' vehicle before police arrived. Milosovski said that it is "too early" to catch the killers. Observers note that in most cases of violence, the authorities are quick to blame and hunt for "Albanian terrorists" without much of a prior investigation. It is not clear why the security forces, whose supporters feel are capable of crushing an armed insurgency, cannot identify and catch a group of teenagers. PM 
WITNESS SAYS MACEDONIAN TEENAGERS KILLED BRITISH SOLDIER 
"The Daily Telegraph" on 28 August quoted a local teenager with a Slavic name as saying that he saw the killing and that "a group of Macedonian teenagers" had been throwing stones at passing vehicles. A NATO spokesman said that the youths surrounded Collins' Land Rover "in a threatening manner" after hitting it. "The Independent" reported that a Macedonian policeman was 500 meters from the scene of the attack. It is not clear why he did not intervene and arrest the youths. The same daily quoted Macedonian Television as identifying the youths as ethnic Macedonians. PM 
BRITISH SOLDIER'S DEATH THE RESULT OF MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT 'HATE CAMPAIGN'? 
The "Daily Telegraph" reported from Skopje on 28 August that "the death of sapper Ian Collins after a mob attack in the suburbs of Skopje follows a venomous anti-Western campaign orchestrated by hard-line ministers in the Macedonian government." The daily specifically mentions Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski and Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski in this respect (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 5 June and 24 August 2001). One Macedonian special forces vehicle has "NATO Killers" painted on it. Some individual local people told the British reporter that "NATO has done a lot of evil things here" and "we've seen what they've done in Kosovo and Bosnia. They helped the Albanians and Bosnian Muslims and banished the Serbs. They're playing the same game here." "The Independent" quoted an unnamed off-duty Macedonian army captain as saying, "If I saw NATO soldiers here now, I would kill all of them myself." PM 
SAPPER'S DEATH PART OF ORGANIZED ANTI-WESTERN MACEDONIAN VIOLENCE 
British Major Neil Peckham told RFE/RL in a telephone interview from Skopje on 27 August that Collins' death fits into an emerging pattern of violence. "There are indications that it is part of a pattern against NATO vehicles that has been building up over the past few weeks... There have been other instances of NATO vehicles, i.e., green [colored] military vehicles, being targeted by unknown individuals, the dropping of projectiles off road bridges, and throwing projectiles at the vehicles as well." Peckham added that "the [NATO] military police are in close coordination with the Macedonia police, and the investigation is ongoing." Security precautions for NATO personnel have been stepped up. PM 

PRO-BELGRADE PARTY SAYS ALBANIANS TRYING TO SPLIT MONTENEGRO 
Dragan Koprivica of the pro-Belgrade Socialist People's Party (SNP) said in Podgorica on 27 August that a recent violent robbery at Plav near the Kosova border by persons who did not speak Serbo-Croat shows that "Montenegro is unstable. Mentors from Kosovo and Albania have instructed local Albanians to push for an independent Montenegro," dpa reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 August 2001). But Igor Luksic, a spokesman of President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) said, "Koprivica is in the twilight zone." Gazim Hajdinaga, an ethnic Albanian political leader and the government's minister for minorities, stressed that the "Albanians will push for their goals only in legal institutions." PM 

KOSOVALIVE
No Donors to Finance Small Parties' Campaigns 
PRISHTINA (KosovaLive) - Small political parties will have no one to rely on but themselves, given that no donors have offered to support them during the campaign leading up to the November 17 general election.
Some small parties complained that if they were not offered financial support from the OSCE or others, they would be at a disadvantage even before the campaign began, considering that larger political parties already have funds at their disposal. 
"The fact that parties will have to secure funds by themselves is nothing new, while financing has always been a challenge," OSCE spokesman Sven Lindholm told KosovaLive Tuesday, confirming that no donors have yet expressed a willingness to support small parties in the election campaign. Lindholm also said that small parties would have to work harder this year in order to convey their message to the electorate. 
"It is true that bigger parties have an advantage over smaller parties because of the financing issue. That is why the OSCE saw it as very important last year to help find donors to finance the election campaign."
According to Lindholm, these funds had a specific destination - the production of video-clips that would enable small parties to effectively communicate their message to the people. "This was aimed at helping people determine whom they were going to vote for, which is very important in every democracy," he said. 
Last year, the Central Election Commission (CEC) approved a regulation that obliged political parties to outline their funds before and after the elections. Another regulation limited the amount of money parties could spend during the election campaign.
Lindholm said that the regulation was quite important since it ensured greater transparency, by allowing the public to see how each party used their financial resources during the elections campaign, thus permitting voters to draw their own conclusions with regards to how each political party spends their money. 

ATA (Albanian News Agency)
NATO troops start improvement of road Durres-Kukes
President of the Republic Rexhep Meidani on Tuesday in Fushe-Arrez participated at the opening ceremony of the intervention projects of NATO troops in improvement of the road Durres-Kukes. The senior leader of KFOR general Lutc highlighted the importance of Albania to KFOR and the region considering the road Durres-Kukes as an important line joining the "endless interests for stability in the region with the economic development and consolidation of democracy in Albania." President Meidani, placing the beginning of today's operations in a context of regional events, stressed those in Macedonia saying that "the beginning of the operations by your part coincides with a very important moment for peace, security and stability in the region." Further on, he appraised the role and presence of NATO, EU and USA in the achievement and guaranteeing of Peace Agreement. The state leader appraised in general the military contribution to the civil projects and expressed the support of the state in the success of NATO's engagement on the road Durres-Kukes. Afterwards, President Meidani along with the deputy/commander of KFOR in Kosova Lutc, commander of COMMZ West Cekone, placed a stone symbolizing this way the start of the operations. 
-------------- next part --------------
HTML attachment scrubbed and removed