[ALBSA-Info] NATO, EU reject Macedonia PM's criticism

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

NATO, EU reject Macedonia PM's criticism

  
BRUSSELS, July 19 (Reuters) - NATO and the European Union responded angrily 
on Thursday to claims by Macedonia's prime minister that the West was putting 
"brutal" pressure on him to accept a peace deal with his country's ethnic 
Albanian minority. 

"(Ljubco) Georgievski's statement yesterday in reaction to the proposals of 
EU and U.S. envoys in Skopje was an undignified response to international 
efforts to assist in the search for a peaceful solution," NATO 
Secretary-General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana 
said in a joint statement. 

"It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in 
Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has been informed of every 
move made," they said. 

Solana and Robertson postponed a trip to Macedonia planned for Thursday due 
to the poor state of negotiations. 

On Wednesday, Georgievski, a nationalist, accused the U.S. and EU envoys of 
forcing Macedonia to cave in to demands from ethnic Albanian guerrillas whose 
five-month rebellion has dragged the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic to the brink 
of civil war. 

"As much as their text is brutal, more brutal and worrying is the fashion in 
which they are trying to break up Macedonian state institutions," he said, 
dismissing a draft that would devolve some power and make Albanian a 
semi-official language. 

In their statement, Solana and Robertson rejected any suggestion that they 
were biased towards the rebels and repeated their view that only continued 
dialogue between the Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties could avert a 
return to bloodshed. 

"The international community has given no support or comfort to the ethnic 
Albanian armed groups," they said. 

"Throughout the current crisis, the international community has clearly 
stated its commitment to the democratic institutions, territorial integrity 
and sovereignty of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, and this is 
reflected in the proposals being presented (by the EU and U.S. envoys)." 

EU officials also expressed dismay over two explosions which damaged property 
and injured at least one person in Skopje early on Thursday. 

"The blasts are a sign of what could happen if the talking stops. We have to 
make every effort to keep the dialogue going," said one diplomat. 

NATO has agreed to deploy troops in Macedonia to supervise the disarmament of 
the ethnic Albanian rebels but only if and when the political parties agree a 
package of reforms. 

Both Macedonian forces and the National Liberation Army rebels have used the 
current NATO-brokered ceasefire to resupply and realign their troops in case 
the talks collapse.