[ALBSA-Info] EU says Macedonia can still avoid civil war

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

EU says Macedonia can still avoid civil war

By Gareth Jones

  
BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - The European Union appealed for calm in 
Macedonia on Tuesday after a night of clashes and said the former Yugoslav 
republic could still pull back from the brink of civil war if its citizens 
showed restraint. 

EU leaders also pledged full support for Macedonian President Boris 
Trajkovski and vowed to step up their efforts to mediate an agreement between 
the tiny country's ethnic Slav and Albanian communities. 

"We strongly condemn the violence overnight in (the capital) Skopje," Swedish 
Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and 
Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten said in a joint statement. 

Sweden holds the rotating EU presidency. 

"We will not be deflected from our determination to do all in our power -- 
working closely with NATO and other international organisations -- to assist 
the democratically elected government...to achieve a solution to this crisis 
through dialogue," the statement said. 

Earlier, Lindh told reporters in Luxembourg that the EU had received 
assurances that Trajkovski and his government were "in full control of the 
military and the police." 

She said Trajkovski, who has forged close political and economic ties with 
the 15-nation EU, would address his country of two million later on Tuesday. 

WAR STILL AVOIDABLE 

In its statement, the EU said there was still everything to play for in 
Macedonia. 

"There is still every chance of restoring peace and stability. But it will 
require the courage and the resolve of every citizen to stand back now from 
the brink and to seize the remaining chance of peace, based on dialogue," it 
said. 

On Tuesday, Macedonian troops fired at three rebel villages, but the 
guerrillas, who say they are fighting for Albanian minority rights in the 
Balkan country, vowed to stay put. 

On Monday night, police reservists fired off their guns in parliament to 
protest at NATO's evacuation of armed rebels from the village of Aracinovo 
after an EU-brokered ceasefire. Thousands of Macedonian Slavs cheered on the 
reservists. 

Asked whether the EU and NATO had been right to put pressure on the 
government to allow the rebels to leave Aracinovo with their arms, Lindh said 
there had been no other option available. 

"What was important was to have them (the rebels) leave Aracinovo," she said. 

WIDER CONFLICT FEARS 

Lindh said the EU and NATO would remain closely involved in the search for a 
way out of the conflict in Macedonia. 

"This is not only a Macedonian conflict, this is a conflict of utmost 
international importance," she said, referring to Western fears that meltdown 
in Macedonia could draw in neighbouring states like Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania 
and Greece. 

"Therefore we have to stay committed and we have to be present, even if we 
are not very welcome at this very moment." 

On Monday, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg held talks with their 
Macedonian counterpart, Ilinka Mitreva, and expressed disappointment about 
the lack of progress on political reforms aimed at healing the inter-ethnic 
rift. 

The ministers also appointed former French Defence Minister Francois Leotard 
as the EU's resident envoy in Macedonia. He will report to Solana, who until 
now has been spearheading the international effort to restore peace in 
Macedonia. 

Lindh said on Tuesday that Leotard was in Luxembourg for consultations about 
his mission before leaving for Skopje.