[ALBSA-Info] EU vows help for Macedonia, no troops

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

EU vows help for Macedonia, no troops

By Gareth Jones

  
BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers vowed strong 
political support for Macedonia on Monday as it battles ethnic Albanian 
guerrillas, but rejected a call to send troops to the tiny ex-Yugoslav 
republic. 

Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgan Kerim briefed his EU counterparts and NATO 
Secretary-General George Robertson on the situation in his country and later 
left for Skopje with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. 

Both the EU and NATO have been alarmed by the clashes between Macedonian 
security forces and the ethnic Albanian fighters around the town of Tetovo, 
near the Kosovo border. 

They fear the clashes could strain the often tense relations between 
Macedonia's majority Slavs and its large ethnic Albanian minority to breaking 
point, sparking a wider Balkan conflict. 

"There is a very strong convergence between all EU member states, all NATO 
states and all the countries of the region that we should not let a handful 
of extremists provoke a spiral of violence," said French Foreign Minister 
Hubert Vedrine. 

Vedrine and other ministers also commended Albania for distancing itself 
publicly from the Tetovo guerrillas, whom many suspect of wanting to 
establish a "Greater Albania" in the Balkans taking in Kosovo and parts of 
Macedonia and Montenegro. 

Solana said he would urge ethnic Albanian leaders in talks on Tuesday in 
Skopje to help isolate the guerrillas. 

"Violence has no place here. All the countries of the region are now 
democracies and must move forward through dialogue and diplomacy, not 
violence," said Solana. 

TEST OF EU CREDIBILITY 

The latest clashes are seen as a key test of the EU's efforts to build a more 
effective foreign and security policy. 

But while offering political and economic support, the EU still lacks the 
military muscle to help combat the guerrillas. Its planned rapid reaction 
force will not be operational until 2003, leaving NATO as the key military 
player in the region. 

At Monday's meeting, Austria raised the possibility of extending the mandate 
of NATO peacekeepers based in Kosovo to Macedonia, but diplomats said only 
Greece -- which shares a border with Macedonia -- backed that proposal. 

Earlier, NATO's Robertson also ruled out any extension of the alliance's 
mandate and noted that the Macedonian government had made no such request. 

Any change in NATO's mandate would need approval by the U.N. Security 
Council, where it would be sure to provoke a veto from permanent member 
China, which is still smarting from Macedonia's diplomatic recognition of its 
arch-rival Taiwan. 

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, whose country holds the rotating EU 
presidency, said NATO would focus for now on beefing up its policing of the 
border between Macedonia and Kosovo. 

Lindh also said she would travel to Skopje and to Pristina, capital of 
Kosovo, on Thursday with other senior EU officials to assess ways in which 
the Union could help alleviate the crisis. 

Diplomats said the EU was worried that bold steps like sending foreign troops 
could seriously complicate relations between the Slav and Albanian 
communities in Macedonia. 

But Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou told Reuters the EU had not 
completely ruled out the possibility of sending troops to Macedonia at a 
later date, if it proved necessary. 

"It is not off the agenda," he said. "If the measures taken are not enough to 
stop the terrorist activity, then other options will come to the fore." 

TEST OF MACEDONIAN "MODEL" 

Kerim said the clashes were a test of whether a multi-ethnic society could 
survive in the war-ravaged Balkan region. About a third of Macedonia's two 
million population is ethnic Albanian. The majority has close ethnic and 
linguistic ties to Bulgaria. 

"We need to show all the peoples of the Balkans that the inter-ethnic model 
such as we have in Macedonia needs not only to be protected but to be 
promoted," Kerim told reporters. 

European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten said the EU was 
providing financial help to projects like the Albanian-language university in 
Tetovo. 

EU financial help earmarked for Macedonia in 2001 totals 41 million euros 
($36.9 million). Macedonia will also sign a stabilisation and association 
agreement with the EU next month -- the first step towards eventual EU 
membership.