From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Mar 16 16:31:32 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 16:31:32 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Macedonia: Human Rights Violation Message-ID: 1. Macedonian Police Brutality and Abuse 2. Citizenship and Constitution 3. Education: --- 1. Macedonian Police Brutality and Abuse "Police searches of the houses of ethnic Albanians in Aracinovo were characterized by the use of excessive force. On 14 January men and boys were beaten in several houses. One man had his jaw broken, reportedly with a police rifle butt. Six men and two 15-year-old boys were made to lie face down outside another house and were kicked and beaten as they lay. A 70-year-old man was allowed to sit up, but the others were reportedly kept on the ground for up to three hours. The ill-treatment was allegedly accompanied by references to their Albanian ethnicity. Old men, women and children were allegedly guarded at gunpoint by police for three hours in another house." http://www.balkanreport.com/angliski/policebrutalityreport.htm http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/EUR650052000 http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/macedonia.html ### 2. Citizenship and Constitution "Despite government promises to reform Macedonia's overly exclusive 1992 citizenship law in line with Council of Europe standards, the law remained unchanged. Drafted at the time of its independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia's citizenship law never adequately resolved the status of the significant number of Yugoslav citizens who were long-term residents in Macedonia but who were neither born in Macedonia nor ethnic Macedonian. Large numbers of ethnic Albanians, Turks, and Roma who knew no other home than Macedonia remained effectively stateless as a result of the law." http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/macedonia.html ### 3. Education: "In July, the government adopted legislation to resolve the long-standing question of Tetovo University, a private Albanian-language institution that Macedonian authorities refused to accredit as an educational institution. The passage of the law on education on July 25 established a new multi-lingual tertiary institute offering training in business, education, and public management. The internationally funded institution, intended as a replacement to Tetovo University, would allow Albanians to study in their own language, although a proficiency test in Macedonian would be required before their diplomas were officially recognized. Despite receiving the backing of the Albanian party in the ruling government coalition, the new institute did not receive unequivocal support from the country's ethnic Albanian population, many of whom wanted nothing less than the recognition of Tetovo University itself." http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/macedonia.html ### From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Mar 16 16:31:50 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 16:31:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Analysis: Macedonia rebels' agenda; Albanian Guerrillas Outline Demands to Macedonia Message-ID: 1. Albanian Guerrillas Outline Demands to Macedonia - "equla rights" - "respects the territorial integrity of the Macedonian state" - "international mediation" - 'end the "discrimination against the Albanian population' 2. Analysis: Macedonia rebels' agenda - "It calls for international mediation of the conflict and a new constitution which would stress that Macedonians and Albanians are equal national groups in the same state." - "a battle for human rights" ### http://news.excite.com/news/r/010310/15/international-macedonia-guerrillas-dc Albanian Guerrillas Outline Demands to Macedonia Updated 3:10 PM ET March 10, 2001 BERLIN (Reuters) - A group claiming to represent guerrillas who have clashed recently with Macedonian forces says it is fighting for "equal rights" for ethnic Albanians, according to a statement faxed to a German broadcaster. But the group, calling itself the National Liberation Army, says it respects the territorial integrity of the Macedonian state, according to the statement received on Saturday by Germany's Deutsche Welle radio and television broadcaster. At least five people have been killed in Macedonia in the past week in clashes with a guerrilla group which is presumed to be made up of ethnic Albanians. Saturday's statement appears to be the first declaration of the group's political demands. It calls for international mediation in the current conflict and for changes to Macedonia's constitution, Deutsche Welle said in a report citing the statement. The statement called for Macedonia to be defined as "a state of two peoples," Macedonians and Albanians. This would end the "discrimination against the Albanian population by the Slav-Macedonian majority." It also calls for a new census of Macedonia's population to be carried out by an international organization. The exact size of the ethnic Albanian minority in Macedonia is a matter of some dispute, with most estimates ranging somewhere between one quarter and one third of the population of around two million people. Many ethnic Albanians have complained of discrimination by the Macedonian majority but both ethnic groups are represented in the current coalition government and the main ethnic Albanian parties have condemned recent violence involving the group. Western diplomats have praised the government for improving inter-ethnic relations in the former Yugoslav republic which has so far avoided being dragged into Balkan warfare. The aims of the group have been the subject of considerable speculation, with many Macedonians suspecting it wants to make ethnic Albanian areas part of a "Greater Albania" including neighboring Kosovo. Another theory links them to groups of smugglers who operate relatively freely across unmarked, hilly borders between Macedonia, Kosovo and southern Serbia. The NLA has the same abbreviation in the Albanian language, UCK, as the Kosovo Liberation Army which fought against Serb rule in ethnic Albanian dominated Kosovo. ? 2001 Reuters Limited ### http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1213000/1213887.stm Sunday, 11 March, 2001, 01:34 GMT Analysis: Macedonia rebels' agenda The rebels say they do not seek to break up Macedonia By Paul Wood in northern Macedonia The ethnic Albanian guerrillas known as the National Liberation Army (UCK) have issued a statement setting out their political aims in Macedonia. The statement calls for a new Macedonian constitution, better rights for Albanians, and international mediation. In another development, state television is reporting that the BBC's Albanian-language broadcasts have been taken off the air in the capital Skopje. Military communique number six sets out in detail the UCK's political aims. It calls for international mediation of the conflict and a new constitution which would stress that Macedonians and Albanians are equal national groups in the same state. Click here to see a map of the area Most importantly, the UCK stress that they do not want to do anything to damage the integrity of the Macedonian state. This is mainly designed to reassure the international community that the rebels are not trying to achieve Greater Albania, or to partition the country. Battle for rights To achieve international support, the rebels are well aware that they must portray their struggle as a battle for human rights, not for territory. The guerrillas are opposed by the biggest ethnic Albanian political party in Macedonia. But the reaction to this statement in the Kosovan capital, Pristina, has been interesting. Previously, the UCK were without any political friends in Pristina, with even former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army failing to voice support. This was because of fears that international hostility to a new ethnic Albanian guerrilla group in Macedonia might endanger the project of an independent Kosovo. But this well-judged statement, deliberately stating moderate political aims, and attempting to reassure the international community, has started to swing opinion around, at least in Pristina. Opinion in Macedonia The crucial unanswered question though, is how much support the UCK have among ordinary ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. One senior commander told me: "We're organised throughout the country. In seven days, Skopje, Gostibar and Tetebo will all tremble" - a reference to the three biggest towns in Macedonia. So far there have been only sporadic clashes, but if these words are true, then Macedonia has never been at greater risk of sliding into civil war. From mentor at alb-net.com Sat Mar 17 04:10:49 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 04:10:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Minority Albanians Say Fight in Macedonia Is for Equity Message-ID: 1. Minority Albanians Say Fight in Macedonia Is for Equity 2. Discrimination: The Macedonian Citizenship Law ### 1. Minority Albanians Say Fight in Macedonia Is for Equity Rebels Demand Rights "A group of ethnic Albanian guerrillas battling for control of a hillside overlooking this frightened provincial city said today their sole aim is to win more economic and political rights alongside Macedonia's Slavic majority." "In interviews, they said their armed violence was sparked by a decade of discrimination at the hands of the Macedonian Slavs who make up nearly two-thirds of the country's 2 million inhabitants, alongside tiny communities of Gypsies, Turks and Serbs." "Although the men would not say where they were from, their accents were local, giving credence to the theory that the guerrillas had recruited members from the predominantly ethnic Albanian towns surrounding Tetovo." "But little agreement exists in Macedonia about one of the guerrillas' key demands, new schools staffed by Albanian-speaking teachers. At present, only elementary schools offer instruction in that language. While ethnic Albanians see the school issue as a matter of human rights and economic opportunity, many Macedonian Slavs consider the creation of more Albanian-language schools a recipe for enhanced Albanian nationalist and separatist sentiments." For full article visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15604-2001Mar16.html ### 2. Discrimination: The Macedonian Citizenship Law "Despite government promises to reform Macedonia's overly exclusive 1992 citizenship law in line with Council of Europe standards, the law remained unchanged. Drafted at the time of its independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia's citizenship law never adequately resolved the status of the significant number of Yugoslav citizens who were long-term residents in Macedonia but who were neither born in Macedonia nor ethnic Macedonian. Large numbers of ethnic Albanians, Turks, and Roma who knew no other home than Macedonia remained effectively stateless as a result of the law." http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/macedonia.html From mentor at alb-net.com Tue Mar 20 01:03:31 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 01:03:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] LOCAL CRISES IN MACEDONIA NOT "IMPORTED" FROM KOSOVA, KOSOVAR PARTIES SAID Message-ID: KosovaLive 19 March 2001 http://kosovalive.com/english/latest.htm LOCAL CRISES IN MACEDONIA NOT "IMPORTED" FROM KOSOVA, KOSOVAR PARTIES SAID Prishtina, March 19 (KosovaLive) The accusations of Macedonian authorities concerning the incrimination of the Kosovar Albanians in the conflict within Macedonia are unacceptable, say the political parties of Kosova. Representatives of Kosova's main political parties consider that high Macedonian officials are attempting to "import" the problems in order to ignore the serious local character of the problem. "The situation is a result of unsolved Albanian problems in Macedonia over a period of 10 years. Accusations which have the same aim as before - that political elements in Kosova are involved in incriminating incidents in Macedonia - are unacceptable," Naim Jerliu, vice-president of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), told KosovaLive Monday. Jerliu stated that there was absolutely no involvement of Kosovars in the troubles in Macedonian. Instead of accusations, the Macedonian government should be prepared to open up ways for Albanian demands in Macedonia to be met, in order to prevent the situation from escalating and to prevent the risks that are a cause of concern, he argued. Ramadan Avdiu, a member of the Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK), said, "the accusations of Macedonia's Prime Minister are unfounded and absolutely baseless." According to Avdiu, Macedonian authorities want to remove the blame from themselves while accusing the political parties in Kosova. "The Kosovar political parties have clearly requested that the problem in Macedonia be solved in a political manner, including respecting all rights of the Albanians that live here," Avdiu said. A member of the Alliance for the Future of Kosova (AAK), Bujar Dugolli, said that the government of Macedonia, because it is incapable of solving its own problems, falsely accuses the political leadership in Kosova. "We support the right of Albanians in Macedonia to be a state-forming people and to have the same rights as the Macedonians," he said. According to Dugolli, if the Macedonian government refuses to negotiate with Albanian political and military factions in Macedonia, the solution will be even more difficult. "Our efforts are aimed at getting both sides in the conflict to begin negotiations which will end the armed conflict," Dugolli said. (b.bala) From dardan at alb-net.com Wed Mar 21 14:52:54 2001 From: dardan at alb-net.com (Dardan Blaku) Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 14:52:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Press-Release: Macedonia Crisis Center (AMCC) Message-ID: <200103211952.f2LJqsD08168@alb-net.com> The Alb-Net Group is pleased to announce the launching of the new site, the Albanians in Macedonia Crisis Center (AMCC). URL: http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/ The site covers the ongoing situation in Macedonia with daily news-updates as well as developments with Human and Civil Right issues. Daily News-Updates: URL: http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/news.htm Human and Civil Rights Issues Coverage: URL: http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/humanrights.htm To contact us please e-mail at amcc-info at alb-net.com Sincerely, AMCC Webmaster Alb-Net.Com Group From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Mar 23 00:30:57 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:30:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Ethnic Albanian civilians shot by Macedonian police forces Message-ID: http://www.msnbc.com/news/502229.asp Macedonia ethnic tensions escalate Ethnic Albanian civilians shot by Macedonian police forces A Macedonian policeman gestures over the bodies of two ethnic Albanians shot dead in Tetovo on Thursday. TETOVO, Macedonia, March 22 ? Macedonia?s multi-ethnic population was on edge on Thursday after government shot dead two civilians in the center of the country?s second-largest city. The deaths came after the Macedonian government refused to negotiate with ethnic Albanian guerrillas launching an insurgency, and stepped up army attacks on rebel positions. Maceda reports from the scene of the shooting in Tetovo. Maceda on the new offensive against Macedonian rebels. NBC?s JIM MACEDA reported from the scene of the shooting in Tetovo that the area remained tense after police cordoned off the city center. Macedonian police stopped a car during the morning and opened fire when its occupants appeared to hurl an object that looked like a hand grenade at a sandbagged position. The two men were killed on the spot, riddled with bullets. Flak-jacketed police cradling submachine guns later set up roadblocks and were searching all vehicles entering and leaving the town. Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, who is invited to attend an EU summit in Stockholm on Friday, said the main political parties agreed in late-night talks ?on the need to neutralize the terrorist threat quickly.? Macedonian guns started firing on rebel-held hills, ignoring a unilateral cease-fire declared by the guerrillas Wednesday in an effort to delay a threatened government assault. A rebel spokesman contacted by Reuters denied Macedonian police claims that the guerrillas were retreating without a fight and had abandoned village strongholds to withdraw over the mountain border into Kosovo. A Macedonian special policeman fights with a man in Tetovo on Thursday. Shortly after the scuffle, the man was shot and killed by Macedonian forces. The village of Gracani, northwest of Skopje, appeared to be in rebel hands after a substantial force entered overnight, residents in the vicinity said. Police sealed off Gracani after one officer was wounded in the shooting that ensued. The rebels said one of their number was also hit. The village is close to the border with Kosovo, about 10 miles from Skopje and well east of Tetovo. The rebels say they are fighting to improve the rights of the large ethnic Albanian minority. Macedonia says they are separatists from neighboring Kosovo. CEASE-FIRE A GLIMMER OF HOPE A ministerial delegation from the European Union arrived in Skopje as the government bombardment resumed. The boom of detonations could be heard at the airport 25 miles away, but the EU still saw some glimmer of hope that the spiraling violence could be halted. ?I think that a cease-fire is always a positive thing. We were very pleased when we heard yesterday that the people from the mountains called a cease-fire,? EU security chief Javier Solana told a news conference. ?But clearly in this region we?ve seen a lot of statements about cease-fires,? he added. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the rebels to engage in dialogue. ?They should heed the call of the Security Council, which yesterday unanimously condemned extremist violence, including terrorist activities, and appealed for dialogue among all legitimate parties,? Annan told a news conference, during which he announced he would seek a second, five-year term as secretary-general. Artillery fire in the stretch of mountainous territory bordering Kosovo began Thursday morning and appeared to be a rejection of the ?unilateral, unlimited cease-fire? proposed by the rebel National Liberation Army Wednesday night. Reporters heard a steady series of impacts, apparently targeting rebel rear positions in the Sar Planina range. The rebel offer stopped short of meeting Macedonian demands that the guerrillas pull out of mountain villages and positions they had occupied. Wednesday?s guerrilla truce, hard on the heels of statements of defiance, was a surprise. It presented the government and the West with the difficult choice of acquiescing in rebel control of territory for the sake of calm, or carrying on fighting and risk alienating the Albanian community in fragile, multiethnic Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic of about 2.1 million people. U.S. TO SEND PREDATORS The government appeared to have been given a green light for tough action earlier this week by Western powers, which have strongly condemned the rebels as a small group of extremists bent on fomenting civil war in pursuit of separatist aims. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini said six major powers that had dealt with Balkan crises for most of the past decade would show ?zero tolerance? for deliberate ethnic violence. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved a deployment order for a unit of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to the Balkans, at the request of NATO. Pentagon officials said the unit consists of 2 or 3 UAVs, plus 80 additional people to run, repair and control them. Spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said no decision has been made yet on where the unit will be based in the region. It is expected, however, the UAVs will become part of NATO operations in Kosovo near the border with Macedonia. The UAVs are expected to arrive in theater next week. Pentagon officials said part of the reason to introduce UAVs now, aside from the NATO request, is due to weather conditions. During winter months, cloud cover obscures much of the terrain, making it nearly impossible for the Predators to operate. From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Mar 23 12:09:55 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 12:09:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] **ALERT** Albanian Daily in Macedonia Banned! Macedonian security banns the distribution of FAKTI international edition Posted Friday, March 23, 2001 Message-ID: *** ALERT *** Albanian Daily in Macedonia Banned! Announcement from Shkupi daily newspaper on Albanian language FAKTI Macedonian security banns the distribution of FAKTI international edition. - Shkup, 23. 03. 2001 - The Editor of Shkupi-based daily newspaper on Albanian language FAKTI informs the public that the Macedonian State Security has banned the distribution of the international edition of this newspaper to some of the west European countries. The entire circulation of the FAKTI-International, dedicated to Switzerland, was confiscated amd banned for further distribution on March 22, 20001 ate 0700hrs at the International Airport in Shkupi. This is the first time that the Macedonian security forces would ban the distribution of some newspaper. Therefore, the Editor of FAKTI demands from the Macedonian authorities to respect the Article 16 of the Constitution of Macedonia and Article 10 of the European Human Rights Convention that guarantee freedom of obtaining and transmitting informations or ideas, without interference by state institutions and regardless of state borders and allow the free distribution of FAKTI from Skopje to Zurich. Daily Newspaper FAKTI From mentor at alb-net.com Mon Mar 26 06:45:55 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 06:45:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] *** ALERT*** Macedonian Police Attacks Civilians Message-ID: *** ALERT*** Macedonian Police Attacks Civilians Posted March 26, 2001 Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1242000/1242770.stm Hundreds of refugees have fled ethnic Albanian villages in the area, some saying they had come under attack from Macedonian forces. ... However, hundreds of refugees fled across the border into Kosovo after a 12-hour night trek through snow-covered mountain passes. Some said they had come under fire. ... "While walking through the hills, helicopters came above our heads and started firing into the woods which were filled with refugees," 35-year-old Arif Azemi told the Associated Press news agency. From mentor at alb-net.com Tue Mar 27 12:47:38 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 12:47:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [AMCC-News] Suspicious arrests in Macedonia: WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IN MACEDONIA? (FAKTI) Message-ID: "Why the Macedonian structures continuously have been accusing the Kosovars for invasion, where in the meantime they are imprisoning The Albanians from Macedonia?" --- WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IN MACEDONIA? 27/03/2001 Suspicious arrests! by Emin Azemi, publisher of FAKTI Daly Newspaper As far as the genesis of the crises is concerned, since the crises began in Tanusha, the evaluation of the Macedonian state structures has been constant: "Terrorists have come from Kosova, conducting invasion in Macedonia". After the last offensive of the Macedonian police and army, the dilemma whether "the terrorists were from Kosova or from Macedonia still remains unexplained to the public. The last action by arresting many Albanians, either from the cities or those from the upper villages of Tetova, makes this dilemma even more confused. If this operation continues with the same intensity, another question arises and remains open: Why the Macedonian structures continuously have been accusing the Kosovars for invasion, where in the meantime they are imprisoning The Albanians from Macedonia? Legal experts, may probably locate sources of the crises precisely, respectively the carriers of the activities, which the court considers them to be "oriented against the integrity and sovereignty of Macedonia". It would be counter-productive if imposed methods during the overcoming of the situation are activated, methods which by all means want to create a kind of preparatory terrain "to judge the terrorism through unfounded accusations". You get the impression as if particular segments of the state accomplish in the cities what they could not do in the mountains, through arresting people with and without excuses. What worries is the fact that among those arrested are intellectuals, translators of the foreign organizations, school principals, political parties' activists, teachers, etc. In most of the cases, according to the arrested people's lawyers, we have to do with unfounded and suspicious accusations, setups and accelerated police actions. It is clear that political parties , especially the Albanian political party at the Government, are in the most difficult position. Nevertheless, it would be quite effective if the intervention of these political parties to stop this furious action of the security organs takes place immediately. The great moral resource of the Albanian political parties in overcoming the crisis would be sufficient as a guarantee for all these innocent individuals who have been arrested. 1001 proofs exist and they talk in favor of the innocence of these people, of which most of them, in the civil life, are known as honorable, loyal and professionally distinguished people. Emin AZEMI, publisher of FAKTI Daly Newspaper