[AMCC-News] Macedonia Albanians reject the idea of secession; "... not even the NLA has called for autonomy or independence ..."

[Mentor Cana]

*** NOTE: Azis Polozhani is the Vice President of the Party for
          Democratic Prosperity (PDP), a coalition member in the newly
          established unity government in Macedonia

Full article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/05/15/fp6s2-csm.shtml
Macedonia tries again for difficult unity
By Arie Farnam Special to The Christian Science Monitor
May 15th, 2001

...
    "I appreciate their sacrifice for Albanian rights," he says. "The
demands of the rebels are the same issues we have been bringing to the
Macedonian Parliament for 10 years, and nothing happened until they took
up arms."

    Polozhani says he believes the NLA would end its insurgency if four
main demands are met: first, for Albanian to become an official state
language in schools, Parliament, and other state institutions; second, a
publicly funded Albanian-language university; and third, proportional
employment in the public sector for ethnic-Albanians, who comprise 1/3
of Macedonia's 2 million inhabitants but hold only 4 percent of the
state jobs.

    The rebels' most contentious demand is a constitutional change that
would make Albanians a "founding nation" of the state, along with
Macedonian Slavs. Many Macedonians see this as paramount to a
declaration of independence by ethnic-Albanian areas in western
Macedonia.

    Polozhani rejects the idea of secession, and not even the NLA has
called for autonomy or independence, unlike the rebel Kosovo Liberation
Army, which fought Yugoslav security forces during the Kosovo crisis two
years ago.

    Polozhani is now lobbying for a bilateral cease-fire and talks
between the new coalition and the NLA. It's a suggestion Prime Minister
Ljubco Georgievski, who has called called the NLA a "terrorist
organization," has rejected repeatedly in the past.
...