From mentor at alb-net.com Wed Sep 5 08:58:25 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 08:58:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [AMCC-News] HRW: Macedonian Troops Commit Grave Abuses: Crimes Against Civilians - Abuses by Macedonian Forces in Ljuboten, August 10-12, 2001 Message-ID: http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/09/macedonia-0905.htm Macedonian Troops Commit Grave Abuses Role of Interior Minister in Ljuboten Abuses Must be Investigated (New York, September 5, 2001) Macedonian government troops committed grave abuses during an August offensive that claimed ten civilian lives in the ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. "The Macedonian government must answer to the people of Ljuboten. It is deeply disturbing that the Minister of Interior appears to have been so intimately involved in one of the worst abuses of the war. We demand an immediate and impartial investigation." Elizabeth Andersen Executive Director Europe and Central Asia division The complete report titled "Crimes Against Civilians: Abuses by Macedonian Forces in Ljuboten, August 10-12, 2001" is available on the Human Rights Watch website at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/macedonia/. To access the photo gallery accompanying the report, please see: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/macedonia/photos/. The report, titled Crimes Against Civilians: Abuses by Macedonian Forces in Ljuboten, August 10-12, 2001, charges that Macedonian police troops shot dead six civilians and burned at least twenty-two homes, sheds, and stores in the course of their August 12 house-to-house attack on the village. The rights group pressed for an immediate investigation, including an inquiry into the role of Macedonian Minister of Interior Ljube Boskovski, who was present in the village on August 12, the day the worst violations occurred. "The Macedonian government must answer to the people of Ljuboten," said Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "It is deeply disturbing that the Minister of Interior appears to have been so intimately involved in one of the worst abuses of the war. We demand an immediate and impartial investigation." Human Rights Watch called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to make public the results of its investigation into the events in Ljuboten. Human Rights Watch pressed for a separate investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Macedonia conflict. Based on a two-week in-depth investigation, including a visit to Ljuboten, interviews with victims and witnesses, and examination of photographic evidence, the report also documented indiscriminate shelling that claimed another three lives in Ljuboten. Contrary to the government's account of the offensive, researchers found no evidence that the ethnic Albanian rebel National Liberation Army was present in the village. Hundreds of ethnic Albanian civilians who tried to flee Ljuboten faced further abuse. Ethnic Macedonian vigilantes beat three men unconscious in full view of the Macedonian police on August 12. One of the men was shot in the head by the Macedonian police as he attempted to flee the beating. Police separated over one hundred men and boys from their wives and children and took them to police stations in Skopje, where they were subjected to severe beatings. Atulah Qaini, aged thirty-five, was taken away alive from the village by police officers, and his badly beaten and mutilated corpse was later recovered by family members from the city morgue. According to their relatives, at least twenty-four men from Ljuboten, including a thirteen-year-old boy, remain in police custody after suffering serious beatings from the police. The police abuse suffered by ethnic Albanians fleeing Ljuboten is consistent with patterns of systematic abuse Human Rights Watch has documented in Macedonia over the past six months. Human Rights Watch urged international monitors to make a priority of monitoring and reporting on the conduct of Macedonian police. "Endemic police abuse is a potential spark that could re-ignite the conflict in Macedonia," Andersen said. "We can't wait for a gradual restructuring of the police over the next three years. Immediate steps-including monitoring and accountability-are needed to curb abuse." From mentor at alb-net.com Thu Sep 20 15:51:33 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 15:51:33 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [AMCC-News] Macedonia MPs Mull Peace Reforms, U.S. Blasts Delay (fwd) Message-ID: "The U.S. envoy to Macedonia accused [the Macedonian] political leaders Thursday of distorting last week's hijacked airliner attacks in the United States to sabotage a peace accord with minority Albanians." "James Pardew, the U.S. special envoy to Skopje, said Macedonians in a position to influence public opinion were trying to discredit the peace accord by making invidious analogies with the assaults on New York and Washington." "``Comparisons between what happened in Macedonia (the guerrilla uprising) and the events in the United States last week are completely false,'' he told Reuters in an interview." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010920/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_471.html Thursday September 20 12:28 PM ET Macedonia MPs Mull Peace Reforms, U.S. Blasts Delay By Mark Heinrich SKOPJE (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to Macedonia accused political leaders Thursday of distorting last week's hijacked airliner attacks in the United States to sabotage a peace accord with minority Albanians. After two weeks of obstructions by nationalist hard-liners, parliament met for a preliminary vote on 14 constitutional amendments that would grant Albanians better civil rights mandated by the Western-brokered agreement signed in August. But momentum toward implementing the pact generated by swift handovers of weapons to NATO by Albanian guerrillas has broken down over the resistance of legislators to crucial legal changes and a gambit to submit the deal to a referendum. Parliament, whose sessions on the peace plan have been plagued by procedural chaos or canceled for lack of a quorum, decided at the last moment Thursday to put off a referendum vote until Friday and look at amendments instead. Western officials fear a referendum could pitch Macedonia back into bloodshed, given popular distaste for concessions to ''Albanian terrorists'' and the guerrillas' readiness to resume armed struggle if reforms are aborted. James Pardew, the U.S. special envoy to Skopje, said Macedonians in a position to influence public opinion were trying to discredit the peace accord by making invidious analogies with the assaults on New York and Washington. 'COMPLETELY FALSE' ``Comparisons between what happened in Macedonia (the guerrilla uprising) and the events in the United States last week are completely false,'' he told Reuters in an interview. ``I am informing the government that we object to the use of the (U.S.) tragedy ... to attempt to delay or disrupt the peace process ongoing in Macedonia,'' he said before going into talks with government leaders. ``There have been public statements about the U.S. re- evaluating its position in Macedonia based on what happened in New York and we see that as an attempt to delay or disrupt the peace process by redefining the situation here,'' he said. ``I am advising Macedonian leaders that there is no change to U.S. policy and that we stand totally behind the framework agreement and its 45-day timetable for implementation.'' The deadline is the end of this month. But the crashing of hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by suspected Islamic extremists, leaving almost 6,000 dead or missing, is turning into a serious distraction in Macedonia. Nationalists at the heart of parliamentary delays liken the attacks, which Washington has sworn to avenge by war, with ''Albanian terrorist aggression'' against Macedonia. The conflict killed about 100 people in seven months and affected about 10 percent of the former Yugoslav republic. Guerrillas of the National Liberation Army insisted they were fighting only for equal rights for Macedonia's large Albanian minority after years of futile political negotiations. Pro-government media have also run stories this week tarring the guerrillas by alleged association with the suspected mastermind of the U.S. attacks, Saudi-born Muslim radical Osama bin Laden and his Afghan-based al Qaeda group. Quoting unspecified sources, the newspapers said al Qaeda acted as the main financier of the Albanians' National Liberation Army and that it had contributed ``mujahideen'' fighters to the NLA identifiable by their beards. NATO spokesmen have spent much time at news briefings this week batting down the stories, stressing that there is no evidence of links between the NLA and bin Laden. ALBANIANS 'NOT RELIGIOUS' NLA commander in chief Ali Ahmeti also denied it in an interview with Reuters Television at his mountain headquarters. ``They are saying things like that to discredit the reasons why the NLA came into being so we will not realize our demands. I am Albanian and we do not judge things on a religious basis.'' Most Albanians are Muslims but strongly secular. More than 90 percent of Macedonian casualties in the conflict were police or soldiers. Guerrillas did not target Macedonian cultural sites, except for an Orthodox church blown up last month. Skopje and leaders of the rebellious Albanian minority signed coordinated political and military agreements aimed at defusing the Balkans' fifth ethnic conflict since 1991 and stabilizing the whole region over the long term. But many Macedonians suspect the guerrillas are hiding hardware from NATO to wage separatist war later or that they will stage violence to lure NATO troops into dividing the tiny former Yugoslav republic along an ethnic ``Green Line.'' The NLA turned in more than two thirds of its declared arsenal in the first half of NATO's 30-day disarmament mission expiring September 26. Rebels resumed the handovers Thursday after hesitating in concern over parliament's behavior. Reporters saw about 120 guerrillas queued up in pairs in the northern NLA highland bastion of Radusa to dump assault and bolt-action rifles and a Strela anti-aircraft missile launcher among other weaponry. They also surrendered a T-55 tank captured from the Macedonian army in a summer battle. From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Sep 28 16:45:47 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 16:45:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [AMCC-News] Rebel Head in Macedonia Gives Order to Disband Message-ID: "Ali Ahmeti, the political leader of the National Liberation Army, said he gave the order to disband at midnight on Wednesday, hours after NATO agreed with the Macedonian government on the mandate for a new task force to deploy here to keep the peace effort on track." "NATO has been particularly concerned about Macedonian Slav paramilitary groups that emerged a few weeks ago. They have been accused of starting firefights at night around several frontline villages and harassing ethnic Albanian villagers by day." "Arben Xhaferi, the leader of the main Albanian political party, said that if the Macedonian Slav parties tried to change a small part of the political agreement, then his party would reject the whole package." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/28/international/europe/28MACE.html September 28, 2001 Rebel Head in Macedonia Gives Order to Disband By CARLOTTA GALL SIPKOVICA, Macedonia, Sept. 27 Ethnic Albanian rebels declared today that they have formally disbanded and are returning to civilian life, ending their eight-month insurgency for more rights in Macedonia. Ali Ahmeti, the political leader of the National Liberation Army, said he gave the order to disband at midnight on Wednesday, hours after NATO agreed with the Macedonian government on the mandate for a new task force to deploy here to keep the peace effort on track. Surrounded by former fighters, now all dressed in dark suits, Mr. Ahmeti was speaking in this mountain village in western Macedonia that has been his headquarters. In a conciliatory speech, he vowed to cooperate with the peace effort and said he was sure that with the help of the international community the ethnic Albanian minority and the Macedonian Slav majority could overcome all security problems. "We should not create conditions that could reactivate the National Liberation Army," he said. Despite the talk of peace, the potential for a resurgence of violence is very real. Sandbagged checkpoints on the roads in western Macedonia have been abandoned, and children play in the trenches and foxholes. But an invisible front line remains along with off-limits areas between government controlled and rebel-held territory. While the rebels have by all appearances handed in their weapons and disbanded, the Macedonian Parliament has yet to ratify the political agreement that would grant the Albanian minority in the country broader political rights. Nor has the government yet organized an amnesty for the rebel fighters as was promised during the peace negotiations. These final steps are expected to last at least another two weeks. NATO, meanwhile, is moving out. It has ended its 30-day mission to collect and destroy rebel weapons, and the first of its 4,500 troops began departing today. A new force of 1,000 troops will take over, but there are concerns that trouble may break out before the new force is ready. "The next two weeks are perhaps the most critical," a NATO spokesman said. "We need these guys right now on the ground," said Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in Skopje. "Numbers are not so important, but we want a very effective presence that would discourage people from taking up weapons for self-defense, and reduce the fear that is very real in these communities." NATO has been particularly concerned about Macedonian Slav paramilitary groups that emerged a few weeks ago. They have been accused of starting firefights at night around several frontline villages and harassing ethnic Albanian villagers by day. Their presence threatened to derail the rebel disarmament process until finally President Boris Trajkovski was persuaded to order their removal. NATO troops have swarmed into the area, and regular units of the Macedonian Army and police have taken over security of the Macedonian Slav villages, but these paramilitary groups are a potential danger, NATO troops say. Another potential danger is that former rebels admit that, while they have handed in most of their weapons, many have kept a side arm. Independent analysts estimate that the rebels have handed in only half of their weapons and can procure more on the black market. A member of Parliament, Nikola Popovski, argued that any flare-up of fighting would prove that NATO's weapons collection mission had been a failure. If so, he said, Parliament should not give final approval to the political agreement and thus effectively stop the peace process dead. Arben Xhaferi, the leader of the main Albanian political party, said that if the Macedonian Slav parties tried to change a small part of the political agreement, then his party would reject the whole package. The rebel leader, Mr. Ahmeti, said the Macedonians could not renege on the peace deal. "It would be the same as us asking for our broken and destroyed weapons back from NATO," he said. "You know it is not possible." In the next two weeks, the two most taxing issues will be the return of the displaced Macedonian Slavs to their homes in western Macedonia, and the re-entry of Macedonian police officers to the rebel-held areas. Macedonian legislators are insisting both happen soon, before the approval of the peace accord.