[Kcc-News] Analysis: Macedonia rebels' agenda; Albanian Guerrillas Outline Demands to Macedonia

[Mentor Cana]

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"

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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


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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.