[Prishtina-E] Today's Articles on Albanian Issues, August 15, 2001

[National Albanian American Council - NAAC]

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New York Times
August 15, 2001
Macedonia Deployment Moves Forward
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- NATO leaders presented a proposal to their national governments for the partial deployment of a 3,500-member military mission to Macedonia, moving forward Wednesday with a plan the alliance hopes will pave the way for peace in the Balkan nation.

The alliance's ruling council set a 5 p.m. (11 a.m. EDT) deadline for any of NATO's 19-member governments to object to the plan. If they do not, the council will authorize deployment of the mission's headquarters, communications and other essential support elements -- about 400 personnel.

The 3,500-strong British-led force would collect and destroy arms and ammunition held by the rebels. The 30-day mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest, would include troops from the United States and 11 European nations.

One NATO official, speaking on condition he not be identified, said a decision to deploy partially did not imply a final decision on deployment of the entire task force.

NATO set four conditions for sending in troops: a political agreement between the parties, a NATO-Macedonia agreement setting out the legal basis for the deployment, an agreement with the rebels for turning in weapons, and a cease-fire.

The first three have been fulfilled. Despite the signing of the peace agreement on Monday, however, sporadic violence has continued.

The Macedonian Defense Ministry said Wednesday there was fighting overnight between the insurgents and government forces in the second-largest city of Tetovo and surrounding villages.

The ministry said ethnic Albanian rebels attacked Macedonian security forces deployed near the city's soccer stadium, and around Sara Mountain and other villages near Tetovo and in the Kumanovo area, north of Skopje. Government forces returned fire. There was no word on casualties.

NATO is concerned that if it deploys too early, allied troops could find themselves in a crossfire. If it waits to long to deploy, the political agreement could come apart.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson had been pressing the ambassadors to move quickly to keep up the momentum of the political agreement.

Once NATO gives the activation order, the first elements can be on their way almost immediately. Military officials have said the headquarters element of the deployment could be in Macedonia within 48 hours of the activation order.

Monday's peace deal, which came after six months of bloody conflict, gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police, parliament and education.

In Skopje, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said Wednesday he will ask Parliament to amend the constitution to give the ethnic Albanian minority more rights, the first formal step in implementing the peace deal and paving the way for NATO.

Parliament would ratify the amendments three days after NATO informs the government that ethnic Albanian rebels have been disarmed, state television reported.

Maj. Gen. Gunnar Lange of Denmark, a senior NATO representative in Skopje, said that once the mission is approved and a permanent-cease fire is established, the deployment will last about 10 days. ``Within 30 days, we expect to complete the mission,'' he said Wednesday.

``Our soldiers will not come here to enforce peace,'' Lange said. ``They will only come if the environment allows them to conduct their very specific mission of collecting weapons and ammunition that are voluntarily turned in.''

The most likely outcome of Wednesday's meeting in Brussels, diplomats said, is a proposal to deploy the NATO force on a fixed date.

On Tuesday, NATO reached deals with the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanians on the deployment of alliance soldiers and the disarming of rebels in this impoverished country.

The rebels officially declared they intend to hand in about 2,000 weapons, a figure NATO is trying to persuade the Macedonian government to accept.

NATO and ethnic Albanian officials said the insurgents pledged to hand in their weapons to the British-led force.

However, hopes for a permanent cease-fire were dampened by the recent killing of up to nine people in the village of Ljuboten on the outskirts of Skopje. Ethnic Albanians said the victims, all civilians, were summarily executed by the government troops; the government insisted they were rebels in disguise. 

Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty
Agust 15, 2001

"Sour Grapes" from Serbian Prime Minister 


Zoran Djindjic told Austrian Television on 13 August that the lesson of the settlement in Macedonia is that "violence pays," the BBC's Serbian Service reported. He added that the Albanians have received a generous deal, and that now the "only oppressed group in Europe" are the Serbs of Kosova. 

 

Shekulli (Albanian Daily)

August 15, 2001

Prime-Minister to be selected after a week
SP Council decides Committee meeting on 20 August
By Darina Tanushi

The SP Steering Council has decided to postpone the meeting of the Steering Committee due to the accident suffered by the SP Chairman Nano the previous day. The Council had an emergency meeting which the PM Meta, the ministers Meksi, Ruka and the Secretary fir Foreign Relations Dade did not attend. 
The Secretary General Ruci informed the other members of the health situation of the leader and requested their consensus for postponing the Committee meeting as Nano could not attend it. 
The leader Nano had been on a tour in the South during these days, which was commented as a move of the leader to make the local leaders not vote Meta as PM again. Certain senior party officials, supporters to Meta even criticized the tour. 
The Steering Committee meeting scheduled to take place today was going to select the new Socialist for PM and the new candidate for parliament Speaker. The materials had been prepared and the members had been acquainted with the platforms of the three candidates running for the post of PM. The candidates had been scheduled to have no debate but just present their platforms and their political-governance priorities. The selection would be through the secret voting. 

Fifth round delays CEC
Parliament to be convened one week later 

The constitution of the new Parliament has been postponed one more week, on 20th of August 2001. Time is needed to give the final result and for the calculation of the 40 additional seats. In one zone in Korce, the election which began on 24th of June actually might even finish in September.
In case the opposition candidate in this zone end with a loss, the opposition coalition is going to have 28 seats from the proportional list, which is two more and will total 48 (20 +28) instead of 47 (21 + 26). 
Another reason is the unexpected accident of the SP leader Nano two days ago and the SP is not ready yet to name the new PM.

Radio 21 News
August 15, 2001

KFOR Detains 16 NLA Soldiers, Two of Them Shoot at KFOR
National Liberation Army (NLA) soldiers fired at a Polish-Ukrainian (POLUKR) battalion Monday, a KFOR spokesman reported Tuesday. The incident occurred near the Macedonian border, after KFOR peacekeeping troops from Multinational Brigade East fired warning shots to prevent a group of Albanian guerillas from entering FYROM from Kosova. Major Norman Johnson said that the NLA suspects had fired on KFOR troops, after members of the Polish-Ukrainian battalion detained 16 NLA members attempting to crossing into Macedonia. KFOR also confiscated their weapons. "While the POLUKR soldiers were conducting the interdiction, two additional suspects approached to within 100 meters from the east with five horses and fired upon the MNB East soldiers. The soldiers returned fire and the men and horses fled west across the FYROM border," Johnson added. The detainees were sent to the Camp Bondsteel detention facility early Tuesday morning, along with two injured NLA members. A KFOR patrol from Multinational Brigade (MNB) East detained two men on Monday at Gornace village, traveling into Kosova from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Two horses carrying 20 82mm mortar rounds were seized, according to KFOR Tuesday. KFOR spokesman Howard Rhoades said that the two men had been taken to the White Eagle base and then transferred to the Camp Bondsteel detention facility for further questioning. KFOR also reported several illegal border crossing attempts from Albania. According to Rhoades, two men trying to enter Kosova at the Morina crossing on Monday afternoon were seized by a KFOR patrol from MNB South. "One was detained and questioned and the second turned back into Albania," Rhoades reported. Late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, two other men made a number of attempts to cross from the territory of Kosova into Albania. They were prevented each time by KFOR, after flares and warning shots were fired. MNB South intercepted a man accompanied by two children and two horses loaded with provisions, after they illegally crossed the Albanian border near Globocica. The group was handed over to the military police in Sharr.
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