Syndicate: Briefing 02-04-2001 "EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS

[Kalina <kalina@scca.org.mk>]

"EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS
02-04-2001
CONTENTS:

- Daily briefing from Macedonian press about Macedonian crisis
- Daily briefing from international press about Macedonian crisis
- Supplement: "Fakti"'s Emin Azemi's column in today's issue

a) DAILY BRIEFING FROM MACEDONIAN PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

STATEMENT OF THE SPOKESMAN OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
The spokesman of the Macedonian Army, Blagoja Markovski, evaluated the situation on the northern border, until the afternoon hours, as peaceful and with no provocations by the retreated Kosovo terrorists registered. He said that some minor provocations happened on several occasions on Saturday morning in the region of the watchtower Chashka, towards the Radusha mine. The units of the Macedonian army responded with fire, with no casualties on our side. Until the end of the day, shots were heard in Tetovo. According to police sources, the police fired warning shots at a person moving on illegal ground, in the neighborhood of one of the police points in the city. Markovski confirmed that the villages in the Tetovo region, the bases where the terrorists fired from, also the villages Vejce, Veshala and Brodec, are freed from the presence of terrorists and mines. The action is accomplished in the northern border villages as well - Malino, Brest, Ramno, Grachani and the other villa!
 ge!
s. ("VEST")

ANOTHER CONFLICT BETWEEN DPA AND PDP
The Democratic Party of the Albanians accused the president of PDP, Mr. Ymer Ymeri, that he was a collaborator of the ex-Yugoslav Secret Security Service in the past. DPA calls upon original documents, i.e. Ymeri's consent to become a collaborator of UDBA (the ex-Yugoslav Secret Security Service). The document is registered as number 3760 under the name "legal liaison". DPA in its statement makes further accusations that Ymeri had received 50 000 DM to communicate the interests of the Albanians in Macedonia. ("MAKEDONIJA DENES)

PDP'S (PARTY FOR DEMOCRATIC PROSPERITY) COUNTER-STATEMENT: THACI AND XHAFERI HAVE NEITHER NATIONAL, NOR POLITICAL MORAL
"Attacking the institution President of PDP, Menduh Thaci wants to hide the viewpoints of his party on elimination, espionage and dividing the Albanians, to hide his past and to remain in the Government splattered with Albanian blood. He thinks that by attacking the others, he will take the attention off his anti-Albanian actions. Poor Thaci, you should know that you and Xhaferi have neither national nor political moral to continue to discuss the Albanians' interests." This is part of PDP's response to the accusations of the vice president of the DPA, Menduh Thaci that the leader of the PDP, Ymer Ymeri, was a collaborator of the ex-Yugoslav Secret Security Service and the Macedonian DBK (Macedonian Security Service), which the party supported with facts. ("UTRINSKI VESNIK")

PRESIDENT TRAJKOVSKI'S ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC
Macedonia has survived in a very difficult environment, in conditions where, for a long time already, it has not had a regular border - crossing with Kosovo, SR Yugoslavia. The effects of war in the region and the greater state ambitions radicalize the situation, says the President, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, in his public address. During the military operations, the army demonstrated great professionalism and in severely difficult conditions, proved that the trust in its high capacity is more than justified. The opinion of the international community is that, by way of using a combination of strength and moderation, the Macedonian army efficiently and successfully deals with all militant threats to our democracy. That is why I most severely condemn the efforts to organize dissatisfaction among the soldiers' families. It is a direct attack to the defense system, something that brings results only to the military extremists. If their aim is to undermine the moral of the Macedonian!
  A!
rmy by infiltrating confusion am
PRIME MINISTER'S, LJUBCHO GEORGIEVSKI'S, PRESS CONFERENCE
The President of the Macedonian Government, Ljubcho Georgievski, on the press conference on Saturday in the Government Information Center, taking a look at the activities conducted until now by the Macedonian Security Forces and their successful dealing with terrorism on our territory, as well as the Ultimatum of the leader of the SDSM, Branko Crvenkovski, stated that in the following days he will invite Crvenkovski to discuss his idea for forming a wide coalition Government. As Georgievski said, he has never in his life, until now, accepted an ultimatum, but this time he will make an exception in order to find out if he, for once, has honest intentions, or this is just a new attempt to completely destroy the country, on which task the president Crvenkovski has been working in the last six months. Answering the question of a journalist, if he intends to give green light to the change of the Constitution, Georgievski underlined that he personally is against this and that no o!
 ne!
, to this point, has pressured t
b) DAILY BRIEFING FROM INTERNATIONAL PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

BREATHING ROOM IN THE BALKANS
NATO should begin to think seriously about giving power to any community that wants it in Bosnia, in Kosovo and perhaps privately urge the Macedonian government to do the same. The Albanian enclave in Macedonia could easily be detached into its own entity. Then if the Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia want to stay separate or join hands, it's their choice. If the Serbs of Bosnia want to join hands with Belgrade, good luck. As long as it is done through negotiations and in peace, what difference does it make how many new statelets arise? All we need is a few new chairs at the United Nations. NATO is now primarily a Balkan policing and reconstruction organization. The point is not that it needs an exit. The point is that it needs a strategy. (Excerpts from Newsweek)

FIGHTING IS CAUSED BY FEW ALBANIANS
Three people with direct experience in the Balkans have told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe that the majority of ethnic Albanians do not support the cause of fellow Albanians fighting in Macedonia and Kosovo. They say the fighting in the region has been caused by only a few ethnic Albanians. And one says the fighting in Macedonia was exported from Kosovo by people whom he described as "extremists" who are bitter about losing last October's municipal elections in the Yugoslav province. The witnesses were General Joseph Ralston, the supreme allied commander in Europe for the NATO; James Pardew, a senior U.S. presidential adviser for Kosovo and Bosnia; and Daan Everts, head of the Kosovo mission for the OSCE. They testified Thursday (28 March) before the U.S. Commission in Washington. Everts told the hearing that the trouble in both Kosovo and now in Macedonia is probably rooted in Kosovo's uncertain future. According to Everts, ethnic Albanian extrem!
 is!
ts are bitter that they lost Kos
ALBANIANS GIVE MACEDONIA TILL APRIL 9TH TO OPEN TALKS 
Arben Xhaferi, the leader of Macedonia's biggest ethnic Albanian political party said on Saturday that he had given the government until April 9 to open talks on constitutional reform and avoid further ethnic conflict. He warned that if the government refused to open talks on granting Albanians equal constitutional rights with Macedonia's Slav majority before the deadline then DPA ministers in the ruling coalition could boycott the signing ceremony. "They have not gone, they are here, in civilian clothes. They will see the outcome of our negotiations and if they are not happy they will continue (to fight) again," he said. "If the violence continues and we have casualties among civilians or the destruction of their villages we cannot stay in government. The guerrillas didn't withdraw because of military operations. They withdrew because they were under pressure from the international community -- the U.S., the EU -- and from Albanian leaders in Albania and Kosovo." The consti!
 tu!
tion must be changed. This would
But the rebels, together with the National Democratic party, a newly formed radical group, want Macedonia to become a federation, with ethnic Albanians taking full control of western Macedonia where most of the minority lives. "We've waited 10 years for the Albanians to get their rights and it hasn't happened," said Fadil Bajrami, a former DPA deputy and founder member of the NDP. "We see a federation, along the lines of Belgium, as the future in Macedonia." "We need a fresh start. There is a lot of sympathy among ethnic Albanians for what the NLA fighters are trying to achieve," said Liman Kurtishi, a senior member of the new National Democratic party. (Excerpts from Financial Times)

MODERATE ALBANIANS ON BOARD, EXTREMISTS ISOLATED
EU leaders, well placed sources said, bluntly told President Trajkovski in Stockholm last weekend to exercise restraint while fighting the ethnic Albanian UCK (national liberation army) rebels in the hills above the northern city of Tetovo. "You have to keep the moderate Albanians on board and isolate the extremists," he was warned. "Any action which could undermine this goal would be a mistake." Mr. Solana also coordinated policy with the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and is urging him to visit Skopje. EU sources say that rewriting the country's constitution is a key demand, but it is not clear whether the parties are prepared to do that. Under pressure from the EU, the two sides are being asked to achieve within a few weeks what they have failed to do in the 10 years since independence from socialist Yugoslavia in 1991. (Excerpts from The Guardian)

\KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE IS THE SOLUTION FOR PEACEFULL BALKANS
There is only one solution for an enduring peace in the Balkans. That is independence for Kosovo. Recent events are part of a bigger picture. Taking them into account, it is possible to see how the latest chaos presents a unique opportunity to end a decade of conflict. A year ago, to offer one instance, U.N. KFOR troops arrested an Albanian from Macedonia, living in Kosovo, named Xhavit Hasani. Suspected of murder and ethnic terrorism, he was extradited to Skopje, whereupon members of his gang promptly kidnapped four Macedonian police to procure his release. Intelligence sources now identify Hasani as a leader of the new National Liberation Army around his native village of Tanusveci, where the first fighting broke out that plunged Macedonia into crisis. The script could go like this. If Montenegro declares independence, Yugoslavia should be considered formally defunct. The UN resolution that dispatched NATO to Kosovo mandates the province to Yugoslavia, not Serbia. Kosovo's!
  f!
uture should be negotiated as su
EU STEPS UP EFFORTS FOR MACEDONIA TALKS
On the next week's meeting in Luxembourg, the EU foreign ministers intend to sign a stability and association accord with Macedonia - essentially an economic and political incentive for the republic to start reforms in return for eventually negotiating to join the EU. If talks begin, EU officials hope Ljubco Georgievski, Macedonian prime minister, will finally draw up reforms spanning political, economic and inter-ethnic relations. Mr. Solana insisted the EU would not lead the talks but would be a "facilitator". EU officials said reforms were crucial for diffusing tension between the Macedonian Slav majority and the ethnic Albanian minority, weakening the appeal of radical Albanians, and maintaining regional stability. The EU wants to reengage Washington, which has had the greatest influence over the Albanians and especially to revive the "contact group" - consisting of the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and Italy - set up during the Bosnian war but has been almost red!
 un!
dant since the end of the Kosovo
UN WILL SACK ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO POLICE 
THE United Nations is to dismiss 2,000 members of the Kosovo Protection Force, the province's Albanian-run local police. The move heralds fears that former KPF officers will destabilize the region by joining the National Liberation Army (NLA) of Albanians who have engaged in clashes with government troops in neighboring Macedonia. In talks on Friday, Hans Haekkerup, told Macedonian President Trajkovski that the KPF men were being released." What happened around Tetovo can be seen as the first battle in a greater Kosovo war," said Carl Bildt, UN special envoy to the Balkans. "We now have a pause which we must do everything we can to transform into peace." (Excerpts from Sunday Times) 

DO WE HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER BALKAN WAR?
The issue posed by President Boris Trajkovski of Macedonia hangs in the air, imperfectly answered. "We cannot redraw borders and boundaries, making smaller units of ever purer ethnic states. We cannot survive as a region if ethnicity becomes the sole defining justification of statehood." But why not? As Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and now the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to the Balkans, has pointed out, the key to Dayton was the US acceptance of a highly autonomous Republika Srpska within the framework of a very loose Bosnian state. Yet the historic argument for keeping Kosovo inside the new Yugoslavia is thin indeed. In the last century alone there were six wars between Kosovars and Serbs. Before that there had been 500 years of Ottoman rule, during the latter part of which the Albanians of Kosovar had asked unsuccessfully for autonomy. Moreover, Tito himself promised them the right to unite with Albania. The truth is the insurrection of the Albani!
 an!
 militants inside Macedonia is m
c) SUPPLEMENT: "FAKTI"'S EMIN AZEMY'S COLUMN IN TODAY'S ISSUE

"While Others Prepare Own Platforms, We Keep Cursing Each Other!" By Emin Azemi 

The President of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski is about to complete the political platform through which he would gather the leaders of all political parties around the negotiating table. The need on compiling such a platform resulted from the newly created situation in Macedonia, as well as a result of the pressure imposed by the international factors. Although we still don't know the content of such platform, one thing is already clear: one cannot expect anything spectacular out of it. On the other hand, the Albanians expect from their legal representatives to solve their future in a best way possible. Albanians are fully entitled to demand from own legal and legitimate representatives to compete with the Trajkovski's platform by presenting own platform. Such platform would also serve as an agenda of demands and affinities during the eventual Albanian - Macedonian talks. Yet, instead of compiling such highly needed platform on the status of the Albanians in Macedonia, the leg!
 al!
 and legitimate representatives 
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