Syndicate: macedonia briefing 03.05.01

[Syndicate admin <syndicate@v2.nl>]

Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 16:18:19 +0200
Subject: briefing  03.05.01
Reply-to: ebalkan@soros.org.mk



Dear friends, 


We would like to thank you once again for being with us during the 

Macedonian crisis in March. We are put in a situation where we 

need to turn your attention to the situation in Macedonia once 

again, after the massacre of eight Macedonian soldiers which took 

place on Sunday 28th of April this year and the street unrests in 

Bitola. Today two more soldiers died in the vicinity of Kumanovo. 

This is merely an emergency briefing. For the moment we do not 

plan to brief you on daily basis. For all those who have subscribed 

to the weekly briefings by the "Euro-Balkan" Institute, we would 

like to remind you once again the the first weekly brief will be 

produced next Wednesday (May 9th). 

Best regards to you all, 

Jovan Donev, Director of the "Euro-Balkan" Institute

Katarina Kolozova

Director of the Research Center

in Gender Studies - "EuroBalkan"

Plostad "Makedonija" 33/5

1 000 Skopje

tel./fax: (+389 2) 23 69 23

tel. (+389 2) 13 36 25





<center><color><param>0100,0100,0100</param><FontFamily><param>Courier New=
</param>"EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS</center>

<center>03-05-2001</center>

<center>CONTENTS:</center>

<paraindent><param>out</param>Daily briefing from Macedonian press about 
Macedonian crisis</paraindent>

<paraindent><param>out</param>Daily briefing from international press abou=
t 
Macedonian crisis</paraindent>


<paraindent><param>out</param>a) DAILY BRIEFING FROM MACEDONIAN PRESS 
ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS


EIGHT POLICEMEN AND SOLDIERS MURDERED AND 
MUTILATED

Eight Macedonian security force members lost 
their lives, while six were injured in an armed 
terrorist attack on  28th April  around 17:45 on 
the road between the Tetovo villages Selce and 
Vejce in the vicinity of the municipality Breza. 
The Macedonian soldiers and policemen were 
attacked by the terrorists with hand mortars, 
grenades and automatic rifles while patrolling 
with 4 military and police vehicles. After 
murdering them, the terrorists mutilated the 
bodies of the deceased policemen and soldiers =96 
shot at them and cut them with knives. According 
to the Internal Affairs Ministry, the policemen 
and soldiers were attacked by a diversion-
terrorist group that had illegally passed the 
border between Macedonia and SR Yugoslavia at 
the part of Kosovo, on the stretch in the 
vicinity of Shar Planina. Army sources claim 
that in the last 4 days, the situation on the 
border with Kosovo was calm. The Macedonian Army 
hadn=92t detected any new entries of terrorist 
groups from Kosovo to Macedonia. The Macedonian 
Army Headquarters evaluates the situation in the 
country as serious. The Macedonian security 
forces, in accordance with the conclusions 
brought by the Security Council and the 
Government, undertook all the necessary measures 
to locate and neutralize the terrorist group and 
to introduce total control in the Shar Planina 
region. There is a curfew in Tetovo from 22:00 
to 5:00. (=93DNEVNIK=94)


THE MONSTROUS MUTILATION IN VEJCE PROVOKED A 
STREAM OF STREET VIOLENCE

After the gruesome mutilation of the 8 
Macedonian soldiers and policemen on Saturday in 
the region of the Tetovo village Vejce that 
shocked the Macedonian community, a wave of 
violence covered several Macedonian towns. The 
Macedonian community was shocked by the news 
that Albanian gangs in a most cowardly manner 
attacked a Macedonian Army and Police Patrol 
from ambush, and then cold-bloodedly tortured 
the injured and mutilated the lifeless bodies of 
the murdered. The anger and revolt escalated 
with the information that the Macedonian 
security forces hadn=92t responded accordingly and 
timely to the attack. After the distressing 
funerals in Bitola, Drachevo and Kumanovo, a 
large group of citizens in Bitola (4 of the 
deceased are from Bitola), on Monday evening 
demolished several shops owned by Albanians or 
Macedonian Muslims. One of the shop owners fired 
at the group with a hand gun and injured a 
citizen of Bitola. Several shops and restaurants 
were set on fire and demolished in the Old Town 
in Bitola, as well as the premises of the 
Islamic Community. Disorders and fires were also 
noticed in some villages in the Bitola region. 
Yesterday the incidents continued in several 
other towns with multi-ethnic population. A 
Molotov cocktail was thrown at a mosque in 
Veles, in Delcevo a hair salon owned by 
Albanians, was set on fire. Stores are 
demolished in the municipality Djortche Petrov 
in Skopje. Three newsagents=92 were set on fire in 
the municipality of Vlae, masked individuals 
with arms and baseball bats forcefully entered 
the pizza restaurant =93Lozana=94, owned by an 
Albanian, in the municipality Porta Vlae in 
Skopje and verbally and physically assaulted the 
employees and shot at on of the guests. One 
person was injured by fire arm. In a drive-by 
attack, several unidentified individuals shot at 
the building of the Albanian Embassy in Skopje. 
A fire incident occurred in the municipality  
Madjary in Skopje, in the house of the =93A1 
Television=94 journalist, Snezana Lupevska, but 
the reasons are still unknown. (=93DNEVNIK=94)

THE GOVERNMENT APPEALS FOR RESTRAINT AMONG THE 
MACEDONAIN CITIZENS

The security situation in the state is on the 
level of delicate peace. With the incidents in 
Bitola, the terrorist goal was achieved =96 the 
start of a civil war, stated the Macedonian 
Government spokesman, Antonio Miloshoski. 
Because of this, the Government appeals for 
restraint and also, support to the security 
structures, the only ones able and responsible 
for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of 
Macedonia. Commenting the condemnation of the 
United Nations Security Council of the cowardly 
and brutal attack on the Macedonian Security 
forces, Miloshoski said that it is a 
confirmation of the firm determination of the 
International Community to give unreserved 
support to Macedonia in the fight against 
terrorism and extremism. (=93NOVA MAKEDONIJA=94)


THE BROADCAST OF THE EVENING NEWS IN ALBANIAN IS 
STOPPED

The general manager of the Macedonian Radio and 
Television, Ljupcho Jakimovski, on Sunday 
evening brought a decision to stop the broadcast 
of the evening news in Albanian on the second 
channel of the Macedonian Radio and Television. 
The reasons given are: =93I make this decision 
based on the fact that the News Program in 
Albanian in the Macedonian Radio and Television, 
ever since the very beginning of the security 
crisis in Macedonia, has conducted in an 
uncoordinated manner, contrary to the editorial 
politics of the Macedonian Radio and Television, 
i.e. against the state interests of Macedonia.  
The news program in Albanian on the Macedonian 
Radio and Television, instead of acting as an 
integrating factor, acted as a disintegrating 
factor for the Albanians in Macedonia and its 
aim was supporting the violence and ethnic 
hatred, i.e. support to the Albanian militant 
extremism=94. The next day after the decision, 
Miljaim Ljatifi, cheif editor of the Albanian 
Program in the Macedonian Radio and Television, 
resigned from his position. Yesterday, the 
editor Ljatifi gave us this statement on the 
events and accusations: =93I do not agree with the 
opinion of the general manager of the Macedonian 
Radio and Television and the Broadcasting 
Council that the evening news on the Albanian 
Program in the Macedonian Radio and Television 
does not comply to the editorial politics of the 
institution and that it provokes national 
intolerance. My opinion is that the case 
concerns inaccurate information, or to be 
precise, they get bad translation of our news 
from Albanians, spies in the institution=94. 
Previously, the TV presenter, Migena Gorenca, 
was fired by the general manager, because she 
gave a statement for the BBC, at the time of the 
crisis, that she supports the Kosovo Liberation 
Army (UCK). The editor of the Albanian Program, 
Miljaim Ljatifi, confirmed that the ban of the 
evening news in Albanian happened, among other 
reasons, because that evening the 8 Macedonian 
soldiers and policemen were murdered, this 
information was not given on edition of the 
evening news. =93This is true, because the news 
were already prepared at 21:30. We don=92t have a 
strict broadcasting term for the last edition of 
the news, so that day, my co-editor, Blerim 
Hiseni prepared the news earlier because he 
expected they would be broadcasted at 22:00. 
But, they were broadcasted about 23:50, and at 
the time they were prepared =96 we didn=92t have any 
official information on the event. Still, I 
agree that this is a professional mistake, an 
overlook, because we knew of this event=94, stated 
Ljatifi. (=93DNEVNIK=94)


REACTIONS OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES AFTER THE 
GRUESOME MURDER OF THE SECURITY FORCE MEMBERS

VMRO-DPMNE considers the event to be a gruesome 
act and an inhumane attempt to negatively effect 
the positive, already started processes in 
Macedonia, the goal of which is to change 
certain directions that our state is firmly 
following. With these cowardly acts, the 
Albanian terrorists will gain nothing, they will 
just increase the gap between the Macedonians 
and the other minorities, on one side, and the 
Albanian minority, on the other, it is said in 
the statement given by VMRO-DPMNE. The DPA 
(Democratic Party of the Albanians), horrified 
by the absurd murder of the 8 members of the 
security structure of Macedonia, condemned this 
act as empty, absurd and destructive and as one 
that endangers all good-willed and rational 
endeavors to, with dialogue, solve the 
misunderstandings and to improve the inter-
ethnic relations in the country. The SDSM 
considers this act to be a continuation of the 
action of the Albanian terrorists from the 
position of territorial pretensions towards 
Macedonia and an attempt to disregard the 
sovereignty of the country and its territory. 
The ones responsible for this terrorist act, in 
the SDSM=92s opinion, want to undermine the 
dialogue between the political parties on the 
rights of Albanians in Macedonia and want the 
dialogue to be conducted under the threat with 
arms. PDP expresses condolences concerning the 
incident and believes that the irresponsible 
conduct of the Government and the rejection of 
the start of a serious dialogue on the open 
issues in the inter-ethnic relations directly 
influences the escalation of the political-
security situation in the country and as a 
result has human casualties. The PDP=92s opinion 
is that the security situation is becoming 
dramatic because the system institutions are 
almost non-functional, ineffective, because the 
Macedonian police was not able, or showed no 
desire, to control the situation. They point out 
the behavior of the citizens of Bitola, when 
Albanians=92 stores were demolished before the 
eyes of the police, and also a house was set on 
fire. This kind behavior was noticed in Skopje 
as well while the police was a partaker. 
(=93VECHER=94)



<paraindent><param>out</param>b) DAILY BRIEFING FROM INTERNATIONAL PRESS 
ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS


REACTIONS ON THE SOLDIERS MURDER AND MUTILATION 
BY ALBANIAN REBELS

Lord Robertson, the Nato Secretary General, said 
in statement:=94 I was appalled and outraged. I 
condemn the cowardly acts of the extremists and 
my message is simple: the violence must end and 
their tactics will not be successful.=94 Javier 
Solana, the EU security affairs chief, said: =94At 
this tragic moment, I want to appeal to the 
citizens and the political leadership of the 
country to pursue and intensify all efforts to 
promote inter-ethnic understanding.=94 Western 
leaders are nervous that the violence could 
escalate into another Balkans war. Stevo 
Pendarovski, an Interior Ministry spokesman, 
said:=94 We are very concerned that this is the 
start of new violence. We didn=92t expect this 
atrocity, which is unparalleled in our history. 
Maybe some people are not happy because the 
political dialogue is going well.=94 (Independent) 
EU foreign affairs commissioner Chris Patten 
said that the ambush was clearly intended to 
derail attempts to rectify legitimate minority 
grievances through interparty dialogue. The 
attack "must not be allowed to succeed," he 
added. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker 
said in a statement on 28 April that "the United 
States condemns the attack by armed ethnic 
Albanian extremists [on 28 April] on Macedonian 
security forces, which resulted in the death of 
eight Macedonian soldiers. We extend our 
condolences to the families of those who died," 
DPA reported. He added: "The United States calls 
upon all political parties and groups in 
Macedonia to join in condemning the senseless 
act of violence and to continue the process of 
political dialogue in which they are engaged." 
(Excerpts from </color>RFE/RL) <color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>Having =
met with Ivan 
Kostov, Bulgarian Prime Minister, in the State 
Department today, US secretary Powell voiced 
satisfaction for having has a chance to discuss 
with the Bulgarian government leader that 
Bulgaria and the US can do for the stabilization 
of the Balkans and more particularly for 
preserving the territorial integrity of 
Macedonia. The US side stressed the strategic 
position of Bulgaria in the region, which, in 
Powell=92s words, is particularly important in a 
view of solving energy problems. (Excerpts from 
BEF News Desk)


NIGHTS OF CLACHES FOLLOWS BUTIALS OF MACEDONIAN 
POLICEMEN,ALBANIAN REBELS SAY THEY KILLED IN 
SELF-DEFENSE

Four people were injured in shooting in the 
Macedonian town of Bitola yesterday following 
the funerals there of four policemen killed in 
rebel fighting on Saturday. State television 
reported that the windows of several shops and 
restaurants =96 believed to be owned by Albanians 
=96 were smashed after the burials. One of the 
wounded was said to be an ethnic 
Macedonian.(AFP)The political leader of the 
rebel National Liberation Army (UCK), Ali 
Ahmeti, told Reuters by telephone, "we consider 
it as a provocation by the Macedonian forces so 
that they could present themselves as the 
victim." Ahmeti says the UCK rebels opened fire 
in self-defence after Macedonian troops 
approached their positions. He says no UCK 
soldiers were killed or wounded during the 
clash. Ahmeti denies the attack means the UCK is 
launching a new offensive, saying that "since 
the Albanian issue has gained momentum, it was 
not in our interest to attack." Arben Xhaferi, 
whose DPA is part of the governing coalition, 
said that the ambush "will endanger the progress 
of [multiparty] negotiations and will deepen the 
polarization between Macedonians and Albanians," 
London's "The Guardian" reported from Skopje on 
30 April. The daily quoted unnamed "Western 
military experts" in the Macedonian capital as 
saying that the ambush is part of an attempt to 
"make no-go areas. [The guerrillas] want 
territory and not institutional change... It's 
what the Macedonians have feared." Prime 
Minister Ilir Meta said in Tirana on 30 April 
that "such actions undermine the process of 
dialogue [needed] to solve the [Macedonian] 
Albanians' problems," Reuters reported. He added 
that "the only way to combat extremism and to 
isolate extremist groups and to strengthen the 
stability of Macedonia and of our region is the 
continuance and deepening of the dialogue that 
has started" between all the political parties 
represented in the parliament. (Excerpts from 
</color>RFE/RL)<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>


ATTACKS SHAKES MACEDONIA TALKS

Following a month of daily clashes between 
ethnic Albanian gunmen and the Macedonian 
security forces in March, it has appeared in the 
recent weeks that the previously often half-
hearted negotiations would turn into a more 
meaningful dialogue. Always a controversial 
issue =96 with ethnic Albanians claiming that 
their number are consistently underestimated =96 
the census is now even more of a political hot 
potato because several tens of thousands of 
ethnic Albanians fled Macedonia during the 
conflict, and their leaders want them to return 
before the head-court can go ahead. In spite of 
this still outstanding issues, progress at the 
talks has been quite impressive. That is because 
international pressure and domestic 
circumstances have urged the talks. On the 
domestic front, Macedonia=92s leaders have been 
eager to exploit the relative quiet of the past 
month to forge ahead with discussions =96 before a 
possible resumption in the fighting which might 
spiral out of control unless nipped in the bud. 
The momentum for progress has also been strong 
on the international stage where both the EU and 
the US have urged to speed settlement. =93The 
talks in Washington will probably take a 
different direction now which means asking for 
strong support form the US administration in 
dealing with or stamping out the presence of 
terrorist groups in the Republic of Macedonia, 
which not only want to harm the political 
dialogue, but also this country=92s future and 
survival=94, said Macedonia president Trajkovski. 
He also indicated that the danger now is that 
Saturday=92s killings =96 the worst incident since 
the fighting flared up at the end of February =96 
could derail the talks. This was quite possibly 
the intention of those who launched the attack =96 
because any bloodshed tends to polarize 
Macedonia=92s ethnic communities. (BBC) Macedonia 
is to ask the US for support to quell ethnic 
Albanian militants rebels. =94We will ask for 
political, economic and military support,=94 
president Trajkovski said in Romania before 
leaving for the United States. He said the 
killings had =93nothing to do with the democratic 
demands of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. It is 
pure terrorism, and it must be eliminated.=94 =93It 
is time now to unite the political forces and 
all the citizens of Macedonia so that terrorism 
is defeated,=94 Trajkovski said on the state 
television. (CNN) After a meeting of the 
government and of the National Security Council, 
Trajkovski said in Skopje on 29 April that the 
security situation has grown worse, BBC's 
Serbian Service reported. He pledged "no mercy" 
in the fight against "terrorism." Trajkovski 
called on KFOR to better control the border 
between Kosova and Macedonia and on the interna
tional community to declare the UCK a "terrorist 
organization." For their part, guerrilla 
spokesmen said they acted in self-defence, 
Reuters reported. (Excerpts from BBC)


CRIMINAL GANGS RUNNING THE BALKANS

Behind every apparent nationalist crisis in the 
region lies a much seedier squabble between 
mafia bosses who find that mobilizing people 
upon ethnic lines is their most powerful weapon 
if their business deals go sour. The outbreak 
Croat separatist sentiment in western 
Hercegovina earlier this month was directly 
linked to the International community=92s attempt 
to halt the suspected illegal dealings of the 
largest local bank. The Macedonian crisis, when 
Albanians and Macedonians almost went to war in 
late march and early April, was sparkled in part 
by a dispute over the control of the lucrative 
illegal tobacco smuggling operation into Kosovo. 
And last weekend=92s elections in Montenegro, 
first and foremost about whether the republic 
should break its constitutional ties to Serbia 
and become independent, was not uninfluenced by 
the issue of who controls the crucial smuggling 
links with 
Italy. It is slowly downing on the EU that the Balkan mafias and the regio=
nal 
economic chaos upon which they feed may well be the greatest foreign polic=
y 
challenge of the next decade. (Excerpts from BBC)


SECRETARY POWELLS REMARKS WITH MACEDONIAN 
PRESIDENT TRAJKOVSKI 

</color>SECRETARY POWELL<bold>:</bold> And in our meeting today, I 
once again had the opportunity to express 
solidarity with Macedonia; the US' total 
commitment to territorial integrity of 
Macedonia; our commitment to this democracy 
which is facing dastardly and cowardly acts from 
terrorists and terrorist organizations that are 
trying to subvert the democratic process in 
Macedonia. I discussed with the President the 
steps that he has been taking with the leaders 
of his coalition government to deal with some of 
the concerns expressed by ethnic Albanians in 
Macedonia with respect to the use of their 
language, universities, with respect to other 
issues that I congratulated the President on 
moving aggressively to deal with, to include 
political reconciliation in all its forms, 
including possible constitutional amendments at 
some point in the future. I made the point to 
the President that we must not allow terrorists 
to derail political reconciliation. As long as 
we keep moving in this direction, we will dry up 
the support that terrorists might think they 
enjoy. And I also discussed with the President 
other things that the United States can do to 
support them, not only in security issues but as 
well as economic support that they need during 
this difficult time.

PRESIDENT TRAJKOVSKY: First of all, I would like 
to thank to him that he invite me to pay a visit 
to the President Bush, also to the Secretary of 
Defence Rumsfeld. And I believe that this is a 
real demonstration of the commitment on the part 
of United States in the Republic of Macedonia 
and the region, and it shows that the United 
States would like to remain in that part of the 
region. Also, it shows that the United States 
would like and is willing to defeat the 
terrorists, and also to uphold the democracy and 
the rule of law, and also to support the 
Republic of Macedonia in everything what we are 
doing. Also, that was a good opportunity to 
brief - shortly to brief the Secretary about the 
political dialogue, what we are doing. And this 
political dialogue never stop in Macedonia. And 
I informed the Secretary about my work that I 
invite on the table all political parties and 
that my vision is to create a society which will 
be based on the individuals, not on the ethnic 
groups -- on the citizens, not on the ethnic 
groups - and that we are going to discuss for 
the rights of all citizens in the Republic of 
Macedonia. And the principle of these 
discussions will be the quality of the rights of 
the citizens, the quality of the rights and 
responsibilities of the citizens in the country, 
to discuss for the rights of the men and women, 
female and male, and regarding their background 
and religious and political and ideological 
background. (<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>Excerpts from </color>US =
Department of 
State transcript)


<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>BOSNIAN SERB PARTIES AGREE TO EQUALITY=
 OF THREE 
NATIONS<bold> </bold>
Representatives of the parties represented in 
the legislature of the Republika Srpska agreed 
in Banja Luka on 27 April on the text of a 
constitutional amendment to make the Muslims and 
Croats legally equal to the Serbs in the Serbian 
entity, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. 
The Bosnian Constitutional Court previously 
ordered the governments of both entities to 
introduce such legislation. The amendment also 
specifies that the "Croatian and Bosnian 
languages" will share an equal status with 
"Serbian." The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets will 
also share equal status. (Excerpts from </color>RFE/RL)<color><param>0100,=
0100,0100</param>



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