[Nettime-bold] briefing 14.05.2001

[ebalkan@soros.org.mk]

Dear friends,
We sincerely hope that the following is the last daily briefing, and that the situation won’t call upon the need to continue the briefings once again. We thank you again on your support and understanding.
Euro-Balkan will continue the weekly briefings service for the subscribers.

"EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS

14-05-2001

CONTENTS:

a) Daily briefing from Macedonian press about Macedonian crisis

b) Daily briefing from international press about Macedonian crisis

c) SUPPLEMENT 1: TIME's Dejan Anastasijevic warns that separatists will be forced to fight on despite Albanian parties joining the government

a) DAILY BRIEFING FROM MACEDONIAN PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

NEW GOVERNMENT OF POLITICAL UNITY IS ELECTED
The Macedonian Parliament late Sunday elected the new Government of political unity by 104 votes "for", one "against" and four "restraint".
Ljubcho Georgievski is elected for President of the Government. In his address at the Parliament, before the voting, Georgievski said the new Government would focus on stabilization of the country, intensifying of the multiethnic dialogue, and introducing of new election law that would enable fair and democratic elections.
Zoran Krstevski(LP), Kemal Musliu(PDP), Xhevdet Nasufi(DPA) and Ilija Filipovski(SDSM) are new Vice Presidents of the Government.
Ilinka Mitreva (SDSM) is elected for new Foreign Minister,
Ljube Boskovski (VMRO-DPMNE)-Interior Minister,
Vlado Buckovski (SDSM)- Defense Minister,
Ihxet Memeti (PDP)- Justice Minister,
Nikola Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE)- Finance Minister,
Besnik Fetai (DPA)- Economy Minister,
Marjan Gjorcev (VMRO-DPMNE) as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply,
Petar Milosevski (LDP) - Health Minister,
Nenad Novkovski (VMRO-DPMNE) - Minister of Education,
Bedredin Ibraimi (DPA) - Minister of Labor and Social Policy,
Faik Aslani (PDP) - Minister of Local Self - Government,
Ganka Samoilovska - Cvetanova (VMRO-DPMNE)- Culture Minister,
Ljupco Balkovski (VMRO-DPMNE) as Minister of Transport and Communications and
Vladimir Dzabirski (VMRO-VMRO) as Minister of Environment and Urban Planning.
Refet Elmazi is elected for a Deputy Interior Minister,
Zoran Teofilovski - Deputy Minister of Justice,
Muhamed Halili - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Petar Duljanov as Deputy Finance Minister,
Zoran Vitanov - Deputy Minister of Economy,
Jovan Damcevski - Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply,
Muharem Nexhipi - Deputy Health Minister,
Sabri Asan - Deputy Minister of Education,
Risto Georgiev - Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy,
Petre Trajkovski - Deputy Minister of Local Self - Government,
Eleonora Petrova Mitevska - Deputy Culture Minister,
Tome Trombev - Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications and Marjan Dodovski - Deputy Minister of Environment and Urban Planning. (“MIA”)

VEILED CALM ON THE KUMANOVO FRONT
20 Albanian terrorists, that in the last days lost their lives in combat with the Macedonian security forces, yesterday, allegedly, at approximately 16:00 were buried in the village Slupchane in the Kumanovo region, government sources informed us. This information was confirmed for “Dnevnik” by our sources in the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Defense Ministry. The Albanian terrorists planned to present their 20 soldiers as civil casualties. For this purpose, the terrorists informed the teams of the CNN, BBC and Reuters to come to the burial and to inform the international public for the, alleged, aggression of the Macedonian security forces on the civil population in the villages in the Kumanovo region. In the Reuters agency, they informed us that they had not received any announcement or invitation to attend the burial in the village Slupchane. Yesterday in the early afternoon in the Kumanovo region, there were no military actions and the situation was relatively calm, announced military sources. During the evening the day before yesterday, at 20:35, a smaller group of terrorists with burdened horses, moving towards the village Slupchane to the north towards the village Vaksince, opened fire over the positions of the Macedonian army and police, that responded appropriately.
According to colonel Markovski, the soldiers of the Macedonian Army surrounded the villages were the terrorists are positioned and covered all the strategic points. They announced in the Army that a plan is made for the special units of the Macedonian security forces to enter several villages and that the plan is going to be conducted in the next few days. On the comment that the action of the Macedonian security forces in the Kumanovo region is less successful than the one in the Tetovo region, the spokesman of the Defense Ministry, Gjorgji Trendafilov, answered that the reason for this is the numerous presence of civilians in the villages and the care to avoid civil casualties and material losses. “The Macedonian Army is morally obliged with international conventions and Macedonian Law, to act in this way. At this moment, when agreeable conditions come along and when the command structures are estimated, the plans will be followed through”, said the spokesman of the Defense Ministry, Gjorgji Trendafilov, on the conference for the press held on Saturday. (“DNEVNIK”)

THE HUMANITARIAN ACTIONS – SMUGGLING OR AID TO THE TERRORISTS?
Military sources from the field say that there are several attempts to misuse the good will to bring aid to the local inhabitants stranded for 10 days now made even by certain international humanitarian organizations whose representatives are allowed by the Macedonian security to enter the endangered villages. On Friday, late in the afternoon, the regularly announced vehicle convoy of the Macedonian center for International Cooperation was joined by 3 vehicles of the humanitarian organization “El Hilal”, with a regularly declared humanitarian aid – food and medicine for the inhabitants of Slupchane. At the control point near the village Lopate, as explained by the spokesman of the Macedonian Army at the conference for the press, more vehicles of this organization appeared than those listed and the Macedonian security forces showed good will to let them pass. But, during the control, it is established that the shipment contains much greater quantities of medical and sanitary supplies than those listed in the specification. The vehicles had about 20 to 50 times above the listed quantity, and some of the contents were not at all declared. The “El Hilal” vehicles were sent back. After this information, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCMS) gave an announcement in which, in the name of correct informing of the public, it underlined that in its humanitarian shipment, it didn’t transport products that were not in the specification and that it was not asked to turn back from the control point. The 3 “El Hilal” vehicles were asked to turn back with the explanation that they have not announced their arrival and that the quantities given in the specifications do not correspond with those in the vehicle, states MCMS’s announcement. The Internal Affairs Ministry is going to start a legal procedure against the humanitarian organization “El Hilal”. (“NOVA MAKEDONIJA”)


b) DAILY BRIEFING FROM INTERNATIONAL PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

UNITY COALITION WINS APPROVAL IN MACEDONIA
Macedonia's Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a national unity government today as the nation tried to defuse a bruising conflict with ethnic Albanian insurgents. Six Albanian and Macedonian Slavic parties agreed to join, bringing pledges of support from some Western governments. A total of 104 members voted for the new government. One lawmaker voted against it and four abstained. But everyone in this small Balkan country, which was part of Yugoslavia before the breakup, is waiting to see whether the government will succeed in bringing an end to ethnic conflict. The army and the police halted their assault on ethnic Albanian rebel positions today before the session of Parliament. A major ethnic Albanian opposition party, the Party for Democratic Prosperity, asked for a pause in the session today after Prime Minister Georgievski called rebels fighting government troops terrorists," but ultimately joined the unity government. "We are dealing with forces that have the clear intention to destroy the state and to introduce fear and terror," Mr. Georgievski said in his opening speech. (Excerpts from New York Times) But a remaining obstacle is the continued presence of Albanian armed groups, who call themselves the National Liberation Army, in the hills and mountains in the north of the country. Moderate Albanians call them a threat to the peace process, while radical Albanians say progress in only being achieved now thanks to their military campaign. And for Macedonians of all shades of opinion, they are simply terrorists and should be treated as terrorists are in other countries the world over. (Excerpts from BBC)

CRVENKOVSKI: THIS GOVERNMENT IS NOT A PRODUCT OF LOVE BUT OF NEED
"This is the first time in history that Macedonia has a national unity government," said Branko Crvenkovski of the Slav Social Democratic Alliance. "This government is not a product of love but of need, this government is created for the defeat of terrorism and violence." Mersal Biljali, a leader of the Party for Democratic Prosperity that had hesitated to join virtually to the last minute, said, "Under the circumstances, this government is the best we could get so we can move out of the crisis. All other solutions would lead to disaster." (Excerpts from Las Vegas Sun) “This is the last and the only hope,” Arben Xhaferi, the leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians, told AFP. “Political mechanisms are the only option.” (Excerpts from Bloomberg) "The hard times are just starting," said Radmila Sekerinska, vice- president of the mainly Macedonian Slav party the Social Democratic Union, "We can't allow ourselves the luxury of being pessimists in this situation." (Excerpts from AFP)"

MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESSURE FROM OUTSET AS FIGHTING CONTINUES Muhamed Halili, secretary general of the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP), said that he was "not very optimistic" about the future of the government his party was about to join. "I think it's our last hope, we have to try," he said. Under international pressure to pull his country back from the brink of civil war, he agreed to begin "intense political dialogue" with elected parties on ethnic Albanian demands for greater constitutional rights. But the government has consistently rejected calls for direct talks with the guerrillas, which it brands "terrorists". “We knew that they would continue fighting and we are sending them a message that we will continue fighting as well. We have no other alternative. Macedonia is facing a brutal aggression," PM Georgievski said. "The new government is being created in order to deal with this situation. The goal of the new government is to provide stability to the country," he said, in a televised address. "With this large coalition we clearly say that dialogue can take place only through institutions. We know the attitude of the extremists gathered inside NLA, which is rejected by two Albanian political parties," he said. But just hours before his PDP was to be voted into the government, Halili repeated his call for the rebels to be included in negotiations. "The problem cannot be solved without them," he told AFP. "The government will not calm the situation. The coalition will bring nothing. Nothing will change, the combat will continue," Commander Hoxha, one of the rebels' leaders, told AFP. (Excerpts from AFP) "We are in constant contact with Western diplomats and the government to urge them to stop the offensive," said Zahir Bekteshi, a spokesman for the ethnic Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP). "That was the point of us joining the coalition." (Excerpts from Reuters) Trying to stop the war may be the only thing the government agrees upon. In addition to ethnic differences, the coalition cobbles together leftists and center-right conservatives with disparate economic, political and social outlooks that will make it difficult to resolve the problems underlying the crisis. The question now is whether the politicians are talking to the right people. Rebels belonging to the so- called National Liberation Army reject any association with Macedonia's existing political parties, arguing that corrupt political leaders caused their troubles in the first place. (Canoe) "We do not support any forming of wider governments because the DNP considers that such things are not solutions that lead toward stability, DNP's general secretary, Xhevat Ademi, told KosovaLive. According to Ademi, DNP came out with a platform for solving the crises, which would have come to its conclusion with an international protectorate, with the Albanian- Macedonian dialogue, with the participation of the National Liberation Army (NLA), and with early elections. (Excerpts from KosovaLive)

TRAJKOVSKI: WE MUST NOT MAKE ANY KIND OF CONCESSIONS TO THE TERRORISTS
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski had said earlier that the government of national unity should not negotiate with the rebels. "There is only one thing that we have to keep in mind: That is that, globally speaking, we must not make any kind of concessions to the terrorists, or talk to the terrorists," he said. The rebels have made it clear they will continue their struggle. The rebels say they want better ethnic Albanian representation in local government, media and the security forces, as well as official recognition of the Albanian language. Macedonia's leadership, however, charges that the rebels are fighting for an independent Balkan state, which some refer to as "Greater Albania." (Excerpts from VOA)



MACEDONIA REBELS DENY CLAIM OF 30 DEAD
Our correspondent says the new government, eventually, will want to reassert its authority over at least four villages currently held by uniformed NLA soldiers. Eight days of shelling by the Macedonian army have failed to dislodge the rebels, and there is a growing humanitarian crisis in those villages. (Excerpts from BBC) Shattering a brief lull in fighting, army helicopter gunships and battle tanks targeted northern villages today, drawing machine-gun fire from ensconced ethnic Albanian rebels. Mortar, machine-gun, rocket and tank fire rocked the villages of Vaksince and Slupcane. Col. Blagoja Markovski, an army spokesman, said rebels suffered heavy losses. He refused to say how many insurgents were killed and did not comment on reports that more than 30 died. (Excerpts from The Washington Post) Ethnic Albanian guerrillas in northern Macedonia on Sunday dismissed an army claim to have killed about 30 of the rebels, saying it was untrue. “We haven't had a scratch,” a guerrilla spokesman called Commander Hoxha told Reuters by telephone from the rebel-held area west of the city of Kumanovo. “This is a lie,” he added. “Although they have heavy weapons they haven't managed to come even close to our positions.”“We don't give them the opportunity to inflict that many casualties on us,” Hoxha said. The National Liberation Army, armed mainly with Kalashnikov rifles, machineguns and light mortars, has lost one man killed four days ago, he added. “Our morale is extremely high. All we lack is tanks and helicopters,” the guerrilla spokesman said. (Excerpts from Reuters)

REGIONAL SPREADING OF THE CONFLICT
Military analysts and western officials fear that, despite the hardware, the Macedonian army and interior ministry police are in a no-win situation. "The Macedonian army has a choice," said a senior NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity. "Withdraw, cease firing and allow the rebels to continue occupying over 200 square miles of Macedonian territory. "Secondly, they go in, confront the rebels on the ground in hand-to-hand combat and win back the lost territory, or thirdly, they continue as they are, and just allow the rebels to continue to attack as they please." (Excerpts from The Scotsman) Western defense sources said it was doubtful whether the 12,000-strong Macedonian army could dislodge the rebels. A former member of Britain's 22 Special Air Service Regiment said: "The basic problem is that they simply don't have the training or experience to fight this complex counter-insurgency campaign." Yet, aid from outside is increasing. American military advisers, Ukrainian helicopter gunships, Bulgarian tanks and Yugoslav weapons are just some of the resources that former Cold War foes are delivering to Macedonia as it struggles to contain the insurrection. ( Excerpts from Daily Telegraph) The alternative could be the kind of bloodshed which engulfed other parts of former Yugoslavia, but which Macedonia escaped after becoming independent in 1991. The guerrillas are believed to have links with other armed Albanian groups across the northern border in Kosovo and southern Serbia, making a decisive army victory difficult. (Reuters) NATO and the European Union fear the conflict in Macedonia, surrounded by countries with historical claims on its territory, could spread into a regional war that could even include NATO member Greece, with its large ethnic Albanian minority. NATO, in particular, is worried that its peacekeepers on duty in neighboring Kosovo could be drawn into a larger conflict. The Balkan wars on the country's borders choked off investment, while the sale of state-owned companies made a few wealthy at the expense of thousands who were fired in the drive to move to a market economy. The official unemployment rate is 40 per cent, though many believe it is higher. Finance Ministry statistics show the economy has begun to turn around, with gross domestic product growing 5.1 per cent last year, up from 2.7 per cent in 1999, and exports increasing 10 per cent to $2 billion Cdn. (Excerpts from Canoe)

STOEL: I BELIEVE THAT NEXT PHASE OF INTER-ETHNIC DIALOGUE WOULD COME WITH FORMING OF WIDER GOVERNMENT
The OSCE Commissioner for ethnic minorities, Max van der Stoel, said during his stay in Macedonia that those who act irresponsibly would withdraw with the creation of the wide coalition. "I believe that the next phase of inter-ethnic dialogue will come after the wide coalition is created," Stoel said. During his visit to Skopje, Stoel also discussed previous projects, namely the University of Southeastern Europe in Tetovo, local authority and the postponement of the census. (Excerpts from KosovaLive)

BULGARIAN PRESIDENT WARNS MACEDONIA AGAINST 'CHECHEN' SOLUTION
Petar Stoyanov said in Sofia on 10 May, "the Republic of Macedonia  should not allow the use of the Chechen model for solving the crisis  through use of force. Political dialogue is the only way to end the  crisis by achieving a political and ethnic agreement," Reuters reported. Stoyanov called for a greater international presence in Macedonia to help end the crisis. He also urged politicians in Macedonia not to exploit the crisis in the run-up to early elections expected at the start of 2002. (Excerpts from RFE/RL)


c) SUPPLEMENT 1: 'POLITICAL AGREEMENT WON'T END MACEDONIA VIOLENCE'

Cell Phone from Belgrade: TIME's Dejan Anastasijevic warns that separatists will be forced to fight on despite Albanian parties joining the government

TIME.com: Macedonia's main ethnic-Albanian political party has joined a unity government created to resolve the country's political crisis. Why have they taken this step?
Dejan Anastasijevic: All of Macedonia's political parties really had no choice but to go into a unity government, because it really is the last chance to save the country from being split along ethnic lines. This government will be authorized to make the necessary changes in the constitution to accommodate Albanian grievances, and as long as there is a multiethnic government, it's still possible to talk of Macedonia as a state. If Arben Xhaferi (leader of the largest Albanian group, the Democratic Party of Albanians) had refused to join the government, that would have been the end of Macedonia as a state. And it would be the end of Xhaferi, too, because then the guys currently fighting in the hills would take over the political leadership of Macedonia's Albanians. So it was in the mutual interest of Xhaferi and the parties representing the Slav majority to reach a compromise. It's in everyone's interests, except the guerrillas.
TIME.com: Presumably Western pressure adds to the impetus towards a unity government…
Definitely. In fact, the West has probably played an important role in brokering the agreement, and making it clear that there is no politically acceptable alternative. NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson this week issued the harshest condemnation by a Western official of the National Liberation Army (the Albanian separatist guerrilla group), calling them criminals and thugs. On the other hand, he also leaned heavily on the government to avoid declaring a state of war, which could inflame the conflict. The West has clearly been raising the pressure on the NLA in Kosovo, too, which remains the key logistical support base for the guerrillas in Macedonia.
TIME.com: Will the unity government bring an end to the violence?
Unfortunately, no. There will be a cease-fire declared, but not respected. A unity government, a cease-fire and even constitutional changes won't be enough to stop the fighting and the general deterioration the situation. That's because the violence has already picked up a momentum of its own, and purely political and diplomatic measures can't stop it. Now that the mainstream Albanian parties have joined the government, the only way for the NLA to remain relevant is to continue to mount attacks. So while a unity government would mean the Macedonian state will survive, the situation on the ground is probably going to get worse despite the political breakthrough. { HYPERLINK "http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/timeincss.com/;sz=1x1;ord=2001.05.14.04.54.50?" \t "_top" }




_______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold