Melentie Pandilovski on Wed, 07 Mar 2001 13:29:07 +0100 |
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Syndicate: Fw: current situation in Macedonia |
Dear friends, I have seen many fine discussions but no comments on the current situation in Macedonia, so that I have decided to "enlighten" you with news from the Balkans, which you might have and some that you probably haven't in the press of your countries. Three days ago (4th of March) fighting broke up in Tanusevci (village in north Macedonia which was at that moment controlled by about 200 ethnic Kosovo Albanian rebels) aimed at provoking Macedonian troops in a response that could as a response radicalize Macedonia's ethnic Albanians. Two Macedonian army soldiers were killed whose vehicle hit a land mine near the village Tanusevci, 20 km north of the capital, Skopje. A third soldier was killed by sniper fire. >From the beginning of the crisis the domestic political parties (including the Democratic Party of Albanians,coalition partner in the Macedonian Government), condemned the latest provocations ?ith tragic consequences". "The incidents are not only the absurd, but it is a grave provocation for the peace and stability to all nations who live in this region? said in the press release Democratic Party of Albanians. This political party of ethnic Albanians pointed that ?his incidents damage the long-lasting interests of the Albanians who are captured with desire and immaturity of one unidentified group with suspicious identity? This is also true for the time the official Tirana that condemned the incident. All relevant international factors condemned the incident and even demanded an action from the Macedonian side. However, in the first few days the situation was such that even the Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski criticized KFOR due to its ?ndolent attitude? In some newspapers KFOR was accused of not transpoting the wounded soldiers by KFOR helicopters. The air lift was done later by a Macedonian army helicopter. When the helicopter arrived to the place it was shot on it from the nearby woods. The soldiers were transported but this proved to be too late. The situation was tense as the newspapers were filled with articles that "ethnic Albanian terrorists in Tanusevci are transferring bodies of deceased civilians (women, children) from Kosovo into Tanusevci in order to provide sufficient number of dead civilians who are to be shown to foreign reporters in case Macedonian security forces launched a military operation. These dead bodies are to be presented as victims of alleged harassment and ethnic cleansing led by Macedonian authorities. The dead-body-transfer operation commenced several days ago and it is to be continued in the frameworks of the propaganda orchestrated by ethnic Albanian terrorists in a bid to gain a support of the international public. This operation is to be carried out permanently because the dead bodies could not be kept on prolonged period. The bodies have to be buried in the ground over the next couple of days, and new bodies are to be brought from Kosovo..." Taking all of this into consideration I think that the Macedonian government came up with a pretty good proposal how to resolve the situation. Namely, the government has a proposition that the UN Security Council should establish a five-kilometer ground safety zone inside FRY/Kosovo territory. Macedonia calls for deployment of international forces there. The government has already made contacts several countries interested in providing troops for this task. Potentially the situation is much more dangerous than any of the conflicts in ex-Yugoslavia. The nineties, even though have produced inside Yugoslav wars, did not succeed to produce a Balkan war similar to the Balkan wars in 1912, and 1913, fought predominantly on the territory of Macedonia The situation is worrying which is accented by the Bulgarian and Greek governments offering military and technical assistance to the Macedonian government. The Bulgarian president Stojanov has in addition offered troops. The Greek Prime Minister Simitis offered diplomatic assistance. at the moment the terrorists are running away from Tanusevci back to Kosovo. Politically, Macedonia is getting almost unanimous support from the international political factors. Strategically today's meeting of the UN Security Council will decide the fate of Macedonia's proposal for the creation of a buffer zone, in which the multinational forces could pursue constant control and checking out of people. The other Macedonian request is for KFOR to comply with the terms and responsibility set out in the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, i.e. KFOR should prevent armed conflicts from spilling over into the neighboring areas in the Region. However something smells. The Spokesman for Macedonian Defense Ministry commented on interesting details is the international media coverage where several newsagencies such as CNN have emitted films and photographs of tanks attacking the village Tanusevci. The most interesting part is that the tanks shown to attack the village are not in possesion of the Army of Macedonia, the soldiers are not Macedonian, and the village is not Tanusevci. He also reapeted yesterday that in hospitals in Kosovo corpses are being collected, primarily of women and children, to be presented as victims of alleged harassment led by the Macedonian security forces. One could also add to this the statement of yesterday by the British Ambassador in Macedonia Mark Dickinson stated that "the terrorists want to provoke the Macedonian government into a Racak type massacre", and if this doeas not happen then he suspects that the terrorists would themselves "secure" evidences for this. The Spokesman for Macedonian Interior Ministry Pendarovski said that the border crossings are still closed due to security reasons. There have been in the international press reports on alleged offensive on Macedonian police forces in cities throughout Macedonia. Pendarovski denied such speculations as a part of propaganda unfolding in Macedonia. He said that a group of 177 ethnic Albanian women and children, residents of the village of Gosinci, Kumanovo area, had fled the village and headed to other villages inside Macedonia. Pendarovski presumes the refugee movements are part of well-orchestrated propaganda aiming to spread fear among the local residents. Your reporter from the field, Melentie Pandilovski ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress