Misko on Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:43:24 +0200


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Syndicate: Aracinovo: "results of ceasefire"


In the moments when the Macedonian army and police finally attacked 
and when the terrorists were practically defeated in Aracinovo (village
near-by Skopje), expressed plastically by hanging white flags on the
buildings (after threatening the capital city Skopje for about 20 days),
the worried face of Solana appears in Skopje and succeeds (after
threatening with economic and other sanctions) to save the terrorists
once again.

The government ordered the stop of military operations of Macedonian
security forces in Aracinovo on Sunday, as I said under heavy pressure
from Solana and the international community. 

The Macedonian authorities unwillingly but under pressure decided to
allow the terrorists to leave. They however insisted that as long as
they were doing that then the terrorists should be disarmed and
transported to Kosovo. 

This was however not the idea of the terrorists and of the international
community. What happened in practice? 

KFOR armored transporters and five buses, two trucks, accompanied by
the vehicles of international organizations, Monday afternoon entered
village Aracinovo trying to evacuate the terrorists back to Lipkovo
(under control of the Albanian rebels) together with the personal and
heavy arms of course. Right after their entrance operation of withdrawal of
terrorists from the village began.

The Macedonian public was astonished as KFOR, NATO, EU and the
other international, and humanitarian organizations were fully engaged in 
rescuing such a big group of terrorists (700 - 800), evacuating them, 
healing them, etc. (there could have been other cases but I have not
heard of them).  In fact the worry for the terrorists  is so big that it
starts to stink really bad here. Some international negotiators are even
complaining that the Macedonian side does not take into account the
emotional state of the terrorists!!!

But alas, the villagers from the neighboring villages put barricades on
the road not allowing anyone to pass. 

A part of the terrorists was escorted by another route though.
The journalists saw about 70 of them taken out of Aracinovo. 
Journalist couldn't see much as the fields were put on fire and there
was a lot of smoke. 

At the same time police forces in Tetovo were attacked, and there were 
wounded and dead policemen reported.

Riots continued in front of the Macedonian Parliament.
It was pretty massive and it could have been dangerous as 
about 5,000 - 7,000 demonstrators (police joined in as well) demanded
some answers why this was done and action.
They were furious and some of them smashed windows and doors entering
the Parliament building. One could feel that anger is really building up
here.

The protesters demanded that the President or Prime Minister speak to
them but... the president was evacuated somewhere else and the PM did
not appear. 

The only one who appeared was Ljube Boskovski, the Minister of Interior, 
who said that he understood the anger of the protestors, and said that
the police would continue fighting until victory was won, but it was
obvious that he could not say much, so that the angry protestors
demolished his vehicle.

As the situation evolved the protesters were getting angrier at the
government's handling of a cease-fire with Albanian terrorists and
demanded the resignation of Trajkovski and the government. The rioters
(many of them in the police reserve) were also shooting in the air
in front of the Parliament.

Demonstrators claimed Trajkovski had bent too much to international
pressure by allowing the rebels to take their weapons with them as they
evacuated. In the eyes of the protesters what was happening was just
helping the terrorists to leave one area so that they could attack
another.

The international negotiators aren't helping the situation much as to
the questions of the journalists whether they can guarantee that the 
rebels will not use the guns to shoot at Macedonians once again 
are staying with out an answer.

Otherwise the international community continues with the old song 
of "urging all citizens of Macedonia to remain calm and to use the
opportunity of the cease-fire to pursue a political process."

One thing is certain. Revolt is great and the patience of the
Macedonians is over. 
Politicians will in the future think very deeply regarding a cease-fire,
under these conditions. 

One other thing is also certain. The rating of the EU, NATO and the
international community is falling rapidly in Macedonia.



Melentie Pandilovski

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