[Nettime-bold] briefing 10.05.2001

[ebalkan@soros.org.mk]

"EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS

10-05-2001

CONTENTS:

- Daily briefing from Macedonian press about Macedonian crisis
- Daily briefing from international press about Macedonian crisis
SUPPLEMENT 1: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT BORIS TRAJKOVSKI
SUPPLEMENT 2: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO NLA POLITICAL SPOKESMAN ALI AHMETI

a) DAILY BRIEFING FROM MACEDONIAN PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

THE FIGHTING WITH THE TERRORISTS IN THE KUMANOVO REGION IS SETTLING
The Macedonian security forces yesterday in several rounds only answered with artillery fire to the armed provocations of the terrorist groups in the village Slupchane. In Vaksince, where the most intense fighting went on the day before yesterday, the situation yesterday was calm. The local inhabitants don’t answer to the ultimatums set by the Macedonian Army and police to leave their homes. The terrorists haven’t yet released the soldier of the Macedonian Army and the two captured civilians. “The Albanian media announced information that the Macedonian security forces act against the civilians and that the Macedonian side had great losses. I claim that the security forces do not attack civilian targets, nor do we have losses”, stated the spokesman of the Defense Ministry, Gjorgji Trendafilov. (“DNEVNIK”)

THE MACEDONIAN ARMY HELPED TWO JURNALISTS ESCAPE SLUPCHANE
Yesterday, around 9:00, an armored vehicle of the TV Network BBC with the reporter Nicholas Wood and a cameraman, was struck with a shell in the neighborhood of the village Slupchane, there were no casualties in this event. According to the spokesman of the Macedonian Army Headquarters, colonel Blagoja Markovski, for an unknown reason, the two BBC journalists with their translator, a Macedonian Albanian, were in the vicinity of a terrorist machine-gun nest, when action by the Macedonian Army Units was conducted. The Defense Ministry spokesman, Gjorji Trendafilov, refused to comment on how the team succeeded to enter the village. The international Red Cross yesterday didn’t attempt to enter the village Slupchane to pull the members of the British network team out from the village, so they remained in Opae. That is when the Macedonian security forces conducted an action to pull them out of there. Both journalists were taken away from the village and transferred to Kumanovo for an informative questioning, after that they were free to go. The translator expressed a desire to stay in the village. Yesterday at 6:30 from the village Slupchane, help from the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Macedonian Army was asked by an American journalist team, there is some information that this is a team of the “Washington Post”. They asked the police to pull them out from the village where at that moment there were provocations from the terrorists and artillery fire by the security forces. Yesterday two Turkish nationals were pulled out from the village Lipkovo. (“DNEVNIK”)

MERCENARIES-MUJAHEDINS ARE POSITIONED IN VITINA
Paramilitary units of the mercenaries- mujahedins, mainly from the former Second Sandzak Brigade from the Bosnian war, are headed towards Macedonia, claim unofficial police sources, based on information from the Security and Counterintelligence Administration in the Internal Affairs Ministry. The same sources for the newspaper “Utrinski Vesnik” say that these paramilitary units have already arrived and are located in the training camps in the border region at Vitina on the Yugoslav-Macedonian border with Kosovo. According to counterintelligence information, they are to enter our northern border in several groups. The mercenaries on their way robbed houses and properties of former state companies. The “connection” between the mujahedins and the local population, according to police sources, allegedly, is the 60 year-old Muslim priest from the village Slupchane, with excellent knowledge of Arabian. The representative -turned soldier of the NLA, Hisni Shaciri, is also in the village Slupchane, in a house in the north part of the village. This house, as well as the NLA headquarters was one of the first targets of the helicopter attacks of the Macedonian security forces. (“UTRINSKI VESNIK”)

K-FOR POSITIONED NEW FORCES TOWARDS MACEDONIA
K-for positioned a significant military presence on the Macedonian-Yugoslav border with Kosovo, in order to secure the border as well as possible and are convinced that the last undertakings have great effect ,it is said in today’s announcement by the K-for. In the announcement it is said that the K-for in the past several weeks have responded accordingly to the concern of the Macedonian Government and conducted intense and successful military actions along the border. On the information that was spread in the Macedonian media that armed troops are freely crossing the Macedonian- Yugoslav border with Kosovo, K-for reacted to all the requests from the Macedonian Defense Ministry for these groups to be met and made additional effort to secure the border. (“NOVA MAKEDONIJA”)

THE NEW GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR ONE MORE WEEK
The creation of a grand government coalition, yesterday discussed the fulfillment of the conditions of the PDP (Party for Democratic Prosperity) for ceasefire and changes to the Macedonian Constitution, as well as the share of ministerial resources and leadership and managerial positions in the lower structures of the state government. Because of this the forming of the new government will most probably have to wait until next week. The PDP didn’t hold the announced meeting of the party leadership on which a definitive standing on the entering in the new government coalition was to be brought. It is hard to predict when this meeting will be held. As we are informed, the reason for this situation is the standpoint of this party that they still haven’t received the requested guarantees from the future coalition partners. “First of all, we don’t have a solid guarantee by the SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia), that they will agree to the change of the Constitution. On the other hand, we were assured by the international representatives that we will be submitted a draft version of the changes in the Macedonian Constitution that is supposed to represent a compromise for the overcoming of the current crisis”, say our sources in the PDP. SDSM’s spokesman, Vlado Buchkovski, denies that on the last meeting with the EU representative, Javier Solana, he, Mr. Solana, pressured them to agree to the changes of the constitutional regulations. In the SDSM, they are at the opinion that the PDP has problems with the DPA because of their request to get as well the Ministry of Economy aside from the resource of justice, which will most probably not be given up by Arben Xhaferi’s party. (“DNEVNIK”)


b) DAILY BRIEFING FROM INTERNATIONAL PRESS ABOUT MACEDONIAN CRISIS

NEW SKOPJE COALITION CALMS NERVES
Multi-ethnic coalition government has taken over Macedonia in a desperate effort to avert all-out war. But the rumble of distant artillery as Macedonian troops battle with Albanian guerrillas in the north threatens to fracture the coalition before it even starts work.
The new government was put together painfully after strenuous prodding from George Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, and Javier Solana, the European Union's high representative. It was Robertson who warned, "Macedonia is on the edge of an abyss". One coalition element, the Party for Democratic Prosperity, PDP, signed up on Tuesday but less than a day later threatened to walk out unless the army called a cease-fire within three days. The PDP is an opposition group representing the country's Albanian minority. The birth of the new government was difficult. Negotiations lasted several weeks and came to a crisis when Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski announced he was seriously thinking of introducing a state of war to deal with the Albanian guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, NLA, which has been attacking Macedonian forces along the northern border. The new national unity government includes the VMRO- DPMNE party of Prime Minister Georgievski along with the DPA and LP (Liberal Party), which were all in the former government. They are joined by the two main opposition groups, the Macedonian SDSM (Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia) and the PDP. The SDSM will probably share its functions with two smaller opposition groups, the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) and VMRO- VMRO. According to the agreement, opposition groups will get the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, health-care and ecology as well as a deputy prime minister post. VMRO-DPMNE will head the ministries of interior, finance, culture, education and agriculture. It is possible that VMRO-DPMNE will give the education ministry to the newly formed New Democracy Party. DPA has been promised the ministries of labor and social policy, economy and local self- government as well as one deputy prime minister position. The PDP will have the ministry of justice and one minister without portfolio post. Georgievski remains government head. (IWPR) A government spokesman, Antonio Milosovski, said the main ruling and opposition parties, representing majority Slavs and minority Albanians, had agreed on a coalition government which will include 96 of the country's 120 MPs. In return, the opposition parties were promised an early election next January. (The Guardian)

ARMY POUNDING PRODUCES FIRST CRACKS IN MACEDONIAN UNITY COALITION
The Macedonian army intensified its artillery shelling of northern villages held by ethnic Albanian rebels Wednesday, threatening to blow apart the fragile multi-ethnic coalition government less than a day after it was created. As army guns poured heavy fire on villages snatched last week by the self-proclaimed NLA (NLA), the Party for Democratic Prosperity said it might quit the government if no ceasefire were announced in three days. The PDP had demanded a unilateral army ceasefire as the price for its cooperation, but signed up Tuesday to the new broad coalition despite an intensification of bombardments later in the day. "Our attitude is negative for the time being since one of our preconditions for participation was that the bombardment ends in the Kumanovo region," said PDP Secretary General Muhamed Halili. "In three days things should become clear and we will take a decision, negative or positive, on our participation in a broad coalition," said Halili. He said the government had promised a "short ceasefire" Tuesday, when the coalition was announced, which had "not been respected." (AFP) Asked what PDP's stand is for the representing of the NLA in this government, PDP's spokesman Zahir Bekteshi said that PPD is principally for a political solution of the crises, but they also see the possibility of all factors joining together preventing the slipping into an abyss. "There us still time for the created wounds to not deepen, giving dialogue a chance. PDP cannot blindly enter the government while Albanian civilians and their homes continue to be shelled in Macedonia," Bekteshi told KosovaLive Wednesday. According to Bekteshi, the main Albanian party of the opposition in Macedonia demands from future government partners and the international factor to guarantee the Albanians an end to the war and the altering of the Constitution before forming a joint government. "We demand a guarantee from those who give the orders, because it is important to know how we see the new government. The generator of the crises is a political system in Macedonia that does not correspond with the ethnic reality." (KosovaLive) "We are waiting today for a confirmation of our demands which have to be guaranteed by international institutions and Macedonian authorities. A decision will be taken tomorrow," said Aziz Pollozhani, vice-president of the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP). (Los Angeles Times) An artillery and mortar bombardment boomed across pastures towards hills where the rebels from the NLA are positioned, despite reports that a ceasefire deal between the government and the main Albanian opposition PDP was close. Stevo Pendarovski, spokesman for Macedonia's Interior Ministry said: "Formally speaking, a ceasefire has not been announced." Under the ceasefire deal apparently under discussion, the army would stop shelling rebel positions in the northeast and give the NLA fighters 72 hours to withdraw from the villages they occupied last week. Security forces would then move in. (Independent)

CIVILIANS STAY PUT AS SHELLS RAIN DOWN 
The radio broadcast appeals in Macedonian and Albanian for civilians in the northeastern Kumanovo area, where the latest fighting is concentrated, to leave urgently, either toward neighboring Kosovo or deeper inside Macedonia. The deadline was 10 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT). The appeal, broadcast every 30 minutes, also urged the guerrillas to surrender and let civilians go. Government broadcasts urge civilians to leave, either to Kumanovo or across into United Nations-administered Kosovo, a Yugoslav province with an overwhelmingly Albanian population. Some 7,600 ethnic Albanians fled to Kosovo in the past week, said Amanda Williamson of the UNHCR refugee agency. "We are extremely concerned that people are staying in the villages ... We've never had such a situation," she said. Young men leaving for Kosovo said they were singled out and roughly interrogated by police over suspected "terrorist" links. (Los Angeles Times) The government and International Red Cross have offered safe passage out, yet the women and children don't leave. Theirs is a collective act of defiance, determination or terror that has enormously frustrated the Macedonian government and astounded the few foreign aid workers who have visited this town since the army began an offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels in this region last week. More than 1,000 civilians remain in this town and surrounding ones for reasons that are not clear. According to the Macedonian government, guerrillas who control their towns have ordered them to stay put. But some may remain out of resolve to press for the Albanians' political goals, including better jobs, more political power and more schooling in their own language. For whatever reason, they are functioning as human shields in a combat zone. Their continued presence means the army cannot pursue the all-out war and ground assault it says is necessary to defeat the rebels and stamp out a new full-scale ethnic conflict in the Balkans. In brief interviews in the basement here, several women voiced support for the rebellion. But with armed fighters standing over them, it was not possible to know if they genuinely felt that way. (The Washington Post) Another 2,000 terrified Albanian civilians, mainly women and children, fled into Kosovo yesterday after 4,000 arrived on Monday. Many trudged along narrow dirt roads through mountain passes, carrying suitcases hastily stuffed with clothes and family mementos. (Guardian) "The government has to face reality," said a rebel leader, Commander Sokoli. "It has to face us." Sokoli said the civilians were "a burden to us as well. We have asked them to leave. But they are resolved to stay here". (Cape Times) Thousands of frightened villagers have been streaming from Vaksince and other villages north of the capital, Skopje, into neighboring Kosovo. Many said they left behind homes that were leveled in the army offensive. “People are in a very difficult situation — they’re dangerously exposed to ongoing hostilities,” Amanda Williamson, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Wednesday. She said the fighting was hampering efforts to deliver food and other aid to the refugees. (MSNBC)

HALICI: THE REVELS UNAFFECTED, THE VILLAGES RUINED
The government claims its offensive has pushed most of the rebels into NATO-occupied Kosovo and other parts of Serbia. But a drive along hilly roads showed rebels in control of a long swath of Macedonian territory northwest of the city of Kumanovo, encompassing a string of Albanian- majority villages 20 miles long. They include Otla, Lipkovo, Lojane, Orizare, Vaksince and Slupcane. The army knows this, and these villages -- with a combined population of 26,000 before the insurrection -- have been its principal artillery targets. A seventh village, Matejce, this afternoon had rebels at one edge and Macedonian troops -- plus an armored personnel carrier equipped with a cannon -- at the other. The rebels raced two cars and a truck filled with food partway through the village today before the vehicles were shot up and abandoned. Husamedin Halici, the ethnic Albanian mayor of Lipkovo, said in an interview in Kumanovo that he has not visited the town for two days. But he said that so far, "I have no information that the [rebels] were affected by the offensive, only that the villages were ruined." (The Washington Post)

BRITAIN URGES ESTABLISHMENT OF MACEDONIA COALITION
Britain said on Thursday it was gravely concerned by delays in establishing a broad coalition government in Macedonia where the army is fighting ethnic Albanian guerrillas. “Every passing day increases the risk of deepening divisions between Macedonia's different ethnic communities,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. Britain, which has played a leading role in peacekeeping efforts in the Balkans, urged the PDP to accept an invitation to join the coalition government. “A combined effort by all the democratic forces in Macedonia is necessary to demonstrate the complete repudiation of the terrorist acts of the rebels,” the spokesman said. “Democratic dialogue provides the only means of finding long-term solutions which will be acceptable to all the people of Macedonia.” (Reuters)

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT MACEDONIA, KOSOVO  Turkey's Foreign Minister will visit Macedonia and neighboring Kosovo amid spiraling violence between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian forces, diplomats said on Wednesday. NATO-member Turkey, which has a small stretch of territory in the Balkans, takes a close strategic interest in the region, with which it has historic and ethnic ties. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem is to travel to Kosovo on Thursday for meetings with ethnic Turkish and Albanian leaders. The ethnic Albanian province is legally part of Serb- dominated Yugoslavia but has been under de facto international rule since June 1999. Cem is also to visit Skopje for meetings with Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, officials said. Trajkovski was scheduled to visit Ankara this week to meet President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, but called off the trip to remain in Skopje amid efforts to form a national unity government. (Reuters)

c) SUPPLEMENT 1: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT BORIS TRAJKOVSKI
 May 4,2001  President Boris Trajkovski  11 Oktomvri b.b.  1000, Skopje  Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia   Your Excellency,  Human Rights Watch is a privately funded international non-governmental  organization dedicated to documenting human rights abuses throughout the world. In the past ten years, we have committed substantial time and effort to investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia. We have documented violations of international humanitarian law by all sides of the armed conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the NATO war with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Reports of the renewed conflict in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between security forces and armed groups of ethnic Albanians raise concerns relating to adherence to international humanitarian law. As in all other conflicts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, our principal concern is that all parties involved respect civilian immunity and ensure the protection of civilians.  Human Rights Watch wants to express its concern that Macedonian authorities take all measures to ensure that security forces comply with basic principles of international humanitarian law applicable to situations of internal armed conflict, and enshrined in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. This provision protects those who do not take an active part in hostilities from the most serious violations, including acts of murder, torture and cruel treatment, the taking of hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court. This concern is strengthened by our findings following the March 2001 actions by the security forces against armed ethnic Albanian groups in the western part of the country. Available evidence suggests that government  forces were responsible for the deliberate killing of 16-year-old Omer  Shabani on April 3 in the village of Selce. We also received reports that families of ethnic Albanians arrested on suspicion of membership in the so-called National Liberation Army (NLA) were unable to obtain any information on the whereabouts of their relatives. Finally, our  documentation suggests that government forces were responsible for the  wanton destruction and looting of villages perceived as being pro-NLA,  including the villages of Selce, Gjermo, Gajre, Drenovec, and Kolte. We  urge you to make these incidents the subject of prompt, thorough, and  transparent investigations. With regard to the renewed fighting, Macedonian authorities should also prohibit all attacks against civilians, attacks and reprisals against civilian objects, as well as threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population. We call on the government of the FYR Macedonia to take all available measures to prevent the displacement of civilians. We also call on the authorities to ensure that the civilian population of the affected areas enjoys maximum protection against the dangers of harm resulting from the military operations. The most fundamental principle of the laws of war requires that combatants be distinguished from noncombatants, and that military objectives be distinguished from protected property or protected places. Parties to a conflict must direct their operations only against military objectives (including combatants).  In this respect we wish to remind Macedonian authorities that the  provisions of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions that prohibit indiscriminate warfare are considered to be norms of customary  international law. These provisions are binding on all parties to a  conflict, regardless of whether it is an international or internal armed conflict. Indiscriminate attacks are "those which are not directed against a military objective," "those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective," or "those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by the Protocol," "and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction."  We also note that the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) applies to serious violations of international humanitarian law committed after 1991 in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, including FYR Macedonia. Human Rights Watch acknowledges the obligation of the armed Albanian groups to uphold the same standards of international humanitarian law and urges their adherence to these norms. A letter expressing Human Rights Watch's concerns to this effect is being sent to the NLA.  We hope, Mr. President, that you will give serious thought to the points addressed in this letter and, guided by consideration for human life and well-being, do everything in your power to ensure respect for Macedonia's obligations under international law.  Respectfully,  Holly Cartner  Executive Director  Europe and Central Asia Division  cc: Mrs. Carla Del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor, ICTY

d) SUPPLEMENT 2: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO NLA POLITICAL SPOKESMAN ALI AHMETI
 May 4, 2001  Mr. Ali Ahmeti  Political Spokesman for the National Liberation Army (NLA)   Dear Mr. Ahmeti,  Human Rights Watch is a privately funded international non-governmental  organization dedicated to documenting human rights abuses throughout the world. In the past ten years, we have committed substantial time and effort to investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia. We have documented violations of international humanitarian law by all sides of the armed conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the NATO war with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Reports of the renewed conflict in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between security forces and armed groups of ethnic Albanians raise concerns relating to adherence to international humanitarian law. As in all other conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, our principal concern is that all parties involved respect civilian immunity and ensure the protection of civilians.  Human Rights Watch wants to express its concern that the groups organized under the name of National Liberation Army (NLA) take all measures to comply with basic principles of international humanitarian law applicable to situations of internal armed conflict, and enshrined in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. This provision protects those who do not take an active part in hostilities from the most serious violations, including acts of murder, torture and cruel treatment, the taking of hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court.  With regard to the renewed fighting, the NLA leadership should refrain from any attacks against civilians, attacks and reprisals against civilian objects, as well as threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.  We also call on the NLA leadership to ensure that the civilian population of the affected areas enjoys as much protection as possible against dangers of harm resulting from the fighting. The most fundamental principle of the laws of war requires that combatants be distinguished from noncombatants, and that military objectives be distinguished from protected property or protected places. Parties to a conflict must direct their operations only against military objectives (including combatants). Also, the use of civilians as shields for defensive positions, to hide military objectives or to screen attacks, violates the principles of the international humanitarian law.  We also note that the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) applies to serious violations of international humanitarian law committed after 1991 on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, including the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Human Rights Watch also recognizes the obligations of the Macedonian security forces to uphold the standards of international humanitarian law and urges their adherence to these norms. Letters expressing Human Rights Watch's concerns to this effect are being sent to the president and the prime minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  We hope, Mr. Ahmeti, that you will give serious thought to the points  addressed in this letter and, guided by consideration for human life and well-being, do everything in your power to ensure that the NLA respects obligations under international humanitarian law.  Respectfully,  Holly Cartner  Executive Director  Europe and Central Asia Division  cc: Mrs. Carla Del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor, ICTY

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