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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
West urges Macedonian restraint
NATO, EU fear conflict could become full-scale Balkan war
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
TETOVO, Macedonia, March 26 — After gaining ground against ethnic
Albanian rebels surrounding the city of Tetovo, the Macedonian government
came under pressure Monday from NATO and the European Union to show restraint
in its crackdown, signaling new momentum for a political solution to end the
six-week standoff. Western nations feared the conflict could develop into
another full-scale Balkan war.
Juliette Terzieff reports on the Macedonian army offensive.
Terzieff on tension in the streets of Tetovo.
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE Colin Powell signaled Monday that he believed
the conflict was far from over.
Powell, speaking at a news conference with French Foreign Minister
Hubert Vedrine, said Macedonian forces “had some success getting part way up
that hill.”
But he added, “I don’t think the battle is anywhere near over or that
the crisis is yet resolved.”
Newsweek’s Juliette Terzieff reported that sporadic firing continued
Monday around Tetovo. More civilians took to the streets during the relative
lull, but most businesses remained closed. Unrest in the Balkans
With the battlegrounds quiet, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and EU
security affairs chief Javier Solana arrived in the former Yugoslav republic
for talks.
Referring to gains made by the Macedonian army in recent fighting,
Robertson said on arriving: “They have taken the military high ground above
Tetovo. Now is the time [for the government] to take the political high
ground.”
Similarly, Solana, who arrived later, told reporters: “Now is the
moment for politics. Objectives cannot be met through violent acts.”
Robertson and Solana both held talks with Macedonian President Boris
Trajkovski.
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SUCCESS FOR RAGTAG INFANTRY
Macedonian forces dug in overnight after piercing rebel lines and
retaking ground held by ethnic Albanian insurgents, and they vowed that their
offensive would continue until the rebels were driven out of the country.
The ragtag infantry punched through rebel positions in a day of fierce
battle Sunday that raged in the hills just outside Macedonia’s second-largest
city, spraying houses with bullets and forcing the guerrillas to pull back.
Even while saying the time had come for a political effort, Solana and
Robertson underlined NATO and EU support for the Skopje government’s action.
NATO has worried that the rebel insurgency could widen ethnic divisions in
Macedonia — where at least of the quarter of the population are ethnic
Albanians living with a Slav majority — and open up a new Balkan war.
“My message in Skopje is to keep the country united against its
external enemy and to make sure the internal unity is safeguarded,” Robertson
said. “No one wants to see another Balkan bloodbath.”
“Macedonia enjoys the firm support of the international community to
act against those who use the bullet rather than the ballot box,” he said.
OPPOSITION BOYCOTT
The guerrillas say they are fighting for greater rights for
Macedonia’s ethnic Albanians, accusing the Skopje government of
discrimination. The government, however, says they are separatists seeking
ultimately to split away northern Macedonia to create an independent state
with mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo.
An opposition ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia, the Democratic
Prosperity Party, announced it was boycotting parliament beginning Monday.
Party leader Imer Imeri demanded that Trajkovski end the army offensive and
that the rebels lay down their arms.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair promised to reinforce
NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo, from which guerrillas are said to smuggle
weapons and fighters across the border into Macedonia.
Blair said a unit with an unmanned reconnaissance plane would deploy
to Kosovo to provide peacekeepers with a clearer picture of activity in the
border region.
Robertson made a stopover in Rome, where Italian Foreign Minister
Lamberto Dini said Italy supported calls for restraint by the Macedonian
government — but admitted that these “haven’t been successful so far.”
Robertson said NATO would continue to strengthen its policing of
Kosovo’s border with Macedonia to cut off the rebel’s military supplies but
ruled out direct intervention in the conflict by international peacekeepers.
Finland and Bulgaria also urged Macedonia to moderate its stance,
urging it to stop using heavy weapons against the rebels. Finnish Prime
Minister Paavo Lipponen said the government’s use of force was “legitimate,”
but “it should be proportionate to the threat.”
“I can’t see a military solution. It is absolutely essential to
protect the multi-ethnic character of Macedonian society,” Lipponen said.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said Macedonia’s politicians
should focus on the political aspect of the conflict to prevent society from
splitting along ethnic lines.
“There is a real political hazard in Macedonia, and that is if the
governing majority should fall apart,” Kostov said. “That’s why the search
for a political solution must take central place.”
Country: Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic bordering on Greece, Albania,
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, is a once-peaceful mosaic of Balkan ethnic groups,
including Serbs, Albanians and Turks.
Population: The ethnic groups that make up the population of just over 2
million people are Macedonian, 66.6 percent; Albanian, 22.7 percent; Turkish,
4 percent; Roma, 2.2 percent; Serb, 2.1 percent; other, 2.4 percent.
Religions: Macedonian Orthodox, 67 percent; Muslim, 30 percent; other, 3
percent
Languages: Macedonian, 70 percent; Albanian, 21 percent; Turkish, 3 percent;
Serbo-Croatian, 3 percent; other, 3 percent
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any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use
without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
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