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> Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
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> TETOVO, Macedonia Under heavy pressure from Western powers, the Macedonian
> government and Albanian rebels signed a formal cease-fire Thursday as a first
> hard step toward heading off another ethnic war in the Balkans.
> .
> The two sides were to lay down their arms at midnight Thursday. But Thursday
> evening, intense fighting raged in this city in the northwest, with rebels
> and government troops trading mortar rounds and automatic gunfire, at times
> from inside the city.
> .
> A government helicopter gunship slammed rockets into the hillside just west
> of Tetovo, where rebels hold positions, and several soldiers and civilians
> were reported wounded. It was not clear if the fighting was a last-minute
> attempt to gain ground or if the cease-fire was delivered stillborn.
> .
> "No one who is reasonable and knows the situation closely here can expect
> that we will have calm overnight," said Stevo Panderovski, a top adviser to
> the Macedonian president, Boris Trajkovski. He stressed however that the
> government stood fully behind the cease-fire.
> .
> The fighting, also reported near villages around the front lines in the north
> of the country, underscored just how close Macedonia has been veering to
> full-scale war in the last several weeks.
> .
> And the cease-fire reflects how seriously the Western powers are now taking
> that threat. Over the last week, both the European Union and the United
> States have appointed full-time envoys to fashion a political agreement to
> expand the rights of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians, who make up roughly one
> third of the nation's 2 million people and who complain that they do not
> enjoy full rights.
> .
> The cease-fire also brings NATO one step closer to deploying a force of 3,000
> troops to collect weapons from the Albanian guerrillas, known as the National
> Liberation Army. A NATO officials said Thursday that the force could be in
> place within "days, not weeks," but only on the condition that the two sides
> here make substantial progress in resolving their political differences.
> .
> Until the fighting here began Thursday, diplomats and government officials
> were expressing far more optimism about resolving the crisis here they have
> in the last few weeks. "It's a very important step on the way to a political
> solution, not a military solution," Francois Leotard, the newly appointed
> envoy for the EU, told reporters in the capital, Skopje, on Thursday.
> .
> In fact, the nation's defense minister, Vlado Buckovski, said he believed a
> political solution could be in place as early as July 15, and that NATO
> troops could begin to arrive a week after that.
> .
> For a decade, since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Western
> troops have been involved in policing wars in the Balkans, and Western
> officials have made clear they are not eager for another expensive
> peacekeeping operation, like the ones in Bosnia and Kosovo.
> .
> In the last few days, Western negotiators, by all accounts, have been
> aggressively pushing both the Macedonian government and the rebels toward a
> cease-fire, on the theory that political progress can only be made in the
> absence of fighting. The EU has also offered a large, though unspecified,
> package of financial assistance if war is headed off. By Thursday evening,
> though, some of the day's optimism appeared to thin as the fighting in
> Tetovo, a stronghold for Albanians, intensified.
> .
> Although several other cease-fires had been mutually declared, the one
> Thursday was the first that both sides actually signed.
> .
> Apart from the cease-fire itself, several outside experts have been working
> to draft a framework to meet the demands of the Albanians. The issues include
> a recognition of Albanian as an official language, greater representation in
> the federal and local government and official recognition in the Macedonian
> Constitution. These are contentious issues in Macedonia and officials
> cautioned that the progress in the last several days could easily unravel as
> details were worked out.
> .
> With the adoption of the cease-fire, attention also shifted to the ultimate
> role of NATO troops here. NATO officials have been careful to present their
> involvement as far more limited than in Bosnia or Kosovo, where outsiders
> have in many ways taken the role of administering government. Only 3,000
> troops, to be headed by the British, will be stationed in Macedonia, as
> compared with some 40,000 in Kosovo. American troops are expected to assist
> with logistics.
> .
> The Macedonian government has been sensitive about ceding any sovereignty to
> NATO, and have been concerned that an official cease-fire would only serve to
> solidify the rebels' gains on the ground. Mark Laity, an adviser to George
> Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, said that the alliance's disarmament
> role would last only 30 days. Its mission will be to collect and destroy the
> Albanian's weapons as part of a peace settlement, not to police areas of the
> country split along ethnic lines.
>
> For Related Topics See:
> Europe
> Front Page
>
> Back to Start of Article TETOVO, Macedonia Under heavy pressure from Western
> powers, the Macedonian government and Albanian rebels signed a formal
> cease-fire Thursday as a first hard step toward heading off another ethnic
> war in the Balkans.
> .
> The two sides were to lay down their arms at midnight Thursday. But Thursday
> evening, intense fighting raged in this city in the northwest, with rebels
> and government troops trading mortar rounds and automatic gunfire, at times
> from inside the city.
> .
> A government helicopter gunship slammed rockets into the hillside just west
> of Tetovo, where rebels hold positions, and several soldiers and civilians
> were reported wounded. It was not clear if the fighting was a last-minute
> attempt to gain ground or if the cease-fire was delivered stillborn.
> .
> "No one who is reasonable and knows the situation closely here can expect
> that we will have calm overnight," said Stevo Panderovski, a top adviser to
> the Macedonian president, Boris Trajkovski. He stressed however that the
> government stood fully behind the cease-fire.
> .
> The fighting, also reported near villages around the front lines in the north
> of the country, underscored just how close Macedonia has been veering to
> full-scale war in the last several weeks.
> .
> And the cease-fire reflects how seriously the Western powers are now taking
> that threat. Over the last week, both the European Union and the United
> States have appointed full-time envoys to fashion a political agreement to
> expand the rights of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians, who make up roughly one
> third of the nation's 2 million people and who complain that they do not
> enjoy full rights.
> .
> The cease-fire also brings NATO one step closer to deploying a force of 3,000
> troops to collect weapons from the Albanian guerrillas, known as the National
> Liberation Army. A NATO officials said Thursday that the force could be in
> place within "days, not weeks," but only on the condition that the two sides
> here make substantial progress in resolving their political differences.
> .
> Until the fighting here began Thursday, diplomats and government officials
> were expressing far more optimism about resolving the crisis here they have
> in the last few weeks. "It's a very important step on the way to a political
> solution, not a military solution," Francois Leotard, the newly appointed
> envoy for the EU, told reporters in the capital, Skopje, on Thursday.
> .
> In fact, the nation's defense minister, Vlado Buckovski, said he believed a
> political solution could be in place as early as July 15, and that NATO
> troops could begin to arrive a week after that.
> .
> For a decade, since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Western
> troops have been involved in policing wars in the Balkans, and Western
> officials have made clear they are not eager for another expensive
> peacekeeping operation, like the ones in Bosnia and Kosovo.
> .
> In the last few days, Western negotiators, by all accounts, have been
> aggressively pushing both the Macedonian government and the rebels toward a
> cease-fire, on the theory that political progress can only be made in the
> absence of fighting. The EU has also offered a large, though unspecified,
> package of financial assistance if war is headed off. By Thursday evening,
> though, some of the day's optimism appeared to thin as the fighting in
> Tetovo, a stronghold for Albanians, intensified.
> .
> Although several other cease-fires had been mutually declared, the one
> Thursday was the first that both sides actually signed.
> .
> Apart from the cease-fire itself, several outside experts have been working
> to draft a framework to meet the demands of the Albanians. The issues include
> a recognition of Albanian as an official language, greater representation in
> the federal and local government and official recognition in the Macedonian
> Constitution. These are contentious issues in Macedonia and officials
> cautioned that the progress in the last several days could easily unravel as
> details were worked out.
> .
> With the adoption of the cease-fire, attention also shifted to the ultimate
> role of NATO troops here. NATO officials have been careful to present their
> involvement as far more limited than in Bosnia or Kosovo, where outsiders
> have in many ways taken the role of administering government. Only 3,000
> troops, to be headed by the British, will be stationed in Macedonia, as
> compared with some 40,000 in Kosovo. American troops are expected to assist
> with logistics.
> .
> The Macedonian government has been sensitive about ceding any sovereignty to
> NATO, and have been concerned that an official cease-fire would only serve to
> solidify the rebels' gains on the ground. Mark Laity, an adviser to George
> Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, said that the alliance's disarmament
> role would last only 30 days. Its mission will be to collect and destroy the
> Albanian's weapons as part of a peace settlement, not to police areas of the
> country split along ethnic lines. TETOVO, Macedonia Under heavy pressure from
> Western powers, the Macedonian government and Albanian rebels signed a formal
> cease-fire Thursday as a first hard step toward heading off another ethnic
> war in the Balkans.
> .
> The two sides were to lay down their arms at midnight Thursday. But Thursday
> evening, intense fighting raged in this city in the northwest, with rebels
> and government troops trading mortar rounds and automatic gunfire, at times
> from inside the city.
> .
> A government helicopter gunship slammed rockets into the hillside just west
> of Tetovo, where rebels hold positions, and several soldiers and civilians
> were reported wounded. It was not clear if the fighting was a last-minute
> attempt to gain ground or if the cease-fire was delivered stillborn.
> .
> "No one who is reasonable and knows the situation closely here can expect
> that we will have calm overnight," said Stevo Panderovski, a top adviser to
> the Macedonian president, Boris Trajkovski. He stressed however that the
> government stood fully behind the cease-fire.
> .
> The fighting, also reported near villages around the front lines in the north
> of the country, underscored just how close Macedonia has been veering to
> full-scale war in the last several weeks.
> .
> And the cease-fire reflects how seriously the Western powers are now taking
> that threat. Over the last week, both the European Union and the United
> States have appointed full-time envoys to fashion a political agreement to
> expand the rights of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians, who make up roughly one
> third of the nation's 2 million people and who complain that they do not
> enjoy full rights.
> .
> The cease-fire also brings NATO one step closer to deploying a force of 3,000
> troops to collect weapons from the Albanian guerrillas, known as the National
> Liberation Army. A NATO officials said Thursday that the force could be in
> place within "days, not weeks," but only on the condition that the two sides
> here make substantial progress in resolving their political differences.
> .
> Until the fighting here began Thursday, diplomats and government officials
> were expressing far more optimism about resolving the crisis here they have
> in the last few weeks. "It's a very important step on the way to a political
> solution, not a military solution," Francois Leotard, the newly appointed
> envoy for the EU, told reporters in the capital, Skopje, on Thursday.
> .
> In fact, the nation's defense minister, Vlado Buckovski, said he believed a
> political solution could be in place as early as July 15, and that NATO
> troops could begin to arrive a week after that.
> .
> For a decade, since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Western
> troops have been involved in policing wars in the Balkans, and Western
> officials have made clear they are not eager for another expensive
> peacekeeping operation, like the ones in Bosnia and Kosovo.
> .
> In the last few days, Western negotiators, by all accounts, have been
> aggressively pushing both the Macedonian government and the rebels toward a
> cease-fire, on the theory that political progress can only be made in the
> absence of fighting. The EU has also offered a large, though unspecified,
> package of financial assistance if war is headed off. By Thursday evening,
> though, some of the day's optimism appeared to thin as the fighting in
> Tetovo, a stronghold for Albanians, intensified.
> .
> Although several other cease-fires had been mutually declared, the one
> Thursday was the first that both sides actually signed.
> .
> Apart from the cease-fire itself, several outside experts have been working
> to draft a framework to meet the demands of the Albanians. The issues include
> a recognition of Albanian as an official language, greater representation in
> the federal and local government and official recognition in the Macedonian
> Constitution. These are contentious issues in Macedonia and officials
> cautioned that the progress in the last several days could easily unravel as
> details were worked out.
> .
> With the adoption of the cease-fire, attention also shifted to the ultimate
> role of NATO troops here. NATO officials have been careful to present their
> involvement as far more limited than in Bosnia or Kosovo, where outsiders
> have in many ways taken the role of administering government. Only 3,000
> troops, to be headed by the British, will be stationed in Macedonia, as
> compared with some 40,000 in Kosovo. American troops are expected to assist
> with logistics.
> .
> The Macedonian government has been sensitive about ceding any sovereignty to
> NATO, and have been concerned that an official cease-fire would only serve to
> solidify the rebels' gains on the ground. Mark Laity, an adviser to George
> Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, said that the alliance's disarmament
> role would last only 30 days. Its mission will be to collect and destroy the
> Albanian's weapons as part of a peace settlement, not to police areas of the
> country split along ethnic lines. TETOVO, Macedonia Under heavy pressure from
> Western powers, the Macedonian government and Albanian rebels signed a formal
> cease-fire Thursday as a first hard step toward heading off another ethnic
> war in the Balkans.
> .
> The two sides were to lay down their arms at midnight Thursday. But Thursday
> evening, intense fighting raged in this city in the northwest, with rebels
> and government troops trading mortar rounds and automatic gunfire, at times
> from inside the city.
> .
> A government helicopter gunship slammed rockets into the hillside just west
> of Tetovo, where rebels hold positions, and several soldiers and civilians
> were reported wounded. It was not clear if the fighting was a last-minute
> attempt to gain ground or if the cease-fire was delivered stillborn.
> .
> "No one who is reasonable and knows the situation closely here can expect
> that we will have calm overnight," said Stevo Panderovski, a top adviser to
> the Macedonian president, Boris Trajkovski. He stressed however that the
> government stood fully behind the cease-fire.
> .
> The fighting, also reported near villages around the front lines in the north
> of the country, underscored just how close Macedonia has been veering to
> full-scale war in the last several weeks.
> .
> And the cease-fire reflects how seriously the Western powers are now taking
> that threat. Over the last week, both the European Union and the United
> States have appointed full-time envoys to fashion a political agreement to
> expand the rights of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians, who make up roughly one
> third of the nation's 2 million people and who complain that they do not
> enjoy full rights.
> .
> The cease-fire also brings NATO one step closer to deploying a force of 3,000
> troops to collect weapons from the Albanian guerrillas, known as the National
> Liberation Army. A NATO officials said Thursday that the force could be in
> place within "days, not weeks," but only on the condition that the two sides
> here make substantial progress in resolving their political differences.
> .
> Until the fighting here began Thursday, diplomats and government officials
> were expressing far more optimism about resolving the crisis here they have
> in the last few weeks. "It's a very important step on the way to a political
> solution, not a military solution," Francois Leotard, the newly appointed
> envoy for the EU, told reporters in the capital, Skopje, on Thursday.
> .
> In fact, the nation's defense minister, Vlado Buckovski, said he believed a
> political solution could be in place as early as July 15, and that NATO
> troops could begin to arrive a week after that.
> .
> For a decade, since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Western
> troops have been involved in policing wars in the Balkans, and Western
> officials have made clear they are not eager for another expensive
> peacekeeping operation, like the ones in Bosnia and Kosovo.
> .
> In the last few days, Western negotiators, by all accounts, have been
> aggressively pushing both the Macedonian government and the rebels toward a
> cease-fire, on the theory that political progress can only be made in the
> absence of fighting. The EU has also offered a large, though unspecified,
> package of financial assistance if war is headed off. By Thursday evening,
> though, some of the day's optimism appeared to thin as the fighting in
> Tetovo, a stronghold for Albanians, intensified.
> .
> Although several other cease-fires had been mutually declared, the one
> Thursday was the first that both sides actually signed.
> .
> Apart from the cease-fire itself, several outside experts have been working
> to draft a framework to meet the demands of the Albanians. The issues include
> a recognition of Albanian as an official language, greater representation in
> the federal and local government and official recognition in the Macedonian
> Constitution. These are contentious issues in Macedonia and officials
> cautioned that the progress in the last several days could easily unravel as
> details were worked out.
> .
> With the adoption of the cease-fire, attention also shifted to the ultimate
> role of NATO troops here. NATO officials have been careful to present their
> involvement as far more limited than in Bosnia or Kosovo, where outsiders
> have in many ways taken the role of administering government. Only 3,000
> troops, to be headed by the British, will be stationed in Macedonia, as
> compared with some 40,000 in Kosovo. American troops are expected to assist
> with logistics.
> .
> The Macedonian government has been sensitive about ceding any sovereignty to
> NATO, and have been concerned that an official cease-fire would only serve to
> solidify the rebels' gains on the ground. Mark Laity, an adviser to George
> Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, said that the alliance's disarmament
> role would last only 30 days. Its mission will be to collect and destroy the
> Albanian's weapons as part of a peace settlement, not to police areas of the
> country split along ethnic lines.
>
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
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CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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