Macedonia Crisis Looms Over NATO Joseph Fitchett International Herald Tribune Wednesday, June 13, 2001 Powell to Join Talks on Efforts to Stabilize Deepening Conflict PARIS The Bush administration, NATO and the European Union will hold crisis talks Wednesday in Brussels about how to prevent civil war from spiraling out of control in Macedonia. The talks will cover the possibility of the eventual use of NATO peacekeeping troops to stabilize the ethnic conflict there. . In disclosing the hastily scheduled meeting, which is to include Secretary of State Colin Powell, diplomats in Brussels acknowledged that the threat of a new crisis in the Balkans suddenly loomed over the planned summit meeting Wednesday of alliance leaders, including President George W. Bush. . The diplomats said that U.S. officials had sought to keep the emergency in Macedonia off the planned agenda for the heads of state because Mr. Bush wants to outline broad new U.S. strategic thinking, so a separate meeting was called. . Three teams from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization already were on their way to Macedonia, diplomats said on Tuesday, to serve as an advance unit of military advisers to the government. . Its troops have been faring badly against ethnic Albanian guerrillas, losing key positions near Skopje, the capital, while apparently alienating civilians in Albanian-populated areas by shelling their villages. . The NATO teams, apparently involving only a few dozen men at this stage, also will examine ways in which the alliance could help with security issues if President Boris Trajkovski of Macedonia follows through on a peace plan that his government put forward Tuesday. That plan includes an amnesty for the rebels and their disarmament with NATO supervision. . The limited plans - which could foreshadow more direct NATO involvement in the crisis, the sources said - reflected an increased international effort to help Mr. Trajkovski. Western alarm has risen in recent weeks, a NATO official said, explaining that "amid these cease-fires that seem to go on and off, the situation doesn't seem to be going into a stable line of improvement." . In neighboring Greece, which fears that violence may spill over its borders, Foreign Minister George Papandreou said Tuesday that international intervention might be necessary in Macedonia if the government fails to reach an agreement with the rebels soon. No other allied government has referred to intervention publicly, but all clearly share a new sense of urgency about the deteriorating situation. . The Western position includes pressure on Mr. Trajkovski, who leads a Slav-dominated government, to make significant political concessions to ethnic Albanian demands and thus undercut the rebels' appeal to Macedonia's Albanian minority, who compose about one-third of the more than 2 million residents. . Saying that EU capitals, Washington and Moscow were aligned solidly behind this position, a French official said, "We have been working together in real harmony to get the right compromise for two months, but slippage has appeared recently and we need to find new momentum." . He said any plan to deploy NATO peacekeepers was premature, but the possibility was being discussed in the context of a political solution for the country. . The unusual degree of U.S. and NATO cooperation with the EU's fledgling security apparatus, which has taken the public lead in Macedonia, will be underscored by the crisis meeting, which will bring General Powell together with the NATO secretary-general, George Robertson, and Javier Solana, the EU's top diplomat. . The Bush administration has been seeking ways to reduce the U.S. military commitments in the Balkans, and it would be a political turnaround for Mr. Bush to acknowledge now that American ground forces are needed for another crisis in the region. . Any NATO move would require U.S. approval and probably a commitment of U.S. troops. . As a diplomat said at alliance headquarters: "Peacekeepers have been under discussion for weeks, mainly in terms of an absolute 'no' from the Bush administration." . But Washington may be forced to reconsider because the stakes in Macedonia are so high. . According to a diplomat in alliance headquarters, NATO leaders face a dilemma in the Balkans: "Getting involved in one more place is a big undertaking but, on the other hand, letting one place undo everything that has been accomplished so far could be a worse and even bigger deal." http://www.iht.com/articles/22660.html < Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ STOP NOVOM SVETSKOM PORETKU ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
