The United States are interested in establishing full diplomatic relations with Macedonia, and are therefore making efforts to settle the problems between Greece and Macedonia, the U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher stated, answering the question of a congressman in the Committee for international questions.
According to Christopher, "Vance is trying to settle some purely technical questions, yet, emotional, such as the flag and some other ceremonial aspects in the relations between Macedonia and Greece."
"Nova Makedonija" conveys, in full, the question of Congressman Biroyter and Christopher's response.
Question: "I have two things to say to you, Mr. Secretary, and the first one applies to Macedonia. Things in Macedonia are worsening because of the economic embargo. We also don't have an ambassador there, yet. I would say, with respect, as I feel it is your responsibility, among others, to take a leading role, in that respect... The European Union, whose states, as usual, are waiting on us, is hoping that we will undertake the leadership and that we will resolve that question. Otherwise, the responsibility for everything that will happen in the region will fall on you and your executive power, and I would say, to a certain extent, also on Congress, but, it will not fall on me, without saying anything about it," said congressman Biroyter.
Answer: "...I feel it would be incomplete if I don't mention that President Bill Clinton has a special representative Mr. Matthew Nimetz, otherwise former state under secretary, who is dealing with the situation between Greece and Macedonia, in the hope that we will be able to resolve it in a way that will enable us to have full diplomatic links with Macedonia. That is my strong goal and I believe it should be realized, and there is certain hope. As you know, the former state secretary Vance is an UN representative and is trying to resolve some technical, but emotional questions, which apply to the flag and other ceremonial aspects in the relations between Macedonia and Greece, but we are working very hard on that problem, and I hope we will succeed in that," the U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher concluded.
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Holbruk will arrive in Athens these days, the Greek news agency reports, without specifying the exact date of the visit. According to Makfaks, his meeting with Papandreou will focus on Athens' relations with Tirana and Skopje, as well as the Cyprus question.
The 93-rd Conference of the Interparliamentary Union, in which a delegation of the Macedonian Parliament also took part, comprised of the vice-president Tito Petkovski and the MPs Ratka Kuljan, Ismet Ramadani and Vladimir Sokolovski, finished in Madrid. On that occasion, yesterday the president of the delegation Tito Petkovski expressed satisfaction with the active participation of the Macedonian delegation in the Conference, which also took a part in the drawing up of the final documents.
The Macedonian delegation focused on the issues of preventive diplomacy, as a possibility of preventing conflicts, and the proposal for founding a people's, tribunal court. According to Petkovski, it was generally assessed that the UN have shown to be weak in settling the vital world problems in the past couple of years, particularly when it comes to the delivery of humanitarian aid to crisis regions and the safeguard of human dignity.
The delegation realized a number of bilateral contacts, as well as direct contacts with the Greek parliamentary delegation, MPs from PASOK and New Democracy.
Although the Greek parliamentarians, as Petkovski said, insisted that it be an informal meeting, the Macedonian delegation, in full composition, nevertheless decided on talks. "We feel that every dialogue can lead to the opening and creation of constructive dialogue between Macedonia and Greece. All of that, of course, within the framework of our competence at the level of parliaments, even though they stressed that they did not agree with the current attitude of the Greek Government toward the Macedonian question, insisting, foremost, on dialogue," said Petkovski.
"Based on the signed memorandum for cooperation between the Macedonian Defense Ministry and the U.S. Defense Secretariat, and the cooperation established through the program for joint contact-teams, as a bilateral attempt to bring RM and U.S.A. closer on the field of defense, the annual plan for cooperation started being realized from yesterday, which was agreed between the U.S. Liaisons Office in Skopje and the representative of the Defense Ministry." This was announced in yesterday's news conference in the Hall of the Macedonian Army, at which the spokesman of the Macedonian Defense Ministry emphasized that a four-member delegation of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army, led by Gen. Maj. Boris Stojanovski, has been staying in the U.S. European command in Stuttgart, since yesterday.
During the several-day stay in Germany, the Macedonian delegation will get acquainted with the organization of the European command and visit a number of its sectors for command operations, control and politics. Furthermore, the program for joint contact-teams foresees some thirty joint activities to be realized over the year and for the cooperation with the Americans in a number of fields to grow stronger, in particular regarding the exchange of information in the management and command with army units, the training of the officer personnel and in the field of medicine.
The Criminal council with the Municipal court in Tetovo yesterday prolonged the custody of the rector of the illegal Tetovo University Fadil Sulejmani, as well as Milaim Feyzi, professor and president of the Human Rights Association based in Gostivar, until their trial is over. According to the charges, Fadil Sulejmani has been inciting resistance and disobedience continuously during February, this year, against the implementation of the legal decrees and decisions of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia related to the so-called Tetovo University.
The indictment says that on February 17, in Mala Rechica, Tetovo region, a larger crowd gathered, made up of members of the Albanian nationality, who threw stones, bricks and other objects at the police and others present, fired gunshots, thereby injuring 60 policemen, of which 15 more heavily, as well as a larger number of citizens, reporters, etc., while one person (Abduselam Emini, 33) was killed. Furthermore, a large number of police vehicles, busses, reporter vehicles, cameras, etc, were demolished.
Milaim Fejzi's custody has also been extended, for committing the criminal act Participation in a mob and obstructing an official person in carrying out his official duties. Otherwise, both persons standing trial have already had two custody prolongations, lasting 30 days each.
The Association of independent and autonomous unions of Macedonia (AIAUM) has asked the competent organs, in yesterdays new conference, to provide welfare guarantees for each worker and citizen who happens to obtain the status "social case," as well as stable funds which will finance the needs of the pensioners, as well as welfare-health and other programs.
In addition, AIAUM is also pressing to pass a law for fair privatization, which will enable the opening of new jobs and which will be based on the Law for employment and the Law for union organization.
The Macedonian railways have increased the prices of the services in the passenger and cargo traffic 15 percent.
According to sources at the Macedonian railways, the increase in the price applies both to the railway traffic in the country and the transportation between Macedonia and FRY. As for the ticket prices, a ticked in one direction, second class on a passenger train Skopje-Titov Veles, will cost 59 denars, while from Skopje to Kichevo, it will be 128 denars. The price of the ticket from Skopje to Bitola will be 169 denars.
The ticket prices toward FRY, on the route Skopje-Nish, will be 357 denars, and Skopje-Belgrade 692 denars.
The users of return-tickets are granted a 20 percent price reduction.
Seeing that the signal system at the Skopje airport is out of order, since Friday, all planes due to land at the Skopje airport in the evening hours are redirected to the airport in Ohrid, from where the passengers are taken to Skopje by bus. According to Ivan Avramovski, deputy director of the Skopje airport, the reason for such a condition is power failure of the worn-out signalization at the airport. Therefore, half an hour after sundown, no planes are allowed to land at the airport. According to Avramovski, it can not be said exactly when the signalization will be repaired, foremost due to the out-dated technology and the difficulty in finding the necessary parts, although there are on-going efforts. The agencies have been officially informed about this problem, and since April 9, the agencies have been making corrections in the flight dates and are promptly informing the passengers. Those passengers who are forced to land in Ohrid are provided with bus transportation by the agencies, at company cost.
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