MAK-NEWS 21/08/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: MILS - Skopje <mils@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 21 August 1995

[01] GLIGOROV SENDS CONDOLENCES TO CLINTON

In regard to the recent tragic death of three US diplomats on the Igman mountain in Bosnia, Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov sent a telegram of condolences to the US President Bill Clinton, saying: 'The Republic of Macedonia highly evaluates their contribution to the ongoing peace efforts and the affirmation of America's role in this, as well as in the further development of mutual relations and military cooperation between our two countries. I am convinced that the event will again confirm the need for intensified international engagement to put an end to the Bosnian war and bring peace to ex Yugoslavia. Your personal efforts in this direction enjoy our full support.'

Macedonian ministers of defense and foreign affairs also sent telegrams of condolences to their US counterparts. Meantime, the tragic event is not expected to slow down the American peace initiative that is met with world-wide support. Yet, uncertainty still remains in regard to ways of overcoming the current critical point of the crisis in former Yugoslavia.

[02] SERECI ARRIVED IN MACEDONIA

As invited by his Macedonian counterpart, Albanian Foreign Minister arrived in an official visit to Macedonia yesterday.

In the next two days, he is to meet President Gligorov, Parliament President Andov, Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, and representatives of parliamentary groups.

Talks are expected to include various issues, such as bilateral relations, latest development of the Balkan crisis, and other issues of mutual interest.

[03] AUSTRIAN-MACEDONIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Macedonian and Austrian experts held consultative talks 16- 19 August in Vienna, to prepare an agreement on mutual economic cooperation. They also discussed possible ways to further develop already existing economic links.

[04] BALKAN SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL WORK

The second Balkan Summer School for Social Work started in Ohrid yesterday, in organization of the Macedonian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Open Society Institute of Macedonia and the Institute for Social Labor and Policy. The seminar is attended by about 70 professors and students from Albania, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

[05] POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF MACEDONIA'S RELATIONS WITH UN

In its last Saturday's issue, daily Nova Makedonija wrote on the possible directions of further development of Macedonia's relations with the United Nations. The priority issue, the paper says, is to dislocate the UNPREDEP headquarters from Zagreb to Skopje and completely separate the UN Mission in Macedonia from the rest of the peace- keeping missions in former Yugoslavia. This would change the current UNPREDEP mandate to include a combat dimension besides the classical monitoring task. For this purpose, the UN troops would have to undergo structural changes and increase in number several times. US Secretary of Defense William Perry recently mentioned figures of some 15,000 troops in Macedonia. The present serious conditions in the Balkans are in a way an advantage for Macedonia and its request to be included into the Partnership for Peace program.

[06] REACTIONS TO THE DRAFT-LAW ON LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

- NDP Secretary Bedredin Ibraimi says the draft-law will not lead to the necessary decentralization.

'We are asking why the Government is coming up with a ready- made draft-law, thus automatically disabling the negotiations between Albanians and the Macedonian authorities, supposed to start in Geneva this week, exactly on this issue,' he underlines. Ibraimi also stresses the unacceptability of the determined local population decisive percentage to 20, reminding that some countries have set 10 per cent to be the number granting local self-government rights to minorities. NDP also demands local police squads.

- PDPA President Menduh Tachi describes the draft-law as an obstacle to the further development of Macedonia into a democratic, pluralistic and decentralized society.

'All previous versions of the law have included a hidden intention to establish local self-government only as a ceremonial and facultative government or as organs deprived of funds necessary to carry out duties in an appropriate manner. The local units of the ministries will continue to be real 'bosses', with all the power in their hands,' Tachi claims. The essence of the problem, Tachi says, is the unresolved ethnic issue.

- Tomislav Stojanovski, leader of the Democratic Party of Macedonia, says the Albanians in Macedonia will turn the draft-law into a starting point in their struggle for a status of a constitutive nation.

'The very manipulations and bargaining over decisive population figures in municipalities means acceptance of a need for division of the state's integrity, which leads to a dangerous deviation from the Constitution.'

Yet, he said, if it must, the Democratic Party of Macedonia is ready to accept no less than 40 per cent as a figure which will grant self-government rights to minorities.

Meantime, the draft-law is included in the agenda of today's session of the Macedonian government.

[07] 'SERBIA CAN STOP ALBANIANS ONLY BY AN ATOMIC BOMB!'

In an interview with the Croatian Weekly Dalmatia, Nazif Gatsika, representative of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, says the American presence in Macedonia is extremely important.

'They are a stability factor in Macedonia, as they are there to prevent a possibility of Serbia simply annexing Macedonia. As far as the US is concerned, the entire region is important, primarily because of the sensitive Greek- Turkish relations, the two countries being important NATO members. I have full respect for the US presence in Macedonia, especially now when the entire world's eyes are turned towards Bosnia, because this indicates that the US will prevent the war from spreading to Kosovo,' he said. Asked about a possibility of a Macedonian-Serbian alliance against Albanians, Gatsika pointed out that Macedonia has no real interest in any special alliance with Serbia, as Macedonians have had just as difficult experience with Serbs as the Albanians.

'Nevertheless, there is a very powerful party in Macedonia - VMRO - that flirts with a possible uniting with Bulgaria. The socialists, led by Gligorov, support the idea for an independent Macedonia and, should a referendum occur to result in a decision to annex Macedonia to Bulgaria, Albanians in Macedonia would no doubt react by a referendum to be united with either Albania or Kosovo.'

As for a possible united state of all Albanians in the region, he said the primary desire of all Albanians at the moment is to deal away with the primitive barriers imposed upon them and to become able to freely communicate between themselves.

'It is important that the borders dividing Albanians become symbolic. Albanians are not inclined toward a general national unity today, although I believe this is an inevitable historical process. All Albanians in the region will one day live in a common state and the Serbs can prevent this only by throwing an atomic bomb upon them,' he added.

Asked about chances of Macedonia becoming a new flash point in the Balkans, he underlined that Macedonia is of a strategic importance for all Balkan nations, but added the Albanians have special responsibility.

'The Balkan nations must throw away all principles of hatred if they do not want to go back to the Middle Ages. They must turn their eyes to the future, when borders will be of no significance,' Gatsika concluded.

MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT:

[08] GIVE THEM ALL A NUKE - A SATIRE

(A point of view of an American) In this insanity that is the current Balkan war I thought that I might add to the conflagration. The United States Congress has decided in its wisdom that the Bosnian Muslims should be unfettered in their struggle against the Bosnian Serbs. Which on the face of it is a reasonable assumption, however when you have thousands UN peace keepers and hundreds of relief workers trying to keep the peace, more bullets seem to be a bit counter productive. These people are risking their lives daily in hopes of bringing some degree of stability, if not humanity, to the region. Indeed the whole European community cannot stomach the idea of all out war between the factions, nor the insertion of its own sons to take control of the disputed areas to force a peace settlement between the warring parties. Such a solution is probably not realistic as the Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, et. al. (Balkans) have resisted pragmatic reason for centuries and will probably continue to do so.

However if the United States congress persists in its policy in equal rights to destroy your sworn enemy, I humbly suggest that we do it in the most significant of ways, Give Them All a Nuke. Let each of the former Yugoslav republics have a nuclear bomb (it's only fair) large enough to destroy any one of their capital cities. First of all that should wake up the United States and the European community that they probably either want to get very serious about peacekeeping or get the hell out, and soon at that. The other thing that it does is that it levels the playing field real fast. Not enough tanks or mortal shells? The threat of a nuke in one of the capital cities should discourage any aggressor from getting too antagonistic. We must remember always that we are dealing with the Balkan mind so direct threats don't always work in a predictable fashion from the western point of view.

More interesting is the thought of five sovereign nations having one atom bomb apiece. What would the Slovenians do with theirs? They have no interest in being involved in anything Yugoslavian. Might they put their bomb up for sale to the highest bidder? After all it would be the capitalist thing to do. The Macedonians while not active combatants at this point in time, could certainly use the leverage that the potential of ultimate destruction could bring upon their neighbors. The Greeks with their obsession over mindless issues concerning names and flags, might consider ending their blockade against landlocked Macedonia. Nuclear potential in Macedonian hands might also slow down the Bulgarians who consider Macedonia and Macedonians as really part of Bulgaria. The Albanians while not publicly acknowledging it, have designs on western Macedonia, due to all the Albanians who have immigrated there. Even though most of them were born in Macedonia they don't consider themselves Macedonian. They are Albanian in their nationality and their hearts. A Macedonian bomb threat would most likely diminish any thoughts of a greater Albania.

What would the Bosnian Muslims do? If they bomb Pale, that's way too close to Sarajevo, less than ten miles. Is the real enemy Karadic? It might be the Serbians in Belgrade or the Croats in Zagreb. Neither the Catholic nor the Orthodox are sympathetic to having another Muslim state in Europe. With only one bomb whom do you choose? The Serbs are in a similar dilemma. The Serbs hate everybody and everybody hates them, except the Greeks. But then the Greeks don't have any friends either. If they didn't have islands and such a beautiful coast, no one would even bother dealing with them at all. If we were to include them in on this deal they would probably use the bomb on themselves to cure some unimaginable Greek evil. Of course they would publicly blame the Turks. Now the Croats have the same dilemma, whom do they hate the most? The Bosnians or the Serbs? If the Bosnians and the Croats could gang up on the Serbs they could really deliver a devastating blow. Should the Bosnian Muslims decide to bomb the Serbs first, that might be devastating enough and then the Croats could bomb the Bosnians and have it all!

Decisions, decisions, who shall bomb whom? Sell the bomb to the highest bidder? Use it to impress your neighbors? What to do! I suggest while our Congress ponders the problems in the former Yugoslav republics that they decide what price they are willing to pay. As a policy, just allowing the Bosnian Muslims to obtain arms is not the comprehensive position that the United States needs to have for influencing the events in this region. Is Congress willing to sacrifice the lives of our own sons, the sons of our European allies, or only the sons of the former Yugoslav republics? There is no comprehensive plan coming from the United States government as to how to deal with the current situation in former Yugoslavia.

Basically this is their way, insane as it is, and the world community can ignore it and let the bloodshed rein as it most surely will. The other alternative is to step in as in World War II and take control of the combatants and impose the peace. Anything short of decisive force will result in the situation that has existed in the former Yugoslav republics for the last four years. The best we can hope for under the current policy is containment of the war to the Balkans. Ah, but look at the possibilities. If the Congress plays its nuclear card we could take a perfectly beautiful country and turn it into a nuclear wasteland. Does anyone know of any happy endings?

(end)

mils-news 21 August '95