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MILS NEWS 17/07/96Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 17 July 1996[01] FRCHKOVSKI: 'MACEDONIA WILL INSIST ON EXTENSION OF UNPREDEP MANDATE''Macedonia will insist the mandate of UNPREDEP to be further extended,' said Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski during his visit to UN Mission Headquarters yesterday. The visit was a part of regular contacts between the Macedonian Government and UNPREDEP. Macedonian Radio reported that Frchkovski had underlined the Macedonian stand that there were still good reasons for these forces to remain in the country, and they would be presented to UN Secretary General together with the request for a six-months extension of their mandate. Macedonian Foreign Minister also reported that possibilities were discussed to include the Mission in the procedure of determining the border with FR Yugoslavia, as well as in the communication with neighbouring countries to prevent the foot-and-mouth disease from spreading.[02] KRSTEVSKI - ZHULALI MEETING IN BIZAMacedonian Army Chief of Staff Trajche Krstevski and Albanian Defense Minister Safet Zhulali had a meeting during the multinational military exercise on the location of Biza in Albania, which began the day before yesterday. Macedonian Television reported that Albanian press did not inform about the meeting, but the National Television paid a significant attention to it. Besides General Krstevski, Macedonian Deputy Minister of Defense Ramadan Suroi and Macedonian Ambassador in Tirana Nikola Todorchevski also attended the meeting. Albanian Minister Zhulali stressed that he expected his Macedonian counterpart Blagoj Handziski to come to the opening of maneuvers, adding that Albanian Ministry was glad that Macedonian soldiers were taking a part in a multinational exercise for the first time precisely in Albania. General Krstevski officially invited the Albanian party to participate in the maneuvers within 'Partnership for Peace Programme' that are going to take place in Macedonia in October. According to Macedonian Television, Albanian Minister thanked for the invitation, explaining that Albanian armed forces would be engaged in local maneuvers at the same time.[03] BERISHA AND RUGOVA: WORRYING SITUATION IN KOSOVOA-1 Television reported yesterday about a meeting of Albanian President Sali Berisha and the leader of Kosovo Albanians Ibrahim Rugova in Tirana, at which the situation in Kosovo was evaluated as very difficult and worrying. They concluded that all violent actions and provocations should be stopped, and asked for a withdrawal of Serbian police and military forces, in order to obtain conditions for a political solution of the Kosovo issue. Both leaders emphasized that Dayton Accord had created conditions for USA and EU to be more engaged in initiating a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristine, with mediation of a third party.[04] DEMONSTRATIONS OF ALBANIANS IN SKOPJE YESTERDAYAfter the demonstrations in Tetovo and Gostivar, Albanian political parties and associations yesterday organized a protest meeting in Skopje under the motto 'We Want Protection', as a support to the convicted initiators of last year's riots in the village of Mala Rechica near Tetovo. 'Legalization of the university at any price', 'Suleimani - a symbol of our education', 'Government down', etc. were some of the slogans hoisted, together with the obligatory Albanian flag, by 2-3 thousand people gathered.The local media reported that Macedonian flag was again not hoisted, Macedonia was addressed as FYROM and the term 'Slav-Macedonians' was again used. The speakers mainly expressed their support to the self-proclaimed 'rector' of 'Tetovo university' Fadil Suleimani and his cooperators, who should soon be sent to serve their sentence of imprisonment. PDPA Vice President Menduh Tachi said in his speech that those who were against the 'Tetovo university', were against the Albanian people. Fadil Suleimani said the verdicts on him and his four cooperators were not individual issues, but were intended against the education and prosperity of Albanians. He stressed that 'the university was not of Tetovo, but of Macedonia, and was for the good of the country'. A request from European countries to support the 'university' was again presented. [05] 'DEMOKRATIJA': 'DID WE MAKE A MISTAKE ABOUT MACEDONIA?''Did We Make A Mistake About Macedonia?' was the title of an article published yesterday by the Bulgarian opposition paper 'Demokratija', in which the position of official Sofia about the absence of Macedonia from the recent meeting of foreign ministers was criticized. The authors, Professors Gjorgji Manolov and Mihail Ognanov, as 'Makpress' reported, stressed that official Sofia had made a mistake: 'We gave up the name that we recognized the first, and we took the side of Greece in the problem they have with Macedonia about that name,' read the article. Manolov and Ognanov described the official stand of Sofia as a 'flagrant violation of the interests of the closest people and not only a political stroke against them, but also a great insult'.[06] THREATS OF ILLEGAL MACEDONIAN ORGANISATION IN BULGARIAToday's issue of 'Nova Makedonija' reports about a 'sensational news' published by all Bulgarian papers yesterday, that an unknown illegal Macedonian organisation had sent a letter to the paper 'Struma', published in Blagoevgrad. It contained a list of 23 journalists that were obliged to pay one million levs (national Bulgarian currency) each as a compensation, or otherwise, as threatened, the organisation would impose much worse 'sanctions' on them.Namely, the journalists were accused of preventing the Macedonians from the Pirinean part of Macedonia to contact the local media, of serving to Bulgarian chauvinistic ideas, of compromising the Macedonian organisations from Pirinean area, of misleading the agencies for human rights in Bulgaria, Macedonia and wider. 'Nova Makedonija' evaluated this matter as another performance of Bulgarian secret services, intended to discredit the Macedonians from Pirinean part of Macedonia. [07] RUSSIAN REPRESENTATIVE STILL EMBITTERED BY MACEDONIAN MEDIARussian Embassy in Skopje yesterday again accused Macedonian media and some 'Macedonian official representatives' of continuing with their 'anti-Russian orientation', reads today's issue of 'Dnevnik'. The paper, in fact, reported the evaluation made by Russian representative to Macedonia Yuri Trushin and Mayor of Skopje Jove Kekenovski, who met yesterday. The announcement of Russian Embassy said that Kekenovski was the initiator of the meeting, at which the cooperation of Skopje with Russian cities was discussed.[08] 'KATIMERINI': CLEARED MACEDONIAN-GREEK STANDSGreek conservative daily 'Katimerini' read that although no improvement was made in negotiating positions during the latest Macedonian-Greek talks in New York, both parties managed to 'essentially' clear up their goals, reports today's 'Dnevnik'. 'Katimerini' reported that, according to UN diplomatic sources, both parties had 'got a better picture' about how far they could go and what they could hope for. The 'picture' referred, as alleged, to the usage of a double name of Macedonia: one in the international and another in the bilateral relations.[09] 'TA NEA': GREECE ENDANGERED BY NUCLEAR WASTE MATERIALS IN SKOPJE REGION'Greece is endangered by the probability of nuclear waste materials to be stored in the region of Skopje,' read yesterday's issue of Greek pro-governmental daily 'Ta Nea', citing a Professor of Nuclear Physics at the University of Aristotle in Thessaloniki, Costos Papastefanu. According to the Professor, 'Greece might be polluted through the rivers, lakes and underground waters that it shares with FYROM, and the seismic situation in the region also plays a great part in it'.As 'Ta Nea' wrote, the danger is quite possible, because 'the German Government had asked from the newly formed Republic to be allowed to use a part of its territory for storage of chemical, toxic and nuclear waste materials. In return, it promised to construct a nuclear power station in Macedonia, on the location of Monastiri near Bitola'. Expressing his surprise with the quick request of 'FYROM' to join the International Nuclear Power Commission, Prof. Papastefanu explained that 'nuclear waste materials are usually stored in compact mountain massifs, but in case of Mavrovo, an eventual earthquake would let them to the deeper layers. In that case, nobody could guarantee that they are not connected with underground waters that spread to the territory of Greece'. [10] OUTBURST OF CATTLE INFECTION STOPPEDMacedonian Veterinary Administration announced that new cases of foot-and-mouth disease had not been noticed in the country and that the infection had been localized at the areas of Skopje and Titov Veles. The animals suspected of being infected in the villages of Chelopek near Tetovo, Novaci near Bitola and Blizansko near Makedonski Brod were killed, in order to avoid any risks. Vaccination of cattle in the areas of Makedonski Brod and Debar has began, and the situation at the border area with Greece is being carefully monitored, although no cases of infection have been noticed.The Commission in charge of controlling the situation reported that 800 heads of suspicious or infected cattle remain to be destroyed in Macedonia. In the first round, 5,000 heads in Veles municipality and 21,000 in Skopje area were vaccinated. The second vaccination round is being carried out satisfactorily at the bordering areas with FR Yugoslavia and Albania, i.e. at municipalities of Kumanovo, Tetovo, Gostivar, Debar, Struga, Ohrid, Resen and Bitola. Vaccination on farms of the public sector had been accomplished, as well as 50% of the cattle in private sector. Veterinary Administration General Manager Mihailo Zoric will today attend a conference in Brussels, at which representatives of Balkan countries, where the disease appeared will talk to EU representatives about an eventual technical and financial aid from the EU. MILS SUPPLEMENT[11] 'Denationalization - Project Non Gratta'('Dnevnik', 11 July, 1996)'The Government should openly inform the public what is going on with the Law on Denationalization,' stated Vasiliki Vikentievik, President of Denationalization Association, for 'Dnevnik'. Members of this Association are disappointed with the fact that Ministers refuse to talk with them about his matter. 'We found out from the media that our Ministers have been to Washington to ask for a permission from the World Bank to postpone passing of the Law on Denationalization, which is one of the conditions to be given the credits. We are very disappointed with this. We sent a letter to Prime Minister Crvenkovski 45 days ago asking him to inform us about the Government's intentions to design the Law. We are still waiting for his reply,' said Vikentievik. The results of a questionnaire, made among former owners of the nationalized property, should have been published on April 17, but they have still not been revealed. The Government discussed the Draft Law on Denationalization on April 21, but the information from that session was very short: 'The Government opened the discussion on the Draft Law on Denationalization at today's session'. Finance Minister Taki Fiti said in an interview for 'Nova Makedonija' at the end of May that the results were going to be published in ten days. When the MP of the Liberal Party Ace Kocevski asked when would the Parliamentarian procedure about the Law start, Finance Minister answered that it would start in mid July. The latest information leave enough room to speculate that something is going on in the Government about this Law. A recent comment of Macedonian Television about it said that the eventual passing of the Law would mean that two thousand people would cause great damages to two million Macedonian citizens. 'Denationalization project is at the moment an expensive project for the country,' commented Macedonian Television. The questionnaire made at the beginning of this year showed that over 13 thousand former owners had submitted their demands. 'I can tell you nothing more than I am authorized. I am not allowed to talk much about the Law on Denationalization. Also, it is illogical that I give statements about matters for which the Ministers in charge are still keeping silent,' said Kosta Dojchinovski, the Director of Property Administration, which should carry out the denationalization. 'The Association members have already been considering to organize demonstrations in front of the Government and foreign diplomatic representative offices. In that way we would express our dissatisfaction with the fact that the Government is not interested to pass the Law or to talk with us. Not passing this Law is not in accordance with the market economy logic,' said Vasiliki Vikentievik. 'The World Bank still thinks that the denationalization is one of the most important conditions for a successful privatization,' said Elen Goldstein, Head of World Bank Office in Skopje for 'Dnevnik'. We would also like to remind that the Law on Denationalization is one of the conditions to obtain the second installment of the FESAK credit. (end)mils news 17 July, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |