Greater Albania: a few articles
1. Greek press reveals situation in Kosmet and Macedonia is
deteriorating - Kathimerini (Athens), 8th and 9/9/2003
2. Austria: Die Presse: Situation in northern Macedonia
deteriorated (9/9/2003)
3. Russia, Novosti: Situation in Macedonia is deteriorationg
(9/9/2003)
4. British press: Kosovo and Macedonia: Fag-ends or freedom fighters?
(Sep 11th 2003 - The Economist)
=== 1 ===
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_15873559_08/09/
2003_33820
8/9/2003
Kathimerini (Greece)
Fears of a new upheaval in the Balkans are being fueled by a resurgence
of violent acts
Murders and bomb attacks are creating climate of anxiety anew in the
unstable triangle of FYROM, Kosovo and southern Serbia
One person was killed and four injured in the village of Cernika in
Kosovo, where Serbs also live, while the reappearance of armed
Albanians in FYROM has compelled the authorities to carry out sweeping
inspections.
By Stavros Tzimas - Kathimerini
There are worrying signs of unrest in the FYROM-Kosovo-southern Serbia
triangle. Murders of Serbs are becoming a daily event in Kosovo. In
Presevo and Bujanovac, there is evidence of suspect movement by ethnic
Albanians trying to change the demographics of villages and towns. And
in parts of FYROM where ethnic Albanians live, armed members of the
self-proclaimed Albanian National Army have reappeared, abducting
police officers and making bomb attacks on government targets.
Are we facing new upheaval in the volatile western Balkans that might
spark off armed clashes leading to instability and even the collapse of
the fragile status quo in the region?
Different circumstances
It is far too early to make such a claim. Circumstances are not the
same as those that led to the ethnic-Albanian uprising in Kosovo and
FYROM. And the international community is in no mood to tolerate — much
less to encourage — nationalistic bullying by the ethnic Albanians, who
will not keep quiet unless their demand for the independence of Kosovo
is satisfied.
Moreover, Washington and Brussels have their plates more than full,
with interest focused on the Middle East and greater diplomacy needed
in Palestine, Iran and Iraq. Balkan issues have ceased to be a top
priority on the international agenda, as they once were, with Javier
Solana racing to avert the worst whenever a problem cropped up.
But the balance on which the peace imposed by the West depends is still
fragile and the danger of episodes, such as those in Kumanovo — with
armed Albanians entrenching themselves in villages, claiming “free
zones” and their compatriots murdering children in cold blood in Kosovo
— could very easily dynamite the peace and threaten regional stability.
International diplomats in Skopje, Belgrade and Pristina view the
violent incidents in FYROM, Kosovo and southern Serbia, which they do
not consider unrelated, with interest and concern. They link the unrest
with the coming talks between the Serbs of Belgrade and the Albanians
of Kosovo which were mandated by European Union leaders at the
Halkidiki summit and are due to start next month in Brussels.
Nobody expects anything substantial to emerge from the talks, apart
from the fact that the two opponents will sit down together for the
first time since the war and probably talk about so-called low-profile
issues.
There will be no mention of the burning issues, such as the future
regime in Kosovo or the return of thousands of Serb refugees. The
Albanians won’t discuss anything but independence and when it will be
given to them, while the Serbs won’t hear of it, saying that Kosovo is
an integral part of Serbia.
But there is growing conviction in both western Balkan capitals and the
West that the situation in Kosovo cannot remain as it is today. This
has given rise to thoughts among the Serb leadership of the possibility
of discussing partition as a less painful outcome than complete
secession. The discussions are certainly known to the Albanians, who
are doing everything they can not to allow Serb refugees to return
home, but to get those few who have remained to leave Kosovo.
It is to this plan of terrorizing people into fleeing that the Serbs
attribute the barrage of murders of their compatriots in recent weeks
in Kosovo villages, even though the UN civil administration in Pristina
hastens, after every such event, to speak of an “an isolated incident.”
Ethnic Albanians in FYROM and southern Serbia will not be indifferent
to any developments concerning the future regime of Kosovo. In any
case, they never considered the status imposed after the wars of 1999
and 2001 to be definitive.
The pack of cards may be shuffled dangerously if Kosovo becomes an
independent state. The appearance of armed ethnic-Albanian groups in
FYROM, who undoubtedly have their base in Kosovo, perturbs both the
government and diplomatic missions.
Although attempts are being made to play the matter down, everyone
admits that the situation may become even more dangerous. The
self-proclaimed Albanian National Army has shown by the recent events
in Humanovo — where, in effect, it seized and held three villages for
several hours — that it can easily act in areas populated by ethnic
Albanians and make bomb attacks even in the city of Skopje — such as
the recent attack on a court — and also abduct police officers.
The official government line on these groups, with which which Western
diplomats so far concur, is that they are gangs of organized criminals
who are completely apolitical and must be dealt with mercilessly by the
police.
But such analyses were made of the KLA groups of Ali Ahmeti in 2000,
which eventually proved to be an organized military operation that was
not connected to organized crime but did have political goals.
“We certainly must not underestimate the presence of these groups but
we must not exaggerate either,” an EU ambassador in Skopje told
Kathimerini. “In any case, it seems to be an explosive mixture that we
hope will not develop,” he added.
Sources tell the authorities in Skopje of a few dozen — some say a few
hundred — well-armed men who come and go in Kosovo and who are
connected to the gun and narcotics trade, with a few “commanders” who
appear from time to time and proclaim goals of national liberation.
Their political leaders seem to be Idayet Bekiri — president of the
National Unity Party, the nationalist party in Tirana, whom the
Albanian government has declared persona non grata because of his
extremist activities — and Gafur Abduli, who is already in an Albanian
prison for the same reason.
Former warlords, and first among them Ali Ahmeti who turned out to be a
moderate, have repudiated the so-called Albanian National Army. But
that is not the case with the other large Albanian party of Arben
Xhaferi, the Democratic Albania Party in FYROM. Xhaferi has lost
political ground to the former KLA leader and is using extremist
rhetoric, refusing to condemn the murders and abductions and has not
hesitated to raise issues such as the secession of areas populated by
ethnic Albanians from FYROM.
The activities of these groups might have passed unnoticed, classified
as smuggling, had it not been for overriding suspicion among the two
ethnic groups, had the the Ohrid agreement proceeded more quickly and
had the outstanding Kosovo issue, which is an emotional one for all
Albanians in the region, already been settled.
---
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_columns_16506804_09/09/
2003_33846
9/9/2003
Kathimerini (Greece) - COMMENTARIES
Unrest in FYROM
A resurgence of armed conflict between ethnic Albanians and
Slav-Macedonians, which brought the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) to the brink of dissolution two years ago, is looming
on the horizon again. While international attention is focused on the
Middle East, the situation in FYROM is rapidly worsening, and in the
far more worrying context of the growing dispute between Serbia and
Albania over Kosovo. Last Tuesday, the Albanian Parliament unanimously
condemned a decision by the Parliament in Belgrade, according to which
Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia.
The day before yesterday, hundreds of Slav-Macedonian police officers
and soldiers invaded two villages inhabited by ethnic Albanians on the
Kosovo border, and killed “quite a few” Albanian rebels, according to
the FYROM government. Last week, hundreds of Slav-Macedonian police
officers encircled and besieged another two villages near Kumanovo for
three days, sparking the appearance of groups of armed ethnic Albanian
residents determined to defend their homes. The Slav-Macedonian forces
supposedly attacked in order to arrest the leader of the so-called
Albanian National Army, Avdil Jakupi, who had not only abducted two
police officers but had also declared on a Bulgarian television network
that “Macedonia cannot be a state,” and “it must become a protectorate
under the aegis of the United Nations and the European Union.”
Superficial analyses of the supposedly insignificant influence of this
group on the ethnic Albanian population of FYROM, or of the attempt to
present its members merely as criminals, may contain a grain of truth,
but they in no way go to the heart of the problem.
The EU, the USA and NATO have other priorities and often consider their
mission to be accomplished when they have put an end to armed
hostilities. Greece, which knows the region far better, and which has a
vital interest in its pacification and stability, must act. The
government must inform, warn and mobilize its EU partners, so as to
activate mechanisms for averting crises. It must also promote the
incorporation of the Balkan countries into European institutions.
Meanwhile, the international community must deal with the consequences
of the distorted and essentially unviable solutions it imposed on the
relations between ethnic groups in Bosnia, Kosovo and FYROM, before
they assume an explosive character again.
=== 2 ===
http://www.makfax.com.mk/news1-a.asp?br=49589
Makfax (Macedonia)
September 9, 2003
Austria: Die Presse: Situation in northern Macedonia
deteriorated
Vienna’s daily Die Presse writes about the latest
action of the Macedonian security forces against
Albanian guerillas, noting that the situation in
northern Macedonia has deteriorated. “The action was
targeted at Avdilj Jakupi and his people. This young
Albanian is one of commanders of the Albanian National
Army (ANA), an organization that claimed
responsibility for recent terrorist attacks in
Macedonia,” says Die Presse. “ANA officially claims
that its struggle aims to unite all territories
populated by Albanians, however, sources close to
KFOR, multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo, told
Die Presse reporter that the rebels operating in
northern Macedonia are smugglers.”
“ANA prefers violence and has no political agenda,”
said the Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Radmila
Sekerinska in an interview with Vienna’s daily Die
Presse.
Sekerinska added that armed persons operating in
northern Macedonia are members of small group of
criminals who roam around the villages and terrorize
the local residents.
“We act against these criminals with particulate
[particular] caution and we attempt to bring the local
Albanian population on our side. We want to assure the
local residents that police actions are not targeted
at local population but at criminals,” said
Sekerinska, adding that vast majority of local
Albanian residents do not support the armed gangs.
“Destabilization is not in the interest of Albanians
in Macedonia,” said Teuta Arifi, Deputy Head of
Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration (DUI),
chaired by Ali Ahmeti. [And the moon is made of green
chese....] Die Presse daily says the Democratic Union
for Integration (DUI) was established by former
members of the National Liberation Army (NLA), adding
that DUI, despite the fact that it has its
Representatives in the Macedonian Parliament, strongly
opposes the armed groups operating in the northern
part of the country. “Situation in northern Macedonia
is highly sensitive, therefore, the police should
desist from demonstration of power,” Arifi told Die
Presse.
=== 3 ===
http://en.rian.ru/rian/
index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=3439577&startrow=21&date=2003-09-
09&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
September 9, 2003
COMMENTARY: THE SITUATION IN MACEDONIA IS
DETERIORATING
Valery Asriyan, RIA Novosti analyst
The situation in Macedonia has deteriorated again. The
Front for Albanian National Unification, under whose
cover the illegal Albanian National Army (ANA) is
operating, has announced emergency mobilisation of its
units. Albanians say they were forced to do this
because the Macedonian government refused to react to
the ANA ultimatum on the withdrawal of all security
forces from Kumanovo.
But the question is: Could the Macedonian government
react differently to such an ultimatum? Agreement to
honour the demand would have amounted to withdrawal of
national jurisdiction from a part of the country's
territory. The example of Kosovo, which Albanians
actually tore away from Serbia with NATO assistance,
is too fresh and convincing to disregard it.
The ANA ultimatum and mobilisation order mean that the
Ohrid Agreement signed by Albanian fighters and
Macedonian authorities two years ago turned out to be
a fragile and unreliable instrument, just as many
experts had predicted. It did not and could not
restore peace and international accord in Macedonia
because the goal of one of the sides - Albanians - was
to split the country. They accepted peace only as a
tactical manoeuvre allowing them to regroup for
continued "struggle for independence."
That struggle began in the spring of 2001, when the
Albanian minority of Macedonia (or rather, its most
aggressive part nurturing separatist plans), inspired
by the example of Kosovo, took up arms to fight for
independence and secession of the north-western part
of Macedonia that borders on Kosovo. ANA units, well
armed and replenished with members of the so-called
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), waged hostilities
against the Macedonian security forces. When the
Macedonian government decided to use regular army
against the rebels, NATO interfered in the process and
actually tied the hands of President Boris Trajkovski.
It was at NATO initiative that the Ohrid Agreement was
signed. Under it, the Macedonian authorities made
major concessions to Albanians. Though the Albanian
minority had never been discriminated in Macedonia,
the agreement granted it additional rights. Five
Albanians were put on the Macedonian cabinet as
ministers and Albanian was granted the status of an
official language in Albanian regions and actually
became a second state language. The number of
Albanians in police units was increased and the method
of making parliamentary decisions was changed to take
into account Albanians' demands. All of these changes
were reflected in the amended Macedonian Constitution.
In short, yielding to NATO and US pressure, Macedonia
took actions that can eventually turn it into a
federal state of two ethnic groups, something which
Albanians have long demanded and which President
Trajkovski resisted, as he saw this, with good reason,
as a threat to the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Macedonia.
The thing is that the Macedonian authorities had to
announce an amnesty for those who had fought
government troops. The amnesty was to be preceded by
the liquidation of Albanian bandit groups and
surrender of their weapons, which the NATO group
deployed in Macedonia undertook to supervise. But
"disarmament" was carried out just as in Kosovo, where
nearly all KLA members kept their weapons and the KLA
was not dissolved but changed its name to the Civil
Defence Corps.
In Macedonia, the ANA, now called the Front for
Albanian National Unification, kept its weapons and
its fighters, after a brief respite, resumed their
actions by presenting the aforementioned ultimatum to
the Macedonian government. As you see, the policy of
appeasing extremists in Kosovo and Macedonia did not
do any good.
"The trouble is that the USA and NATO put their stakes
in the Balkans on Albanian separatism," says Prof.
Vladimir Volkov, a prominent Balkans expert and
director of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the
Russian Academy of Sciences. He told this
correspondent that the NATO leadership probably sees
the dangers of Albanian extremism for the Balkans and
the rest of Europe but does not want to admit this.
And it does not do anything to amend the situation.
Why? Because the bloc, which used the Albanian card as
the trump in the game against Yugoslavia of Milosevic,
cannot retrace its steps to disavow its actions and
admit the failure of its Balkans policy that
destabilised the situation in the region, said the
scientist. Besides, NATO is still entertaining hopes
of using Albanian separatism for putting pressure on
maverick Balkan countries.
According to Volkov, if NATO continues to nurture
Albanian extremism and allows the creation of a
two-subject Macedonian state, the outcome of regional
developments will be easily predictable. In a few
years Macedonian Albania will announce secession from
Macedonia and, joining forces with the Kosovo, Greek
and Montenegrin Albanians, attempt to create a new
state. In fact, it is an old plan of creating Greater
Albania, which clearly poses serious threat to the
Balkans.
NATO must decide now. Either it closes its eyes to the
ethnic re-carving of the Balkans (which nationalists
of all stripes want), or works to stabilise the
situation in the Balkans with due respect for the
interests of all regional nations. The latter can be
done if NATO accepts the Russian initiative, under
which all Balkan countries must sign an agreement on
the mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial
integrity and inviolability of existing borders.
=== 4 ===
http://www.economist.com/World/europe/
PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2055584
Kosovo and Macedonia
Fag-ends or freedom fighters?
Sep 11th 2003 | PRISTINA AND SKOPJE
From The Economist print edition
Violence in Kosovo and Macedonia is threatening the area's fragile peace
ONCE again, talk of a Greater Albania—an idea, if it came to fruition,
that would cause chaos in the Balkans—is in the air. This time it is
the guerrillas of the Albanian National Army (better known by its
Albanian-language initials, AKSh) who are trying to spread the word.
They want to unite their cousins in Kosovo and elsewhere in Serbia and
Montenegro, Greece, Macedonia and Albania proper. Their latest violence
is rattling politicians and diplomats across the Balkans, especially in
Pristina and Skopje, capitals of Kosovo and Macedonia respectively.
Their shenanigans are undermining Macedonia's fragile coalition
government, in which the country's ethnic-Albanian minority and Slav
Macedonian majority edgily share power.
Though there have long been whispers about AKSh's plans, it was not
until April, after a bridge in northern Kosovo had been blown up, that
Michael Steiner, the German diplomat then running Kosovo under the UN's
aegis, declared the group a terrorist organisation. It had occasionally
attacked the Serbian army in southern Serbia, and it had claimed
responsibility for blowing up a courthouse in the Macedonian town of
Struga in February. But in the past month or so, it has stepped up its
activity. In the area along Macedonia's border with Kosovo, it has
killed several people; hundreds of Albanian villagers have fled their
homes near Kumanovo for fear of getting caught up in the fighting.
The AKSh says it wants to redress the grievances of Macedonia's
Albanians: “The fighting in Macedonia confirms that the multi-ethnic
state is false. Macedonia's government cannot accept that Albanians
have equal rights. It was waiting for an excuse to use violence.” In
the long run, the group envisages a Greater Albanian state encompassing
all ethnic Albanians.
In fact, the AKSh represents few ethnic-Albanians. Its core consists of
some 50-70 cigarette smugglers drawn from both sides of the border with
Kosovo. Their latest violence has been largely prompted by their desire
to stop Macedonia's police from shutting down their smuggling routes
and putting them behind bars. Hisni Shaqiri, an ethnic-Albanian MP in
Skopje who is trying to help keep the peace between Macedonia's
Albanians and Slavs, describes Avdil Jakupi, the AKSh's “divisional
commander” known as Chakala, as a “mental patient and heroin addict”. A
British brigadier advising the Macedonian government on defence calls
the AKSh “criminals flying a political flag of convenience in the hope
of finding legitimacy”.
The worry, though, is that the Macedonian authorities may
overreact—thus stirring nationalist Albanian passions, whatever the
AKSh's criminal connections. This week Mr Shaqiri said that the
Albanians' Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) would withdraw from
Macedonia's Slav-led coalition government if Macedonian police or
soldiers killed any civilians. In the past month, outsiders have had to
persuade the DUI's leader, Ali Ahmeti, to keep his party in government;
the Macedonian Slavs have not, he complains, consulted his peace-minded
Albanians enough. The accord signed two years ago between
representatives of the two communities is holding. But DUI people in
government say their Slav Macedonian compatriots have not consulted
them properly over how to respond to the AKSh's attacks.
The tension is not just on the Macedonian side of the border. Kosovo is
twitchier too. All three mainstream Albanian parties there say
independence is overdue and fear what they see as Serbia's growing
influence in Washington and at the European Union's headquarters in
Brussels. Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of
Kosovo, the most nationalistic of the three, condemns the AKSh but says
“people are frustrated because there's no progress on [Kosovo's] final
status and the international community shows no commitment to resolve
it.”
Copyright © 2003 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All
rights reserved.
1. Greek press reveals situation in Kosmet and Macedonia is
deteriorating - Kathimerini (Athens), 8th and 9/9/2003
2. Austria: Die Presse: Situation in northern Macedonia
deteriorated (9/9/2003)
3. Russia, Novosti: Situation in Macedonia is deteriorationg
(9/9/2003)
4. British press: Kosovo and Macedonia: Fag-ends or freedom fighters?
(Sep 11th 2003 - The Economist)
=== 1 ===
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_15873559_08/09/
2003_33820
8/9/2003
Kathimerini (Greece)
Fears of a new upheaval in the Balkans are being fueled by a resurgence
of violent acts
Murders and bomb attacks are creating climate of anxiety anew in the
unstable triangle of FYROM, Kosovo and southern Serbia
One person was killed and four injured in the village of Cernika in
Kosovo, where Serbs also live, while the reappearance of armed
Albanians in FYROM has compelled the authorities to carry out sweeping
inspections.
By Stavros Tzimas - Kathimerini
There are worrying signs of unrest in the FYROM-Kosovo-southern Serbia
triangle. Murders of Serbs are becoming a daily event in Kosovo. In
Presevo and Bujanovac, there is evidence of suspect movement by ethnic
Albanians trying to change the demographics of villages and towns. And
in parts of FYROM where ethnic Albanians live, armed members of the
self-proclaimed Albanian National Army have reappeared, abducting
police officers and making bomb attacks on government targets.
Are we facing new upheaval in the volatile western Balkans that might
spark off armed clashes leading to instability and even the collapse of
the fragile status quo in the region?
Different circumstances
It is far too early to make such a claim. Circumstances are not the
same as those that led to the ethnic-Albanian uprising in Kosovo and
FYROM. And the international community is in no mood to tolerate — much
less to encourage — nationalistic bullying by the ethnic Albanians, who
will not keep quiet unless their demand for the independence of Kosovo
is satisfied.
Moreover, Washington and Brussels have their plates more than full,
with interest focused on the Middle East and greater diplomacy needed
in Palestine, Iran and Iraq. Balkan issues have ceased to be a top
priority on the international agenda, as they once were, with Javier
Solana racing to avert the worst whenever a problem cropped up.
But the balance on which the peace imposed by the West depends is still
fragile and the danger of episodes, such as those in Kumanovo — with
armed Albanians entrenching themselves in villages, claiming “free
zones” and their compatriots murdering children in cold blood in Kosovo
— could very easily dynamite the peace and threaten regional stability.
International diplomats in Skopje, Belgrade and Pristina view the
violent incidents in FYROM, Kosovo and southern Serbia, which they do
not consider unrelated, with interest and concern. They link the unrest
with the coming talks between the Serbs of Belgrade and the Albanians
of Kosovo which were mandated by European Union leaders at the
Halkidiki summit and are due to start next month in Brussels.
Nobody expects anything substantial to emerge from the talks, apart
from the fact that the two opponents will sit down together for the
first time since the war and probably talk about so-called low-profile
issues.
There will be no mention of the burning issues, such as the future
regime in Kosovo or the return of thousands of Serb refugees. The
Albanians won’t discuss anything but independence and when it will be
given to them, while the Serbs won’t hear of it, saying that Kosovo is
an integral part of Serbia.
But there is growing conviction in both western Balkan capitals and the
West that the situation in Kosovo cannot remain as it is today. This
has given rise to thoughts among the Serb leadership of the possibility
of discussing partition as a less painful outcome than complete
secession. The discussions are certainly known to the Albanians, who
are doing everything they can not to allow Serb refugees to return
home, but to get those few who have remained to leave Kosovo.
It is to this plan of terrorizing people into fleeing that the Serbs
attribute the barrage of murders of their compatriots in recent weeks
in Kosovo villages, even though the UN civil administration in Pristina
hastens, after every such event, to speak of an “an isolated incident.”
Ethnic Albanians in FYROM and southern Serbia will not be indifferent
to any developments concerning the future regime of Kosovo. In any
case, they never considered the status imposed after the wars of 1999
and 2001 to be definitive.
The pack of cards may be shuffled dangerously if Kosovo becomes an
independent state. The appearance of armed ethnic-Albanian groups in
FYROM, who undoubtedly have their base in Kosovo, perturbs both the
government and diplomatic missions.
Although attempts are being made to play the matter down, everyone
admits that the situation may become even more dangerous. The
self-proclaimed Albanian National Army has shown by the recent events
in Humanovo — where, in effect, it seized and held three villages for
several hours — that it can easily act in areas populated by ethnic
Albanians and make bomb attacks even in the city of Skopje — such as
the recent attack on a court — and also abduct police officers.
The official government line on these groups, with which which Western
diplomats so far concur, is that they are gangs of organized criminals
who are completely apolitical and must be dealt with mercilessly by the
police.
But such analyses were made of the KLA groups of Ali Ahmeti in 2000,
which eventually proved to be an organized military operation that was
not connected to organized crime but did have political goals.
“We certainly must not underestimate the presence of these groups but
we must not exaggerate either,” an EU ambassador in Skopje told
Kathimerini. “In any case, it seems to be an explosive mixture that we
hope will not develop,” he added.
Sources tell the authorities in Skopje of a few dozen — some say a few
hundred — well-armed men who come and go in Kosovo and who are
connected to the gun and narcotics trade, with a few “commanders” who
appear from time to time and proclaim goals of national liberation.
Their political leaders seem to be Idayet Bekiri — president of the
National Unity Party, the nationalist party in Tirana, whom the
Albanian government has declared persona non grata because of his
extremist activities — and Gafur Abduli, who is already in an Albanian
prison for the same reason.
Former warlords, and first among them Ali Ahmeti who turned out to be a
moderate, have repudiated the so-called Albanian National Army. But
that is not the case with the other large Albanian party of Arben
Xhaferi, the Democratic Albania Party in FYROM. Xhaferi has lost
political ground to the former KLA leader and is using extremist
rhetoric, refusing to condemn the murders and abductions and has not
hesitated to raise issues such as the secession of areas populated by
ethnic Albanians from FYROM.
The activities of these groups might have passed unnoticed, classified
as smuggling, had it not been for overriding suspicion among the two
ethnic groups, had the the Ohrid agreement proceeded more quickly and
had the outstanding Kosovo issue, which is an emotional one for all
Albanians in the region, already been settled.
---
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_columns_16506804_09/09/
2003_33846
9/9/2003
Kathimerini (Greece) - COMMENTARIES
Unrest in FYROM
A resurgence of armed conflict between ethnic Albanians and
Slav-Macedonians, which brought the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) to the brink of dissolution two years ago, is looming
on the horizon again. While international attention is focused on the
Middle East, the situation in FYROM is rapidly worsening, and in the
far more worrying context of the growing dispute between Serbia and
Albania over Kosovo. Last Tuesday, the Albanian Parliament unanimously
condemned a decision by the Parliament in Belgrade, according to which
Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia.
The day before yesterday, hundreds of Slav-Macedonian police officers
and soldiers invaded two villages inhabited by ethnic Albanians on the
Kosovo border, and killed “quite a few” Albanian rebels, according to
the FYROM government. Last week, hundreds of Slav-Macedonian police
officers encircled and besieged another two villages near Kumanovo for
three days, sparking the appearance of groups of armed ethnic Albanian
residents determined to defend their homes. The Slav-Macedonian forces
supposedly attacked in order to arrest the leader of the so-called
Albanian National Army, Avdil Jakupi, who had not only abducted two
police officers but had also declared on a Bulgarian television network
that “Macedonia cannot be a state,” and “it must become a protectorate
under the aegis of the United Nations and the European Union.”
Superficial analyses of the supposedly insignificant influence of this
group on the ethnic Albanian population of FYROM, or of the attempt to
present its members merely as criminals, may contain a grain of truth,
but they in no way go to the heart of the problem.
The EU, the USA and NATO have other priorities and often consider their
mission to be accomplished when they have put an end to armed
hostilities. Greece, which knows the region far better, and which has a
vital interest in its pacification and stability, must act. The
government must inform, warn and mobilize its EU partners, so as to
activate mechanisms for averting crises. It must also promote the
incorporation of the Balkan countries into European institutions.
Meanwhile, the international community must deal with the consequences
of the distorted and essentially unviable solutions it imposed on the
relations between ethnic groups in Bosnia, Kosovo and FYROM, before
they assume an explosive character again.
=== 2 ===
http://www.makfax.com.mk/news1-a.asp?br=49589
Makfax (Macedonia)
September 9, 2003
Austria: Die Presse: Situation in northern Macedonia
deteriorated
Vienna’s daily Die Presse writes about the latest
action of the Macedonian security forces against
Albanian guerillas, noting that the situation in
northern Macedonia has deteriorated. “The action was
targeted at Avdilj Jakupi and his people. This young
Albanian is one of commanders of the Albanian National
Army (ANA), an organization that claimed
responsibility for recent terrorist attacks in
Macedonia,” says Die Presse. “ANA officially claims
that its struggle aims to unite all territories
populated by Albanians, however, sources close to
KFOR, multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo, told
Die Presse reporter that the rebels operating in
northern Macedonia are smugglers.”
“ANA prefers violence and has no political agenda,”
said the Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Radmila
Sekerinska in an interview with Vienna’s daily Die
Presse.
Sekerinska added that armed persons operating in
northern Macedonia are members of small group of
criminals who roam around the villages and terrorize
the local residents.
“We act against these criminals with particulate
[particular] caution and we attempt to bring the local
Albanian population on our side. We want to assure the
local residents that police actions are not targeted
at local population but at criminals,” said
Sekerinska, adding that vast majority of local
Albanian residents do not support the armed gangs.
“Destabilization is not in the interest of Albanians
in Macedonia,” said Teuta Arifi, Deputy Head of
Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration (DUI),
chaired by Ali Ahmeti. [And the moon is made of green
chese....] Die Presse daily says the Democratic Union
for Integration (DUI) was established by former
members of the National Liberation Army (NLA), adding
that DUI, despite the fact that it has its
Representatives in the Macedonian Parliament, strongly
opposes the armed groups operating in the northern
part of the country. “Situation in northern Macedonia
is highly sensitive, therefore, the police should
desist from demonstration of power,” Arifi told Die
Presse.
=== 3 ===
http://en.rian.ru/rian/
index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=3439577&startrow=21&date=2003-09-
09&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
September 9, 2003
COMMENTARY: THE SITUATION IN MACEDONIA IS
DETERIORATING
Valery Asriyan, RIA Novosti analyst
The situation in Macedonia has deteriorated again. The
Front for Albanian National Unification, under whose
cover the illegal Albanian National Army (ANA) is
operating, has announced emergency mobilisation of its
units. Albanians say they were forced to do this
because the Macedonian government refused to react to
the ANA ultimatum on the withdrawal of all security
forces from Kumanovo.
But the question is: Could the Macedonian government
react differently to such an ultimatum? Agreement to
honour the demand would have amounted to withdrawal of
national jurisdiction from a part of the country's
territory. The example of Kosovo, which Albanians
actually tore away from Serbia with NATO assistance,
is too fresh and convincing to disregard it.
The ANA ultimatum and mobilisation order mean that the
Ohrid Agreement signed by Albanian fighters and
Macedonian authorities two years ago turned out to be
a fragile and unreliable instrument, just as many
experts had predicted. It did not and could not
restore peace and international accord in Macedonia
because the goal of one of the sides - Albanians - was
to split the country. They accepted peace only as a
tactical manoeuvre allowing them to regroup for
continued "struggle for independence."
That struggle began in the spring of 2001, when the
Albanian minority of Macedonia (or rather, its most
aggressive part nurturing separatist plans), inspired
by the example of Kosovo, took up arms to fight for
independence and secession of the north-western part
of Macedonia that borders on Kosovo. ANA units, well
armed and replenished with members of the so-called
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), waged hostilities
against the Macedonian security forces. When the
Macedonian government decided to use regular army
against the rebels, NATO interfered in the process and
actually tied the hands of President Boris Trajkovski.
It was at NATO initiative that the Ohrid Agreement was
signed. Under it, the Macedonian authorities made
major concessions to Albanians. Though the Albanian
minority had never been discriminated in Macedonia,
the agreement granted it additional rights. Five
Albanians were put on the Macedonian cabinet as
ministers and Albanian was granted the status of an
official language in Albanian regions and actually
became a second state language. The number of
Albanians in police units was increased and the method
of making parliamentary decisions was changed to take
into account Albanians' demands. All of these changes
were reflected in the amended Macedonian Constitution.
In short, yielding to NATO and US pressure, Macedonia
took actions that can eventually turn it into a
federal state of two ethnic groups, something which
Albanians have long demanded and which President
Trajkovski resisted, as he saw this, with good reason,
as a threat to the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Macedonia.
The thing is that the Macedonian authorities had to
announce an amnesty for those who had fought
government troops. The amnesty was to be preceded by
the liquidation of Albanian bandit groups and
surrender of their weapons, which the NATO group
deployed in Macedonia undertook to supervise. But
"disarmament" was carried out just as in Kosovo, where
nearly all KLA members kept their weapons and the KLA
was not dissolved but changed its name to the Civil
Defence Corps.
In Macedonia, the ANA, now called the Front for
Albanian National Unification, kept its weapons and
its fighters, after a brief respite, resumed their
actions by presenting the aforementioned ultimatum to
the Macedonian government. As you see, the policy of
appeasing extremists in Kosovo and Macedonia did not
do any good.
"The trouble is that the USA and NATO put their stakes
in the Balkans on Albanian separatism," says Prof.
Vladimir Volkov, a prominent Balkans expert and
director of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the
Russian Academy of Sciences. He told this
correspondent that the NATO leadership probably sees
the dangers of Albanian extremism for the Balkans and
the rest of Europe but does not want to admit this.
And it does not do anything to amend the situation.
Why? Because the bloc, which used the Albanian card as
the trump in the game against Yugoslavia of Milosevic,
cannot retrace its steps to disavow its actions and
admit the failure of its Balkans policy that
destabilised the situation in the region, said the
scientist. Besides, NATO is still entertaining hopes
of using Albanian separatism for putting pressure on
maverick Balkan countries.
According to Volkov, if NATO continues to nurture
Albanian extremism and allows the creation of a
two-subject Macedonian state, the outcome of regional
developments will be easily predictable. In a few
years Macedonian Albania will announce secession from
Macedonia and, joining forces with the Kosovo, Greek
and Montenegrin Albanians, attempt to create a new
state. In fact, it is an old plan of creating Greater
Albania, which clearly poses serious threat to the
Balkans.
NATO must decide now. Either it closes its eyes to the
ethnic re-carving of the Balkans (which nationalists
of all stripes want), or works to stabilise the
situation in the Balkans with due respect for the
interests of all regional nations. The latter can be
done if NATO accepts the Russian initiative, under
which all Balkan countries must sign an agreement on
the mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial
integrity and inviolability of existing borders.
=== 4 ===
http://www.economist.com/World/europe/
PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2055584
Kosovo and Macedonia
Fag-ends or freedom fighters?
Sep 11th 2003 | PRISTINA AND SKOPJE
From The Economist print edition
Violence in Kosovo and Macedonia is threatening the area's fragile peace
ONCE again, talk of a Greater Albania—an idea, if it came to fruition,
that would cause chaos in the Balkans—is in the air. This time it is
the guerrillas of the Albanian National Army (better known by its
Albanian-language initials, AKSh) who are trying to spread the word.
They want to unite their cousins in Kosovo and elsewhere in Serbia and
Montenegro, Greece, Macedonia and Albania proper. Their latest violence
is rattling politicians and diplomats across the Balkans, especially in
Pristina and Skopje, capitals of Kosovo and Macedonia respectively.
Their shenanigans are undermining Macedonia's fragile coalition
government, in which the country's ethnic-Albanian minority and Slav
Macedonian majority edgily share power.
Though there have long been whispers about AKSh's plans, it was not
until April, after a bridge in northern Kosovo had been blown up, that
Michael Steiner, the German diplomat then running Kosovo under the UN's
aegis, declared the group a terrorist organisation. It had occasionally
attacked the Serbian army in southern Serbia, and it had claimed
responsibility for blowing up a courthouse in the Macedonian town of
Struga in February. But in the past month or so, it has stepped up its
activity. In the area along Macedonia's border with Kosovo, it has
killed several people; hundreds of Albanian villagers have fled their
homes near Kumanovo for fear of getting caught up in the fighting.
The AKSh says it wants to redress the grievances of Macedonia's
Albanians: “The fighting in Macedonia confirms that the multi-ethnic
state is false. Macedonia's government cannot accept that Albanians
have equal rights. It was waiting for an excuse to use violence.” In
the long run, the group envisages a Greater Albanian state encompassing
all ethnic Albanians.
In fact, the AKSh represents few ethnic-Albanians. Its core consists of
some 50-70 cigarette smugglers drawn from both sides of the border with
Kosovo. Their latest violence has been largely prompted by their desire
to stop Macedonia's police from shutting down their smuggling routes
and putting them behind bars. Hisni Shaqiri, an ethnic-Albanian MP in
Skopje who is trying to help keep the peace between Macedonia's
Albanians and Slavs, describes Avdil Jakupi, the AKSh's “divisional
commander” known as Chakala, as a “mental patient and heroin addict”. A
British brigadier advising the Macedonian government on defence calls
the AKSh “criminals flying a political flag of convenience in the hope
of finding legitimacy”.
The worry, though, is that the Macedonian authorities may
overreact—thus stirring nationalist Albanian passions, whatever the
AKSh's criminal connections. This week Mr Shaqiri said that the
Albanians' Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) would withdraw from
Macedonia's Slav-led coalition government if Macedonian police or
soldiers killed any civilians. In the past month, outsiders have had to
persuade the DUI's leader, Ali Ahmeti, to keep his party in government;
the Macedonian Slavs have not, he complains, consulted his peace-minded
Albanians enough. The accord signed two years ago between
representatives of the two communities is holding. But DUI people in
government say their Slav Macedonian compatriots have not consulted
them properly over how to respond to the AKSh's attacks.
The tension is not just on the Macedonian side of the border. Kosovo is
twitchier too. All three mainstream Albanian parties there say
independence is overdue and fear what they see as Serbia's growing
influence in Washington and at the European Union's headquarters in
Brussels. Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of
Kosovo, the most nationalistic of the three, condemns the AKSh but says
“people are frustrated because there's no progress on [Kosovo's] final
status and the international community shows no commitment to resolve
it.”
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rights reserved.