Macedonian Media Monitor, April 28, 1999
Slavko Mangovski
KLA arms caches, Serbian pro-Milosevic demonstrators, and friction
between
Skopje and the West. The signs are ominous for the fragile republic.
Iso Rusi in Skopje
In the first evidence of a guerrilla presence within Macedonia, police
have
seized a tractor-trailer filled with 308 pieces of weaponry in the town
of
Kumanovo. Subsequently in a nearby in a deserted mine, 4.5 tons worth of
guns, ammunition, land mines and hand grenades were uncovered. Their
Chinese origin suggests that the cache was smuggled in from Albania by
the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
According to Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov, there will be more
attempts
to smuggle in arms from Albania weaponry. Trajanov fears that unless the
war in Yugoslavia is resolved soon, the security crisis there will be
"exported" to Macedonia.
Guns, ammunition and the like are not the only problem according to
Trajonov, who has speculated on the likely presence of KLA members among
the refugees now camped inside Macedonia. The New York Times has already
reported meeting with a half-dozen Albanian men it said were
"self-described officers of the KLA."
And Albanian radicals are not the only ones becoming active in
Macedonia.
Skopje held its first rock concert for peace, echoing the ones being
held
in Serbia. Flags of the former Yugoslavia and even pictures of Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic were seen in the capital's central square.
Malisa Bozovic, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Serbs in
Macedonia, argues that Yugoslavia has the right to target NATO positions
within Macedonia. "NATO planes are bombing Yugoslavia through Macedonian
skies and they have at their disposal logistical support, complete
military
and civil infrastructure that is being used for spying and stationing
ground forces." The Democrats are planning another big protest in the
capital soon.
Meantime, the owners of land around Stenkovec, the largest refugee camp
in
Macedonia, are refusing permission for it to be enlarged. Made up of
both
Macedonians as well as local Serbs, they sympathise with the
demonstrators
in the capital.
But the camp, which already houses more than 40,000 refugees, is too
small
to receive the latest refugee wave from Kosovo. According to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, up to 4,000 have been arriving each day.
UNHCR
spokesperson Ron Redmond has predicted up to 100,000 new refugees will
be
arriving at the border soon. He says they include 20,000 from the region
of
Urosevac and 50,000 from Gnjilane.
Conditions within the camps are far from ideal. Bribery to escape the
camps
has been reported, and cigarette and alcohol smuggling has increased. On
Sunday a carton of the cheapest Macedonian cigarettes reached the
staggering price of 100 DM ($57) in the camps. Sanitary conditions are
deteriorating with the overpopulation, and the weather has been cold and
rainy.
Promises by other countries to take some 92,620 of the refugees have
been
delayed. UN figures show that out of 560,000 Kosovo refugees it has
registered since the beginning of the NATO strikes, 132,700 entered
Macedonia. The Macedonian government puts the figure at 150,000. With
the
existing camps only able to house a third of the refugees, the rest are
being looked after in private homes. While initially, the international
community planned to fly out 1,500 people a day from Skopje, less than
13,000 have departed since the airlift started.
Disputes over the refugee issue have flared regularly between the
Macedonian government, aid agencies and Western governments. Macedonian
Minister of Defence Nikola Kljusev has stated firmly that the government
has no intention of building any more camps and that new refugees from
Kosovo cannot stay in the country. This has prompted German Defence
Deputy
Secretary of State Walter Koblon to suggest that his country will not
help
Macedonia's bid to join the European Union. Kljusev replied in turn that
this was tantamount to blackmail.
Within the Macedonian government, differences among the coalition
partners
about the role of NATO are getting more obvious. The parliament has
passed
a resolution supporting the government's refusal to allow NATO to use
Macedonia to stage an intervention into Yugoslavia. The media speculate
whether the Social Democrats of President Kiro Gligorov are applying
pressure to change this stance. Meanwhile, Arben Xhaferi, the leader of
the
Democratic Party of the Albanians, which is a member of the governing
coalition, argues that Macedonia has already taken sides in the conflict
(with NATO) and must follow through. He has also called for a more open
and
generous policy towards the refugees.
Iso Rusi is a journalist with Fokus in Skopje
===============================================================
RFE
THOUSANDS OF KOSOVARS FLEE TO MACEDONIA. International aid
workers on Macedonia's northern frontier said on 27 April
that 3,000 Kosovars arrived at Blace and 2,000 at Lojane that
day, bringing the total for the past four days to 13,000. The
aid workers added that all camps and tents are full and that
new arrivals have to sleep in the open. One refugee described
the wave of new arrivals as "huge," adding that "many more
are coming," AP reported. According to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, there are some 136,000 Kosovar
refugees in Macedonia, of whom 79,000 are staying in private
homes. The Macedonian government believes that some 183,000
Kosovars have taken refuge in Macedonia. In Luxembourg,
Foreign Minister Aleksendar Dimitrov said that up to 150,000
Kosovars are en route to Macedonia. PM
TROUBLE IMMINENT IN CAMPS? A spokesman for the UNHCR noted in
Skopje on 27 April that cases of measles, hepatitis, and
dysentery have appeared among the refugees. He added that
"this is a sign of things to come." The next day, another
UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva that some of the people in the
camps are "on the verge of rioting. It's very, very tense and
it has to be defused very, very quickly. If we get another
trainload or two and a few busloads again today, it's really
going to be a horrific situation there in terms of
overcrowding," he concluded. PM
GLIGOROV: REFUGEES WILL NOT GO HOME SOON. Macedonian
President Kiro Gligorov said in Skopje on 27 April that "it
would be another act of violence to push for the speedy
return of refugees" to Kosova. He noted that the homes of
many of them have been destroyed and that the Kosovars "see
that life is better" in Macedonia than in Kosova or Albania.
Gligorov pointed out that "ethnic Albanians are an active
part of our society" and government. PM
GLIGOROV TO GAIN NEW POWERS? The Macedonian president also
said in Skopje on 27 April that he wants the National
Security Council and the legislature to declare a "state of
imminent military threat." Observers noted that such a
measure would increase the Social Democratic president's
powers vis-a-vis the center-right government. They added that
Gligorov lacks a majority either in the council or in the
parliament and hence is unlikely to obtain the declaration he
wants. Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski maintains that there
is no need to declare any sort of state of emergency (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 22 April 1999). PM
=====================================================
Hollywood star Gere has tea with Kosovo refugee
03:20 p.m Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
By Elisaveta Konstantinova
STANKOVIC, Macedonia, April 28 (Reuters) - Hollywood hearthrob Richard
Gere took tea with ethnic Albanian Kosovo refugees in Macedonia on
Wednesday and promised he would do all he could to help them.
``The purpose (of my visit) is to help in any way I can. I want to find
out what is going on and I'll do everything I can to help,'' he told
reporters in Macedonia's biggest camp, Stankovic.
Asked how much he had donated, he said: ``The money is not
important...what you can give, you give.''
Gere, a Buddhist, campaigns actively for human rights in Tibet. On
screen, he is well known for his roles in such films as ``An officer and
a Gentlemen,'' ``Pretty Woman'' and ``American Gigolo.''
Wearing black jeans and sweater and a white baseball cap, Gere, 49, gave
autographs, kissed children and had tea with a family of ethnic
Albanians in their tent.
``I thank all the doctors for everything they do,'' said Gere, who was
taken on tour of a field clinic set up by the Medicins sans Frontieres
(Doctors without Borders) humanitarian organisation, which he supports.
Up to 4,000 refugees poured into Macedonia on Wednesday and most were
being crammed into Stankovic, which is already housing more than three
times the number it should. Doctors fear epidemics could break out, aid
workers told Gere.
The actor, who met Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski and was
due to meet U.S. ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill and President
Kiro Gligorov on Thursday, said he was not prepared to comment on
regional politics.
Kosovo Albanians circling Gere differed in their reaction. ``It is
comforting to know that someone cares enough to come all the way here,
but it does not help me find my lost sister and father'' said
17-year-old Xhafer.
But 13-year-old fan Fatima said: ``It was worth suffering the journey to
here to meet him (Gere).''
More than 700,000 ethnic Albanians have fled Kosovo since fighting began
in March last year, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. Most of
them have been sheltered in tent camps in neighbouring Albania,
Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Thousands of them are airlifted to
third countries in Europe and many families have been divided.
=====================================================================
FOCUS-Kosovo refugees flood Macedonia, camps tense
03:07 p.m Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
By Jude Webber
BLACE, Macedonia, April 28 (Reuters) - Up to 4,000 more Kosovo refugees
arrived at the main Blace border crossing into Macedonia on Wednesday,
flooding already overflowing camps that were growing increasingly tense.
Ron Redmond, spokesman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said a train had
arrived from the Kosovo capital Pristina. Witnesses said 20 buses came
from there and the southern town of Urosevac.
There was ample evidence of the dangers the refugees faced in their
exodus. Five or six refugees were killed when they strayed into a
minefield northeast of Blace, and seven more were injured, Macedonia's
information ministry said.
Shemsije Tahiri, 20, who caught the train from Balic near Urosevac, had
two bullet wounds in her arm. She said she had been hit by a sniper
while trying to board on Tuesday.
Conditions at Blace, where 3,500 spent the night, were increasingly
dreadful. Aid workers had had to fashion makeshift shelters from plastic
sheeting hung up beside tents.
``We may also have to make some rudimentary shelter arrangements in
Stankovic,'' Redmond said, referring to the bulging camp nearby where
more than 42,000 are already jammed into an area designed as a temporary
camp for half that number. Macedonia said more than 70,000 were living
in six camps.
A new camp at Cegrane, in western Macedonia, would not be ready until
Thursday night at the earliest, he said.
Some 1,700 refugees were airlifted to France, Sweden, Norway, Turkey,
the Netherlands, Finland and the Czech Republic, the busiest day to date
from Macedonia.
But that was a drop in the ocean. Macedonia says it has taken in more
than 188,000 refugees, and that 29,130 had so far been airlifted out.
And even as the refugees poured in with no end in sight, witnesses
reported thousands more waiting to leave Yugoslavia.
The dire overcrowding was raising fears on Wednesday that tempers could
boil over and epidemics break out.
``There is a concern for possible outbreaks of communicable diseases and
epidemics...as the weather gets hotter, we will have significant
concerns of an outbreak,'' said Jonathan Brock of aid organisation
Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) at Stankovic.
Safety was also becoming a concern, with one tent in Stankovic catching
fire on Tuesday night. A candle -- the only source of light at night --
was believed to have sparked the blaze, but no one was injured, the
information ministry said.
Kris Janowski, a UNHCR spokesman in Geneva, said the crowding was so
extreme refugees were ``on the verge of rioting.''
With the tension rising palpably, Hollywood actor Richard Gere, an
active campaigner for human rights in Tibet, paid a morale-boosting trip
to Stankovic.
``I'll do everything I can to help,'' he said.
Redmond said Wednesday's arrivals at Blace included a 10-year-old boy
who had broken his leg in two places when he was running away from Serbs
and was brought over in a wheelbarrow.
``Some refugees are also reporting that villages are getting emptied and
people concentrated in one village and then surrounded,'' he said,
citing Mullopoljce, Dremjak and Petrovo.
``The people have to pay bribes to get out and they only let a certain
number out,'' he said, adding that some had paid ``a couple of thousand
deutschmarks.''
Refugees reported that at least eight villages had been ``cleared out''
in the last few days.
Some saw girls taken away by Serbs, and said there were even young girls
and boys with guns in the Kosovo capital Pristina who were ``running
around and terrorising the population in general,'' he said.
Astrid Van Genderen Stort, another UNHCR official, said refugees had
told her one bus was stopped at a military checkpoint near Kacanik and
five boys were taken off the bus.
========================================================================
=
Forces battle for refugee fate in Macedonia: homes or camps?
By Brian Murphy, Associated Press, 04/28/99 17:04
VAKSINCE, Macedonia (AP) - On the crest of a hill, a refugee peers
across the valley toward the rocky footpath leading from the Serbian
border. From another lookout post, Macedonian police keep watch over the
frontier.
They are both looking for the same thing: More ethnic Albanian refugees
from Kosovo. But their objectives seriously clash.
The police mission is to ship refugees off to tightly controlled camps.
Refugees already in Macedonia try to find the newly arrived Kosovars and
take them back to homes where ethnic Albanian villagers shelter them.
Whoever finds the refugees first usually gets his way.
The tussle over the fate of the refugees in the border hills is a
snapshot of a larger ideological and cultural dilemma tearing into the
fabric of Macedonia.
Macedonian authorities worry that allowing the refugees into the
community could swell the country's population of ethnic Albanian
Muslims and have long-term consequences on the nation's demographic
balance - now weighted in favor of Orthodox Christian Slavs. At the same
time, however, Macedonia's ethnic Albanians feel an obligation of
kinship in opening their homes to the Kosovo refugees.
With the refugee camps filled far beyond capacity - and new refugees
arriving daily - the Macedonian policy of refugee internment is coming
under harsher criticism.
In Vaksince, about 30 miles northeast of Skopje, a key showdown took
place Tuesday as police tried to force more than 1,000 refugees onto
buses bound for the camps. Some residents battled back and managed to
spirit about 50 refugees away.
''The police were trying to pull me on the bus and some people from the
village were pulling me by the other arm,'' said Salim Hamdiju, who
arrived from Ternovac, a mostly ethnic Albanian village in Serbia that
he says is being emptied by Serb police.
''The policeman lost his grip for a moment and I was able to slip away
into the crowd. Why should I be forced to go to the camp? Why should I
be herded around like some animal after what I've been through?''
More than 220 Kosovo refugees have been sheltered so far among
Vaksince's 2,400 residents. With reports of Serb ethnic purges moving
outside of Kosovo into Serbia proper, more refugees are expected to come
over the paths and mountain pastures above Vaksince - less than 6 miles
from the Serbian border.
''We intend to take as many as possible. It's just a question of us
getting them before the police,'' said Bashkim Amidi, a resident who
helps keep a log of the new arrivals in a small room in the elementary
school.
Once the refugees are registered with area authorities they can receive
papers keeping them from the camps, Amidi said Wednesday. But there
could be a risk.
''For now the police are leaving us alone and kind of accept defeat once
we get the refugees first,'' he said. ''If the government decides to get
stricter, maybe we'll have problems.''
In an unfinished two-story home, Nuran Avdiu hosts 27 refugees in what's
become a makeshift commune. Men take care of shopping and finding
clothes and bedding. The women share housework and child care.
''The camps are inhumane. There is no dignity,'' complained Avdiu.
''It's our duty to try to keep people from those camps.''
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates nearly 60,000 refugees
have been packed into six camps in Macedonia, where the government has
been slow to authorize new refugee areas. A spokesman for the U.N.
refugee agency, Ron Redmond, said the camps are near the ''breaking
point'' and epidemics of measles, hepatitis or other diseases are
possible.
Near the village school, 15-year-old Aferdita Baktashi washed mud from
the rubber boots she wore in the trek over the mountains from the
Serbian town of Bujanovac, where she claimed police separated men, women
and children and terrorized them with threats of death and rape before
releasing them unharmed last week.
The girl's mother Nazmije sat nearby. She had fainted while being loaded
by Macedonian police onto a bus and a village man persuaded the officers
to let her off with her two daughters. But only one made it from the
bus, the mother said. Her other daughter, 20-year-old Hyria, was driven
away.
''Do you want to know the worst thing?'' she asked. ''The police were
telling us, `Don't worry. You'll only go to the camps for one day and
then return.' We all knew it wasn't true. That's what made it so
cruel.''
================================================================
Shaky Macedonia says it must stick with West
01:30 p.m Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
By Jeremy Gaunt
SKOPJE, April 28 (Reuters) - Macedonia, beset by a wave of refugees from
Kosovo and worried about its own ethnic tension, emphasised its
commitment to the West on Wednesday, saying there was no other way than
to embrace NATO and the European Union.
The impoverished Balkan country's prime minister said he had been given
pledges of support from EU officials in Luxembourg. The foreign minister
said NATO had opened its door to Macedonia.
``Macedonia has no alternative in its foreign policy. No alternative in
its NATO orientation and in its orientation towards the European
Union,'' Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski told reporters.
``We want to increase our relations with the European Union,'' he said.
Macedonia is a reluctant frontline state in the West's war with
Yugoslavia, to which it used to belong and still has close ties. It said
on Wednesday that nearly 190,000 refugees had flooded across its borders
since NATO bombing began last month, threatening it with economic
collapse.
There is also widespread fear that Macedonia's own ethnic Albanian
community -- by some accounts around a third of the population --
harbours secessionist hopes like their kin in Kosovo.
Various politicians have accused the West of leaving it stranded with
the fallout from the war and some, notably President Kiro Gligorov,
whose party is now in opposition, felt snubbed when last weekend's NATO
summit in Washington failed to put Macedonia on a fast track for
alliance membership for letting 16,000 troops be stationed in the
country.
Most Macedonians are Slavs. Many are sympathetic to their fellow
Orthodox Christian Serbs and there have been a number of attacks on NATO
personnel.
But Georgievski and Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov indicated that
the government had firmly hitched Macedonia to EU and NATO policy.
Dimitrov, who had attended the NATO summit in Washington before joining
Georgievski in Luxembourg, told reporters that Macedonia had made huge
strides in cementing its relations with the West since the centre-right
government took office last year.
``Nobody could foresee how much Macedonia has developed its relations
with NATO and the EU,'' he said.
Stepping back from earlier concerns that Macedonia had been snubbed,
Dimitrov said NATO had effectively told the country that it would one
day be a member.
``Macedonia can be satisified with the Washington declaration. It is a
policy of open doors,'' he said.
Georgievski said his trip to Luxembourg had been a success, moving the
country closer to getting a formal association agreement with the EU and
opening the door for loans from the European Investment Bank.
=============================================================
INTERVIEW-Macedonia faces collapse without help
08:43 a.m. Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
By Elisaveta Konstantinova
SKOPJE, April 28 (Reuters) - Macedonia faces economic and political
collapse, which could further destabilise the Balkans, unless it
receives at least $485 million to offset losses caused by the war in
neighbouring Kosovo, Finance Minister Boris Stojmenov said on Wednesday.
``If we do not get balance of payments support in the next two months,
Macedonia's economy would collapse. This would endanger not only our own
tortuously achieved stability but further destabilise the Balkans,''
Stojmenov told Reuters in an interview.
``We now have almost 200,000 refugees, which amount almost to 10 percent
of the whole population...we may all be forced to become refugees,'' he
said.
By the end of the year Macedonia would suffer $1.5 billion in losses
from increased transport costs, lost business with its biggest trade
partner Serbia and huge cost of supporting the thousands of ethnic
Albanian refugees who have flooded in from Serbia's Kosovo province, he
said.
Macedonia needs at least $485 million external support this year to
offset an expected balance of payments deficit of $375 million and
widening budget deficit gap projected at $185 million or 4.5 percent of
gross domestic product, said Stojmenov.
Pre-war budget assumptions had envisaged a budget deficit of $6 million
or 0.1 percent of GDP and the balance of payments deficit was seen at a
manageable $38 million. Macedonia was due to receive $25 million from
the International Monetary Fund and a further $40 million from the World
Bank under deals reached before the outbreak of the Kosovo conflict.
The European Union, IMF, World Bank and other foreign lenders are due to
meet in Paris on May 5 to discuss Macedonia's funding package.
``We must have priority in receiving help for two reasons. First, we
have admitted the biggest share of refugees in proportion to the
country's own population. Second, we need funds to continue structural
reforms under extremely unfavourable investment conditions,'' said
Stojmenov.
Macedonia's hopes of achieving four percent growth this year, after 3.0
percent growth in 1998 were quashed by the war. Now Stojmenov predicts
an eight percent economic slump. The country is already grappling an
unemployment rate of more than 30 percent.
The war has also shattered Macedonia's hopes of getting $200 million in
foreign investment this year. Several major privatisation deals have
been put on hold, including the sell-off of the biggest bank, Stopanska
Banka, and major chrome and nickel smelters Yugo-Chrom and Feni-Mak,
said Stojmenov.
The influx of ethnic Albanian refugees is endangering the delicate
economic and demographic balance, said Stojmenov. Around 180,000 ethnic
Albanians have streamed into Macedonia.
``These people used to be our trade partners, customers, when they were
in Kosovo, now they are on our social benefits payroll,'' said
Stojmenov.
========================================================================
==
More Kosovo refugees arrive in Macedonia, camps creak
04:57 a.m. Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
By Jude Webber
BLACE, Macedonia, April 28 (Reuters) - A busload of Kosovo refugees
arrived at the main Blace border crossing into Macedonia on Wednesday,
where 3,500 refugees spent the night crammed into a squalid holding
camp.
Aid workers searched desperately for somewhere to put the thousands more
expected to be heading out of Kosovo by train and bus, but refugee camps
were already full to overflowing and a new centre would not be ready
until Thursday night, a U.N. humanitarian official said.
``Yesterday between 3,500 and 4,000 arrived at Blace,'' said Ron
Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. ``It was more than
we originally thought.''
He said 3,500 had spent the night in the ``squalid little camp'' beside
the border checkpoint, where up to 70 people were sleeping in 50-man
tents.
Redmond could not rule out the possibility that arrivals on Wednesday
would have to camp out with plastic sheeting. He said aid organisations
were making plans to move out of their own tents in the existing refugee
camps -- a move that could shelter 1,500 to 2,000, he said.
``You can see for yourself what the situation is like,'' said Selim
Rama, who arrived in Macedonia from the village of Nerodime, near the
southern Kosovo town of Urosevac, on Tuesday and spent the night at
Blace.
``There's mud, water. We're sleeping on the ground. We can't keep
clean,'' he said. He left the village two days ago because there were
``bullets flying'' and camped out for one night in the mountains.
Mechanical diggers were working at the camp to install drainage, where
the ground was awash with mud and there were pools of water. ``It's far
worse below,'' said Luc Soenen, an official with the Action against
Hunger group, who was deep in talks with the Macedonian contractor near
the camp gate.
Wednesday's first arrivals also came from around Urosevac . ``We left
because they brought the tanks to our homes,'' said Sale Sefedini, an
old woman who arrived with her family from the village of Balanc.
``They were burning our homes. Two houses next door were burned. They
brought tanks to the front door and the children were afraid, so we
left,'' she said. That was 10 days ago, and they had been living in
different places since then.
After crossing the checkpoint, they were ordered to wait but had no idea
what for. Sanie Shabani, from the village of Gack, looked downcast when
told Tuesday's refugees had stood waiting there more than 14 hours.
Redmond said a new camp at Cegrane in western Macedonia that should have
taken 48 hours to complete would not be ready to receive refugees until
Thursday morning.
``If we have to have people sleeping out under the stars with plastic
sheeting and sleeping bags, we'll go from there,'' Redmond said.
He expected more arrivals. ``I think we are acting on the assumption the
trains are running pretty regularly,'' he said.
Some 2,000 refugees were squeezed into the main Stankovic refugee camp
on Tuesday, bringing the total held in the main part of the camp to
nearly 30,000 -- three times the planned capacity.
Redmond said aid workers could now move out of their tent headquarters
in Stankovic to make a bit more room.
``What we are going to do now is that we and other NGOs (non
governmental organisations) will become refugees ourselves,'' he said.
``We may have to move ourselves out.''
========================================================================
====
Macedonia says Kosovo war is battering its economy
04:38 a.m. Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
SKOPJE, April 28 (Reuters) - Macedonian Finance Minister Boris Stojmenov
said on Wednesday the war in Kosovo was endangering his country's
economic stability and destroying growth prospects.
In an interview with Reuters, Stojmenov said gross domestic product
would fall 8 percent because of the war and Macedonia would need $485
million in foreign loans and grants to keep the economy afloat.
``If Macedonia doesn't get help, it faces economic collapse which would
endanger not only its own stability but further destabilise the
Balkans,'' he said.
Stojmenov said Macedonia's balance of payments gap this year would
deepen to $375 million from pre-war projections of $38 million.
The budget deficit would rise to 4.5 percent of GDP, or $185 million,
from a projection of 0.1 percent
====================================================================
Macedonia president aims for more powers
02:17 p.m Apr 27, 1999 Eastern
By Elisaveta Konstantinova
SKOPJE, April 27 (Reuters) - President Kiro Gligorov said on Tuesday he
would convene Macedonia's National Security Council to discuss declaring
a state of imminent military threat which would increase his powers.
``The president re-affirmed his intentions to summon the National
Security Council, but did not specify a date,'' the president's
spokeswoman Suzana Kostadinova told Reuters after a news conference
restricted to local media.
Gligorov returned on Tuesday from NATO's summit in Washington where he
slammed the West for not doing enough to help the tiny Balkan state cope
with a huge influx of ethnic Albanian refugees from war-torn Kosovo.
NATO's decision not to invite new members to join also quashed
Macedonia's hopes for early admission into the alliance.
Gligorov said last week he would ask the council to consider introducing
a state of imminent military danger, involving a heightened level of
alert for the armed forces and an increase in his powers, currently
largely ceremonial.
The motion would deepen rifts between Gligorov, a socialist, and the
government of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, whose centre-right
coalition came to power after November elections ending 53 years of
leftist rule.
Under a state of imminent military danger, the president, who under
Macedonia's constitution is also Commander-in-Chief
of the army, is empowered to appoint a new government.
Analysts said the motion was unlikely to pass, because Gligorov lacks
the required support of the majority both in the council and in
parliament, where such a motion needs to be approved.
Macedonia's assembly is dominated by Georgievski's coalition, which is
also under pressure to balance the country's fragile economy with
180,000 refugees flooding the country in the past month and the
deployment of NATO troops.
The security council consists of Georgievski, the defence minister, the
interior minister and 20 experts.
``This is an attempt by Gligorov to strengthen his power on the eve of
presidential election, due at the end of the year,'' said one political
analyst, who declined to be named.
Gligorov, 83, has been in power since 1991, when Macedonia declared
independence from Yugoslavia. He was seen by many as a figure preserving
the country's unity in this volatile region in the early 90s, but
reformists have frequently accused of him of obstructing reforms.
=====================================================================
UK defence minister to visit Macedonia this week
09:43 a.m. Apr 27, 1999 Eastern
SKOPJE, April 27 (Reuters) - British Defence Secretary George Robertson
will this week visit Macedonia, where a British battle group is expected
to arrive soon, a NATO spokesman said on Tuesday.
He said Robertson would arrive in Macedonia on Thursday evening but had
no immediate details of his schedule. Macedonian state television
reported that Robertson would also visit Albania.
The battle group will consist of 12 Challenger tanks and 40 Warrior
armoured personnel carriers. It will be accompanied by 1,800 soldiers.
NATO said on Monday the group was expected to arrive within a week to 10
days.
The tanks and personnel carriers, along with hundreds of support
vehicles, were due to drive into Macedonia from Thessaloniki in Greece
in a number of convoys. The soldiers would fly in from Germany to
Skopje.
NATO said at its 50th anniversary summit in Washington last weekend that
Macedonia had given formal consent for more British and German troops to
be stationed in the country, joining some 12,600 NATO troops already
stationed there. The total contingent is expected to reach 16,000.
NATO has stationed troops in Macedonia to act as a peacekeeping force in
next door Kosovo if and when a peace agreement is reached. Many of the
troops have also been helping Macedonia cope with the huge influx of
ethnic Albanian refugees from the war.
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U.S. Families Apply to Take 1,500 Kosovo Refugees
Reuters
28-APR-99
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Families in the United States have
offered to take in 1,500 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo, the State
Department said on Wednesday.
The United States agreed earlier this month to take up to 20,000 of the
Kosovo refugees, mainly to relieve the burden on Macedonia, which was
overwhelmed by the influx at the time.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the southern Yugoslav province
have streamed into Albania and Macedonia, saying they were driven from
their homes by Serb forces.
At first Washington planned to move 20,000 to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S.
base on Cuba, where they would not have the right to seek asylum, but
the present plan is to match them up as far as possible with
Albanian-American relatives.
State Department spokesman James Rubin said U.S. families had filled in
forms for the 1,500 refugees and a U.S. team was in the Balkans trying
to work out a system for the move.
On Monday the White House said some of the Kosovo refugees might go to
Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey for processing before they move on to
stay with families.
But the clear preference is to make all the preliminary arrangements in
the Balkans before they leave.
"Family reunification is the focus in our offer to relocate up to 20,000
refugees from Macedonia and Albania who have relatives in the United
States," Rubin said.
"We believe that permitting refugees to be with loved ones here in the
United States is the most humanitarian way of handling this situation.
We will also relocate some refugees in vulnerable circumstances, such as
health problems," he added.
The refugees who come to the United States will acquire some rights to
residence as soon as they land but the administration expects to
persuade the vast majority to go back to Kosovo when the crisis is over.
"We're going to try to create the conditions that would encourage them
to go home. The kind of programmes and methods that we would use, such
as return payments and counselling, would increase the chances of them
going home," Rubin said.
State Department officials said they recognised that some of the Kosovo
Albanians might end up as immigrants but Washington had little choice
but to let them in.
Almost all people resident in the United States can apply to bring in
Kosovo relatives, included people who are themselves refugees or asylum
seekers.
They can ask to take in any close relatives, including grandparents,
grandchildren, uncles and aunts, nephews, nieces and first cousins.
Ten voluntary agencies are acting as intermediaries in the reception and
placement programme, which is unlikely to start operations for at least
some days.
"I don't know exactly when the first people will be coming, but it will
not be in the next days," Brian Atwood, administrator for the U.S.
Agency for International Development, told a briefing on Wednesday.
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov complained at the end of last
weekend's NATO summit that many of the Western countries had not yet
kept their promise to take in refugees.
Macedonia has 142,650 of them and Albania has 367,200, according to
latest estimates from the U.N. refugee agency. Up to 4,000 refugees
arrived in Macedonia on Wednesday, the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees said.
Atwood, who visited the Balkans from April 18 to 21, said the
performance of international relief agencies "has been spotty,"
particularly in the early days, but was improving.
"This is not a field of dreams. You don't build refugee camps in the
hopes they will come," he added.
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Macedonian Camp Crisis Deepens
From News Services
Wednesday, April 28, 1999; Page A21
The crisis at crowded camps for Kosovo refugees intensified yesterday,
as U.N. officials declared they can no longer provide adequate shelter
for those fleeing to Macedonia.
Four thousand ethnic Albanians arrived yesterday at Brazda, and hundreds
were forced to sleep in the open, with only plastic sheeting for cover.
Aid workers predicted a public health crisis within a day.
U.N. officials, clearly angry and frustrated, accused Macedonia of
blocking new camp construction and criticized European nations for not
resettling refugees quickly.
"We are really in trouble," said Paula Ghedini, a spokeswoman for the
U.N. refugee agency. "We have tents; we have food. What we don't have is
space. . . . It's getting completely out of control."
U.N. officials have asked Macedonia to provide sites for three more
camps but were granted just one. A dispute with a contractor has delayed
the opening of that camp.
Macedonian officials could not be reached for comment. But in the past,
they have accused the United Nations of failing to provide funds and
equipment needed to handle the refugee crisis.
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Macedonia Fears NATO, Refugees
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 28, 1999; 1:27 a.m. EDT
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- From the NATO jets streaking through the
skies, to the armored personnel carriers rolling through the streets, to
the refugees sobbing in the mud, Macedonia already has the look of a
country at war.
The real thing, its people fear, can't be far behind.
Five weeks into the war next door -- over the Serb province of Kosovo --
Macedonia has taken in a NATO force larger than its own army. It has
also seen an influx of Kosovo Albanians equal almost to a tenth of its
population -- a flood that would be equivalent to the United States
getting 20 million newcomers in a month.
It's not so much the guests that worry Macedonians; it's their
baggage -- either one could bring the war home to Macedonia, the poorest
former Yugoslav republic with a long history of ethnic tensions and
territorial conflicts.
An estimated one-third of Macedonia's 2 million people are ethnic
Albanians who have been demanding more rights, often holding protests
and even clashing with the police. With an influx of more than 170,000
ethnic Albanian refugees, there are fears that ethnic tensions could
grow.
As for the NATO troops, their number is also growing, and Macedonians
fear their presence could draw an attack from Yugoslavia. Macedonia
worries it would be drawn into the conflict, or that the anger of its 2
percent Serb minority would be further fueled.
``Already, when my little one hears the NATO jets, she says, 'Let's find
a shelter, because the bombs are coming,''' said Fozav Tevevski, a
35-year-old gas company worker, who says he fears for the future of his
3-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.
``Because of some stubborn heads on both sides, we are going to be
forced to lose our normal way of life,'' Tevevski said, his words
spilling out in a torrent of anger. ``We are going to lose our peace.''
The Kosovo war has cost Macedonia its No. 2 trade partner, Serbia,
bringing to a virtual halt an already foundering economy of a nation
where many farmers still work the fields with hoes and scythes.
It's increased layoffs in a country with one-third unemployment, adding
to the unrest and the resentment of the burden posed by the refugees.
Fear of war is in the air -- and on the airwaves. The hit song of the
moment is a Macedonian-language remake of the Eagles' ``Hotel
California.''
``We've got a lot of strange, strange guests -- we've got tanks and
refugees,'' ``Hotel Macedonia'' observes. ``Once they check in, they
don't ever leave.''
President Kiro Gligorov, who managed the country's peaceful exit from
Yugoslavia in 1991, is expected to press his security council this week
to declare a state of emergency.
Macedonia's three-party governing coalition has resisted the
declaration, so far.
After ethnic wars exploded throughout former Yugoslavia starting in
1991, the United Nations deployed a 1,000-member force -- about half
American -- along Macedonia's borders to prevent the spillover of
conflicts. Macedonia has territorial, border or language disputes with
its neighbors -- Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria.
For the moment, the government coalition's lead partners, an ethnic
Albanian party and a Macedonian nationalist party, think they can keep
the peace by keeping their own followers in line.
``We know each other's interests,'' said Arben Xhafery, leader of the
Democratic Party of Albanians. ``They are not going to try to
`Macedonize' us, and we are not going to `Albanize' them.''
If it does pass, the president's declaration of emergency would allow
mobilization of Macedonia's defense forces. At just 12,000 soldiers,
it's outnumbered and out-armed by a NATO force that grows to more than
14,000 this week.
Macedonia has forbidden use of its soil for attacks on Yugoslavia.
``We're trying to keep as low-profile as possible, and trying to not
interfere with their way of life,'' said Maj. Trey Cate, a NATO
spokesman in Macedonia.
That's a losing battle. The NATO force, with its live-fire exercises on
Macedonian soil, its splotchy-green camouflage vehicles on the roads,
has become a high-profile target for public anger.
Ethnic Serbs, strongly sympathetic to Serb-led Yugoslavia, regularly
stone NATO vehicles. Last week, a mob stoned and injured French NATO
soldiers, setting fire to their vehicle when they abandoned it.
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