Posted on 09/10/2001 1:00:39 PM PDT by oxi-nato
SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonia may bow to international pressure and accept a long-term foreign military presence to prevent new ethnic violence once NATO's mission ends in late September, government officials said on Monday. They insisted that a purely NATO force was out of question but said Skopje was ready to accept a mission including NATO troops under a U.N. mandate -- something several European Union ministers rejected over the weekend. "There is a lot of pressure, so we can expect a modification in our current resolute position of having no (extended) foreign military presence," a senior government source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
Antonio Milosovski, spokesman for the government led by nationalist Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, said: "A peace kept by NATO will not be real, but artificial. But he added: "We have nothing against NATO forces being part of an international force with a U.N. mandate with a mission to protect Macedonia's borders with Kosovo and Albania." A small U.N. force helped maintain stability with border patrols in the former Yugoslav republic, the only one to break away from Belgrade without a war, from 1992 to 1999.
NATO has said its 4,500 troops would pull out when the month-long "Essential Harvest" operation to collect 3,300 weapons from the rebels ends on September 26. Its disarmament mission is part of a political deal between the government and Albanian political parties to give greater rights to the Albanian minority. The deal ended months of worsening conflict.
UN MANDATE, NATO-LED? NATO's commander for Europe, General Joseph Ralston, who paid an unscheduled visit to the capital Skopje Sunday, had floated an idea of combining the current NATO force with a U.N. contingent, the government source said. But EU ministers agreed Sunday on the need for a NATO-led security force to stay on longer in the southern Balkan state.
They were addressing fears that ethnic score-settling could reignite war after the NATO troops leave. "We all insisted on the need to avoid a security vacuum when NATO withdraws. The option considered most realistic would be to deploy a 'NATO-plus' force based on the troops already on the ground," Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said. Meeting near Brussels, the ministers made no formal decision. The Macedonian government would have to request any new military presence and international institutions -- including the U.N. Security Council -- would be asked to endorse it. One EU minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the fact that a donors' conference for Macedonia was planned for October 15 should give the West leverage to persuade Skopje to accept a NATO-led force.
ARMS SURRENDERED NATO troops resumed collecting weapons from the National Liberation Army rebels Monday. It was the sixth round of weapons collecting in a 30-day mission to disarm the rebel National Liberation Army voluntarily in exchange for Macedonia's parliament passing constitutional changes benefiting minority Albanians. The changes are meant to decentralize power, allow more official use of the Albanian language and give ethnic Albanians jobs in public services, especially the police force, commensurate with their one-third share of the population.
Diplomats said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had proposed a smaller but robust NATO-led force with a U.N. mandate to protect international monitors whose presence would encourage the return of refugees to their homes. The force should be open to non-NATO countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and Finland, he said. Skopje would be more amenable to accepting a force including Russians or Ukrainians given their Slav Orthodox kinship with Macedonians, analysts say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and France's Jacques Chirac discussed the situation in Macedonia by telephone on Monday. The Kremlin said in a statement the two men had agreed to continue close cooperation on Macedonia "with the aim of preserving the Balkan country's stability, territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders." Diplomats said Fischer had warned of the risk of a "silent coalition of extremists" exploiting any protracted dispute over a future role for NATO to resume fighting.
Ethnic Albanians have called for weeks for deployment of a robust NATO-led security force after the guerrillas are disarmed, but Macedonians fear such a mandate would mutate into policing of a "Green Line" shielding a separatist rebel mini-state. "The biggest fear of the Macedonian side is that if the international military presence remains in Macedonia, the country, or at least part of it, may become an international protectorate," the Macedonian government source said.
RUSSIAN AND EVEN SERB TROOPS SHOULD BE SENT INTO MACEDONIA NOW!!!
The UCK, on the other hand, is a clandestine organization. The international force will prevent major action against the UCK, but will be on hand to condemn the "civilian" deaths when UCK terrorists are killed.
The spectacle of NATO and the European Union falling all over themselves to police British Macedonia and defend the Tetovo Republic from rogue Slavic elements thrills revolutionary cells across Europe. The weakness of the Western bullies that place profit over principle is apparent to all that seek their downfall. The new occupying force will demand Skopje yield to the wishes of Greater Albania -- as Macedonia bows down before their new masters.
That the Macedonian Parliament will renege on the Constitutional changes is a given now -- thus the Kosovo Liberation Army must once again take up arms to defend the Tetovo Republic. The Skopje government with no honour -- they are merely paid consorts awaiting Western "aid" that will never come.
"Donor conference" -- does anybody but Slavs ever fall for that old scam anymore?
In Tetovo there is a new problem. Armed Slavic thugs roam the streets in uniform claiming to be policemen. How could these animals be police officers?
They are merely Macedonian intelligence assets attempting to destabilise the legitimate sovereign state of the Tetovo Republic. As such they will no doubt be liquidated per the instructions of the mysterious American commander known only as the "Ghost." These intelligence agents seek to map the defences of Tetovo under the guise of "maintaining order."
No one believes these Slavic lies. When the modern day Night of the Long Knives begins these Slavic thugs will wish they were anywhere but the capital of the Tetovo Republic.
It appears Skopje wants war -- and that is exactly what they will get. Best for the West to further humiliate Macedonia now -- so that Greece may be humbled more easily next summer. Soon the Albanian flag to fly proudly once more in Skopje...
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.
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