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THU, 18 OCT 2001 09:32:31 GMT
PRESS REVIEW Sep. 29 - Oct. 5, 2001PRESS IN BELGRADE PRESS IN TIRANA PRESS IN ZAGREB PRESS IN PRISTINA PRESS IN LJUBLJANA PRESS IN SARAJEVO PRESS IN BANJA LUKA PRESS IN SKOPJE PRESS IN SOFIA
PRESS IN BELGRADE
GLAS, Sep. 30, 2001
CRIME AMONG CUSTOMS OFFICIALS
Customs officials are poorly paid, badly equipped and liable to bribery;
they have problems dealing with criminals
Investigations of experts show that customs officials in our country are
still at the very top when corruption is concerned and that in the past
year nothing has essentially changed. In customs administration both in
Serbia and in Montenegro there is organised corruption, these
institutions are swarming with people who were engaged in "patriotic"
deals during the reign of the former regime in which small smugglers
were prosecuted, but not those who smuggled plane- and truckloads of
goods. (...)
Nebojsa Medojevic, analyst from Montenegro, says that 1992 sanctions
opened the door to corruption and crime, that the legal system was
suspended in which not everybody who violated the law was necessarily a
criminal. Nowadays customs administration is not equipped to fight
well-organised smugglers.
(.) In the past few years about 1600 persons were employed by the
Customs Administration without any checking, with 350 of them just from
Kertes' (former head of Federal Customs Administration, close to
Slobodan Milosevic) hometown. There are cooks and tinsmiths among them,
and who knows who else, drug addicts even, and they cannot be sacked
because they are protected by the law, as director of Customs
Administration, Vladan Begovic, says complaining that recently he was
forced to take 150 of them back to work. (...)
M. Dapcevic
--- up ---
POLITIKA, Oct. 1, 2001
Branislav Krstic, member of Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija
OFFERED HAND
(...) "I wouldn't interpret participation in the elections as the choice
of a lesser of two evils. After the session of the Security Council
where Mr. Covic stated the known stands and where for the first time the
statement of Serbia and FRY were greeted with approval, not just
formally but as appreciation of a more effective approach, it should be
estimated - not what is the lesser evil, but what is more valuable for
future relations with UNMIK and KFOR in Kosmet (Kosovo and Metohija).
Therefore, I support the main stream of Covic's statement, and that is
that Serbia, or FRY, must make an agreement with the UN mission in
Kosmet which would institutionalise the cooperation between UNMIK and
Serbia. (...) I think that the hand offered", says Prof. Krstic, "by one
party should meet the offered hand of the other. Both parties must build
mutual confidence. Two bridges are near at hand. First, the EU and the
USA should ensure that Serbia and UNMIK work out an agreement on
institutionalisation of cooperation between their bodies in all relevant
fields... Second, UNMIK should make, with the Coordination Centre, a
non-discriminatory plan of return of the Serbs to Kosovo which in the
course of this and next year should not involve a smaller number of
returnees than the one that express readiness to return, but not
dispersed into ghettoes for the Serbs. This would finally begin to turn
the stand on multi-ethnic Kosovo into reality. I believe that these are
two very quickly feasible assumptions for the participation of the Serb
community in the elections". (...)
Stana Ristic
--- up ---
NIN, Oct. 4, 2001
Marek Antoni Novicki, Ombudsman in Kosmet
BIG EXPERIMENT
Kosovo is the territory with the largest number of problems per square
metre in the world
(...) A month ago Novicki stated that there are no conditions for the
forthcoming elections in Kosovo to be democratic. "I can't imagine what
kind of democracy that would be if the voters would have to come to vote
escorted by KFOR". If he cannot, many can. The elections are not at all
questioned in the world, and even in Serbia the possibility of the Serbs
voting in these elections is increasingly mentioned.
"I still think that the situation concerning conditions for free and
democratic elections is still quite far from satisfactory if compared
with other countries. The Serbs have no freedom of movement, they live
isolated in enclaves... For example, it is difficult to carry out the
election campaign over here. From that point of view the situation is
far from being appropriate for elections. At the same time, the question
of the elections is a political question and the Serbs should decide
what they should do. Participation in the elections is presented to them
as an important step towards the improvement of conditions in which they
live. The following question arises: what comes first? Improvement of
living conditions and then elections, or do elections improve living
conditions? This is an enormous dilemma and I can tell you that I am
very happy I am not in the shoes of Serb politicians at this moment".
(...)
Slobodan Reljic
--- up ---
VREME, Oct. 4, 2001
Donations and Local Specific Qualities
POLITICKING OR MONEY
When a mild lowlander like federal deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus
becomes upset and seeks relief in talking to journalists, everybody who
is objective would become seriously alarmed, especially when one knows
that irritated Labus spoke about foreign aid to Yugoslavia.
It seems that it is not such a big problem that aid is not arriving in
the promised and desired quantities, the problem is, as the deputy prime
minister himself says, that "it seems that after persuading the
foreigners to give us aid, I have to convince the people in the country
to accept that money, and I seem to be much more successful with the
foreigners".
(...) There were no major problems with that until spring 2001, because
it was quite clear that without foreign donations there would have been
no electricity and heating. However, as soon as the trees turned green,
local politicians started adding to the history of human stupidity new
products "Made in Serbia". In April we made our Orthodox brethren, the
Greeks, angry because the contract on donation of 80 million dollars
signed by all the relevant Greek authorities remained for weeks
forgotten in some drawer in the Republican government. The Greeks
wondered: do you people need aid at all? (...)
In other words, donor countries do not wish to waste more time with our
local political circus. And that it is a circus that is for sure. The
federal assembly took a whole month to ratify the already approved aid
of the World Bank of 30 million dollars... A session of the Chamber of
the Citizens was interrupted for a fortnight until DOS and SNP reached
an agreement on the vote of depriving some deputies of immunity. The
last drop that spilt Labus's cup was Vojislav Seselj's statement in
which he criticised the federal government for abusing the possibility
of passing laws in an emergency procedure. (...)
N. Petrovic
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PRESS IN TIRANA
ALBANIA, Sep. 30, 2001
AMERICA'S ANTITERRORIST COALITION
And while Moscow claims that Muslim terrorism is a threat to Russia,
too, it will use this as a smokescreen for its campaign against
independence of Central Asia, Caucasus, presenting it as the struggle
against fundamentalism and terrorism. For instance, the resistance
movement of Chechnya is repeatedly compared with the Talibans and it is
claimed that Osama bin Laden has training camps on the territory of
Chechnya. Such allegations can be expanded to refer to Georgia,
Azerbaijan and other states opposed to Russian domination.
Washington should make it clear that struggle against international
terrorism is not a campaign against movements for national liberation
and cannot be used as a pretext for brutal attacks against civilians
like the ones carried out by Moscow in Chechnya. The White House should
get exact information on the nature of terrorist threat from Russian
services, especially because Moscow itself assisted in training many
terrorist groups of the Middle East after dissolution of the Soviet
Union.
Janusz Bugajski
--- up ---
SHEKULLI, Oct. 5, 2001
MACEDONIAN QUIXOTISM
The game in Skopje about the political process of resolving the crisis
resembles a specific absurdity theater in which the main role is played
by a certain group of Macedonian Slav officials who do not know what to
do with the signed peace agreement. The obligations taken in the
presence of Solana and Robertson still seem to "burn" in the minds of
the political class which still cherishes the illusion that it can
resolve the crisis with the Albanians on its own, by harsh means.
This still living hope seems to cause an even worse bad conscience of
Georgijevski, Trajkovski and other officials in Skopje. Instead to give
a simple answer to the question whether they were in favour of passing
constitutional amendments in the Assembly, whether they were in favour
of amnesty for the combatants of PLA (People's Liberation Army) and
other articles of the peace plan, the officials of Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are trying to bet on the card of violence. At this
moment this is very tragicomical when everybody knows that the military
machinery of the neighbouring country failed in the hills around Skopje
and Tetovo in the conflict with a few thousand persons armed only with
side arms. Macedonia cannot resolve the crisis in its home on its own.
Least of all by force, that is, by police and military presence in the
zone of conflict.
It seems that such moves are aimed more at aggravating rather than at
definitely sabotaging the process which is greatly sponsored by the USA
and Europe. Georgijevski and the people that back him know only too well
that they are just observers and not protagonists in the crisis that is
monitored, administered and guaranteed by international diplomatic and
military presence. Every attempt to deviate from this simple logic the
peace process has entered sounds more like some Balkan Quixotism than as
Macedonian Slav heroism.
Ilir Kamenica
--- up ---
SHEKULLI, Oct. 2, 2001
WHAT DID MR. BUCKOVSKI SPEAK ABOUT?
After the rash visit of Buckovski to Tirana, one delicate question
remained in the dark - the question of monitoring the presence of
"terrorists" camps and training grounds on our territory. The statement
issued after the meeting with Majko it was not quite clear whether the
Macedonians have aspirations to participate in the monitoring mission or
simply support the initiative of international institutions in this
direction. Albania has always declared that it accepts international
monitoring in connection with the allegation of Mr. Buckovski concerning
the alleged camps of PLA combatants in the north of Albania. But this
monitoring can be carried out only by international agencies which are
already operating in the mentioned zone for some time. Should
representatives of Skopje join such a mission it would be a dangerous
precedent in bilateral and in regional relations.
Because accordingly we too could be entitled to demand at a certain
moment, for instance, monitoring of the application of international
standards of human rights on the territory of FYROM. And it is not very
likely that Mr. Buckovski and Macedonian government would agree to such
a demand. The day before yesterday in Tirana we witnessed an attempt of
a minister of a neighbouring country to make a show. We should be ready
to answer in time and with necessary language to such new attempts
perhaps by rejecting them at the very start, in order to avoid possible
reactions of the Albanian community that lives in Macedonia that
suffered a great deal from punitive operations of Mr. Buckovski.
--- up ---
PRESS IN ZAGREB
NACIONAL, Oct. 2, 2001
CROATIAN SPIES TRIED TO INFLITRATE INTO BIN LADEN'S ORGANISATIONS
In the end of the nineties with their "Lightning" operation Croatian
intelligence services in cooperation with HIS branches in Sarajevo and
Mostar and National Security Service of the Croat entity in B&H tried to
infiltrate into the ranks of Islamic humanitarian organisations Al
Muwafaq and Al Haramain which are linked with the nowadays most wanted
terrorist, Osama bin Laden, Nacional weekly learns. According to western
intelligence sources the mentioned humanitarian organisations were,
among other, involved in the training and logistic support of mujahadeen
in Bosnia and in Kosovo, and for several years they have had seats in
Croatia. The operation plans that include the attempt to recruit the
employees of the mentioned humanitarian organisations in order to
infiltrate them into bin Laden's organisations, were made in Zagreb and
Mostar. (...)
Eduard Sostaric
--- up ---
NOVI LIST, Oct. 4, 2001
IN OPERATION "PURGATORY 1" MUP BREAKS A PEDOPHILIAC CHAIN INVOLVING
MORE THAN 50 PERSONS
In its operation "Purgatory 1", the first of the kind in Croatia and one
of the greatest in Europe and the world, Ministry of Internal Affairs
(MUP) investigated 50 persons and in the search of their apartments and
premises confiscated 50 personal computers, 374 CDs, 1331 floppy disks
and 163 video casettes with children pornography. (...) Nobody has been
arrested yet because this is just the first phase of the operation. In
the second phase, policemen will check the confiscated objects,
computers included, and make an analysis of the content, and after that
charges will be raised. (...) According to the available data, there are
a few ten persons under age on the confiscated material, but this is
taken with caution by MUP employees, believing that this number will be
bigger. (...) In the past five years Croatian police registered 79 acts
that include children pornography.
Sergej Abramov
--- up ---
JUTARNJI LIST, Oct. 6, 2001
TO SPLIT IN THREE HOURS, THREE YEARS AND THREE BILLION MARKS
"In preparation of the next session of the government in Split we made a
survey from the air of the whole marked route of the highway that will
connect Dalmatia with northern Croatia", said Prime Minister Ivica Racan
yesterday in front of the entrance of St. Rok tunnel in the Velebit
where he was with minister Bozo Kovacevic, Radimir Cacic and Alojz
Tusek. At the session of the government, according to Prime Minister's
words, a strategic decision should be reached to build the highway in
three instead of the planned six years. He also said that when
completed, it would enable covering of the distance from Zagreb to
Dugopolje near Split in just three hours and to Zadar in just two hours.
This project is seriously planned by the government in the past two
months and it is worth three billion marks as the Prime Minister
announced, although it is still hard to say anything about the sources
of financing. (...) All preparations must be completed by spring next
year, Prime Minister added, and then work will be done along the whole
length of the highway which is the only way it cab completed in such a
short time. According to the promise of the Prime Minister, the
Government will take the responsibility for the realisation of the
project of the highway. (...)
D. Mijatovic
--- up ---
PRESS IN PRISTINA
ZERI, Sep. 29, 2001
COVIC: 1001 EPISODES
"Until we square accounts with Albanian violence and terrorism, the
region of South Eastern Europe will not have peace".
This is the statement of, who else but Nebojsa Covic, nowadays certainly
the main mouthpiece of the nonsense of Serbian regime and the main
Serbian coordinator for Kosovo. Moreover, Covic announces terrorist
attacks of about 100 Albanians in Belgrade motivated by creation of
Greater Albania. According to Covic the Albanians have already started
southward from Belgrade in their intention to create "Greater Albania".
If they followed his logic and that of many other Serb politicians, the
Albanians could demand that whole Serbia be annexed to Kosovo. It is
known that at the time of dissolution of former Yugoslavia Serb
politicians claimed: wherever there are Serb graves, that is Serbia.
When one knows that there are mass graves all over Serbia, Albanian
politicians could claim: wherever there are Albanian graves, that is
Kosovo.
But despite numerous problems the Kosovars are trying to be logical.
Human logic cannot but wonder: Where did Covic get the political courage
and moral credibility to speak in this way of Kosovo and the Albanians,
main victims together with the Bosniacs, of the Serb regime in the past
ten years? And the other question is: If Covic who is allegedly a
representative of a modern Serb trend talks and reflects in this way,
what do other representatives of the Serb regime say and think?
Blerim Shala
--- up ---
KOHA DITORE, Oct. 5, 2001
WHY ARE MACEDONIAN LEADERS FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF TALIBANS'
RESISTANCE
Some Macedonian leaders are engrossed by the desire to offer resistance
at the moment when the international community is combining pressure and
appeals to them in order to make them meet their obligations to
introduce changes in Macedonia. We believed that we have seen the last
case of this desire in the case of Milosevic, and nowadays we see it,
apart from in Macedonia, in the case of the Talibans' regime which sees
everything that is coming from without as a threat to its people.
Ljupco Georgijevski and Stojan Andov act similarly as the spiritual
leader of the Talibans Mula Omar Mohammed, and Macedonian
parliamentarians act as Islamic religious leaders in Afghanistan who
come down from the hills just in order to reject the demands of the
international community and make accusations against the Americans. It
is impossible to find any other explanation for the resistance of the
Macedonians to meet their part of the obligations resulting from the
Agreement they had accepted, or for the accusations they are addressing
to American envoy James Pardew.
Macedonian officials did their best although to no avail and used much
of their energy to convince the world that there are connections between
the Albanians and the Talibans, but the failure to declare a national
day of mourning in Macedonia because of American victims and the
previous attacks on American embassy in Skopje and against NATO troops,
as well as the rejection of the demand for introducing changes actually
puts Macedonian officials in the position of mental allies of the
Talibans.
Augustin Palokaj
--- up ---
PRESS IN LJUBLJANA
DELO, Oct. 5, 2001
A BIG CHALLENGE FOR THE SMALL ONES
"The summit meeting of the presidents and prime ministers of NATO
countries in Prague, where the heads of the North-Atlantic alliance will
decide on the continuation of its expansion initiated three years ago,
will be held in about a year. However, the situation the world is in
after "the black September 11" is so uncertain and unpredictable that it
is impossible to claim even that the summit conference will be held, and
even if it will - whether the topic will be expansion of the alliance.
Such an uncertain future, despite different allegations of some high
NATO officials... is causing concern of ten candidate states for NATO
membership from Central and Eastern Europe... Even such a variegated
group of states (from the Baltic to the Balkan ones) although it has had
meetings for more than a year for a single common goal - membership in
the NATO - is most probably aware that priorities of the alliance may
change overnight. That is why at the meeting of foreign ministers of
this group in Bled, the warning of Estonia's minister Toomas Hendrik
Ilves sounded as most appropriate when he said that after the terrorist
attacks on the USA they "must not be obsessed by the expansion, but they
must intensively prepare for the struggle against terrorism".
Veso Stojanov
--- up ---
SLOVENSKA PANORAMA, SLAV PANORAMA Sep. 27, 2001
BOOMERANG
A proof that NATO and terrorism are linked can be found in the fact that
the forces America classified among terrorists had become its instrument
in Kosovo and in Macedonia. But at the time it was necessary to conceal
this fact. Formation of the Protection Corps in Kosovo from the ranks of
former terrorists as well as nomination of their commander for the
leader of this corps speaks in itself what the truth actually is.
Concerning what is going on in Macedonia and Kosovo and the dilemma
where terrorism has struck from raises the question how the West could
have made such a crucial mistake when it branded as war criminals those
who could have been its best friends, while it supported all those, like
bin Laden, who have betrayed it. In the background we feel the old
prejudice that the West is threatened by the Russian bear.
Even ancient Greeks feared the mysterious North and hyperborean winds.
However, they were not destroyed by the North, but by Rome! Two
prominent American strategic analysts, Kisinger and Bzezhinsky were
tricked by a similar prejudice. Taking possession of the oil from
Caucasus was quite certainly part of their plans. And that is the reason
why dissolution of Yugoslavia did not end with the developments from the
first years of the nineties, but still goes on nowadays when Macedonia's
turn has come. Because those who are planning oil policy are also
planning to transport oil across the Balkans, Bulgaria, Macedonia and
Albania. The support to terrorism was one of the instruments in
realisation of this plan".
Dr. Jurij ZALOKAR
--- up ---
PRESS IN SARAJEVO
DNEVNI AVAZ, Oct. 03, 2001
NEW ELEMENTS OF TOBACCO SCANDAL
The Army of Yugoslavia claims that Montenegro is still smuggling
cigarettes. From the Port of Bar cigarettes are distributed to illegal
markets of B&H, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Italy and Albania.
At the demand of the Commission charged to investigate the allegations
of Zagreb Nacional journal on cigarette smuggling on the territory of
Montenegro, the General Staff of the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ) sent an
information to Montenegrin parliament claiming that smuggling was still
flourishing in that Republic.
As characteristic channels, the information lists unofficial border
crossing between FRY and Croatia Debeli Brijeg, the Port of Bar and the
Skadar lake. The port of Bar, according to what VJ claims, is the main
point for the delivery and further distribution of smuggled cigarettes.
Cigarettes are distributed from there to illegal markets of Montenegro,
Kosovo, B&H, Croatia, Serbia, Italy and Albania, it is stated in the
letter coming from the office of the head of General Staff. In the end
of the letter the generals claim that "most of the transit and cigarette
smuggling takes place via official border crossings inaccessible to
members of VJ".
Yugoslav Flight Control Administration also sent its data to the
assembly commission.
"In the period between December 1995 and May 1998 there were the total
of 433 cargo landings at Podgorica airport. These were flights on which
cigarettes were transported", it is stated in the letter. According to
this finding, majority of the airplanes were of the types Ilyshin 76 and
Antonov 12 that arrived mostly from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,
Russia and Romania. (.)
S. RADONCIC
--- up ---
OSLOBODJENJE, Oct 4, 2001
TRADE AGREEMENT SIGNED IN ZENICA
Free import into Slovenia as of January 1, 2002. The contract will cease
to be in force when Slovenia enters the EU. At ZEPS fair the contract on
free trade between Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Republic of Slovenia was
signed.
In the promotion hall of the fair the contract was signed by Dr. Azra
Hadziahmetovic, minister of foreign trade and economic relations of
Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Dr. Tea Petrin, minister of the economy of the
Republic of Slovenia, who was accompanied by Vojko Kuzma, charge
d'affaires in the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in B&H, and
president of the Chamber of the Economy of Slovenia Joska Cuka. "I
expect the agreement to contribute to the improvement of very good
economic relations between Slovenia and B&H. This is the first agreement
with which Slovenia completely liberalised the trade of agricultural and
industrial products.
Slovenia is opening its market to all agricultural and industrial
products as of January 2002 when the agreement will come into force. At
the same time the customs duties for the products Slovenia will be
exporting to B&H, as well as other dues will gradually be reduced",
declared Tea Petrin after signing of the contract. (.) The main part of
the contract on free trade are the modes and the plan of liberalisation
of free trade of agricultural and industrial products.
On the day the contract comes into force - January 1, 2002, Slovenia
will completely abolish customs duties for imported agricultural and
industrial products originating from B&H. Bosnia & Herzegovina will
gradually reduce the customs duties for import of these products: on
January 1, 2002 to 70 per cent of their value, on January 1, 2003 to 50
per cent, on January 1, 2004 to 30 per cent of their value and on
January 2005 the remaining customs duties will be abolished. When
Slovenia becomes a member of the EU the contract on free trade with B&H
will cease to be in force. (.)
E. BESLIC
--- up ---
OSLOBODJENJE, Oct. 2, 2001
INTERSTATE CONTRACTS ON SOCIAL INSURANCE
Because of slow administration thousands of B&H citizens deprived of the
right to insurance
Six years after Dayton not a single interstate contract between B&H and
other countries on social insurance has been implemented yet.
Not a single interstate contract on social insurance is implemented in
Bosnia not even six years after signing of the peace agreement. Only two
have been signed, with Croatia and Austria. (.) According to the
announcement from B&H Presidency, an agreement between B&H and FR
Yugoslavia will soon be signed. For the time being not even those who
worked in B&H but are living in a neighbouring state receive their
pensions. This question is expected to be solved as a priority issue.
The contract on social insurance between B&H and Slovenia was discussed
a year ago. It was planned to restart negotiations about this document.
This did not happen because of the change of the agency in B&H
authorised to negotiate.
Ministry of civilian affairs which is in charge now is not ready for
negotiations yet, so they were called off twice already. (.) Especially
worth mentioning is the contract on reciprocity in payment pensions with
neighbouring Croatia pursuant which more than 20 thousand users receive
their pensions. Not even such contracts have been signed with all the
countries of the former joint state. For example, the negotiations with
Macedonia that began back in 1998 are still waiting to be continued.
B.AHMETASEVIC
--- up ---
PRESS IN BANJA LUKA
NEZAVISNE NOVINE, Oct. 1, 2001
BOSNIAN HEAVEN AND HELL
A group of 70 followers of Osama bin Laden are preparing to leave
Afghanistan and come to Bosnia & Herzegovina in order to avoid possible
retaliation of the United States of America because of the attack
against New York and Washington", declared federal minister of internal
affairs of B&H Muhamed Besic, which was carried as the lead story by
practically all the media on the territory of former Yugoslavia.
For at least two reasons it seems almost unbelievable that 70 Afghan
followers of Osama bin Laden have decided to come to B&H. First, such an
attempt would not have remained unregistered by intelligence channels
such as CIA or any other spy organisation and, finally, 70 people are
not 70 marbles whose arrival would pass unnoticed.
Josip Blazevic
--- up ---
NEZAVISNE NOVINE, Oct. 4, 2001
LOANS TO GREY ECONOMY
Joseph Ingram, head of the World Bank's mission in B&H believes that
statistical datum on the unemployment rate in our country of 40 per cent
is quite questionable and claims that it is much lower. The World Bank
and other international institutions are helping eight loan institutions
in B&H which have extended 100 thousand loans to the citizens in the
past five years and opened just as many jobs. Mr. Ingram stresses the
estimate that 95 per cent of the users of these loans have started an
irregular business activity and that they do not pay taxes to the state.
The conclusion would be that the World Bank and other financial
institutions are directly assisting gray economy in Bosnia &
Herzegovina.
Samir Kahroviĉ
--- up ---
NEZAVISNE NOVINE, Oct. 5, 2001
PERSONNEL POLICY
It is difficult to be a manager, and it is even more difficult not to
be. With these words an experienced managers from Banja Luka, explained
the situation managers are in. Small battles are fought for some
managers' posts.
It should be said that battles are fought for the posts in enterprises
that are said to be "sound", and the most prominent fighters are mostly
politicians. The developments in oil refinery in Modrica are becoming a
typical example of such a battle.
Prof. dr Rajko Tomas
--- up ---
NEZAVISNE NOVINE, Oct. 6-7, 2001
TALIBAN POLICY - THE ASSEMBLY OF MAJORITY
Prime Minister Ivanic should finally become aware of the fact that in
his Government there is a parallel mechanism of the executive
authorities designed in Kalinic's office and who knows in whose mind,
which is organised as a network of deputies and assistant ministers who
have gone so far in undermining the Prime Minister that they even forge
the signature of ministers.
Branko Peric
--- up ---
PRESS IN SKOPJE
DNEVNIK, Oct. 6, 2001
MOGUĈA MISIJA
It should be clear to everybody that Europe has no intention to turn a
blind eye to Macedonia's evading implementation of the peace agreement
signed in Ohrid almost two months ago. There are several reasons for the
"nervousness" in Brussels, although it should be clear that over there
they are not too concerned by the nervousness in Macedonia. Therefore it
would be logical to start looking upon the issues from Europe's angle,
in other words, to speed up the process and be pragmatic. It not, we
will have "Serb winter".
The explanation of Macedonian politicians that we have experienced
Kosovoisation, that we were attacked by Kosovo which is under
protectorate, was not a strong argument for the attack of the EU and the
USA. Now that we have reached this point of the crisis and when there
are big chances for peace, we should keep in mind that Europe and the
USA have problems with Osama bin Laden and that Macedonia is not in the
focus of their interest any more. That is why they are in a hurry to
resolve the crisis in the country. The fact that the "disbanded"
National Liberation Army has firm connections with Islamic
fundamentalists (this cannot be denied by anyone) can be our big credit
for the future if the war flares up again and with it the aspirations to
divide Macedonia, I do not believe that we will be left in the lurch
with firm arguments on the table.
At this moment the "unbearable European nervousness" (in Skopje Solana
acts as if walking barefoot across burning coal) is hanging over our
heads as the sword of Damocles. We have already started to pay the price
for that when the donors' conference for Macedonia was postponed for an
indefinite time. Europe and the USA most probably could not have assumed
that the public debate on Constitutional amendments would drag on
forever and believed that "everything will quickly be resolved in the
Assembly". They seem to be forgetting what it is like in Western
democracies. They have also probably forgotten our negative experience
when the amendments of the Constitution were passed after signing of the
agreement with Greece on the name of the state. At the time the
parliament completed the work, and now they find it strange why a
referendum is demanded. In an informal conversation, a western diplomat
told me "we will accept even the referendum, but..." This "but" is the
stick that has already started to hit us on the head. Financial aid was
interrupted, and if we carry on like this, harsher sanctions will
follow, and they will impose an embargo on arms and oil, too. There is a
new Yugoslavia in the region, but who will be the new Milosevic? We must
avoid that scenario.
Hristo Ivanovski
--- up ---
UTRINSKI VESNIK, Oct. 6, 2001
PARADA BO(c)KOVSKOG KAO GAF
Since it was not escorted by international observers the police did not
manage to enter the crisis stricken region. Although some may be
surprised, for many it is quite clear why the operation ended in
disgrace. Contrary to all agreements, signatures and taken obligations
to stick to the deadlines and sequence of moves in the peace process and
complementarity and coordination of the actions of Macedonian security
forces and foreign missions and monitoring, Minister Boskovski has
decided to play solo.
Whether on his own initiative or by dictate and according to the
scenario of his superiors, it does not matter, what matters is that he
has got off the track again which everybody of any importance in
Macedonia and in Europe had tried for months to keep him on. But, this
solo of his like a few previous ones ended in a fiasco. On the other
hand the Ministry of Internal Affairs tried to express surprise in its
statement, explaining that the operation had been temporarily
interrupted for unknown reasons. Although it should have been clear to
them why they were confronted by a wall of distrust of the local
Albanian population at the moment when mutual confidence should
gradually be restored.
Another Boskovski's bravado ended as a gaffe. This was expected, because
it was known in advance that the police has no chance to enter the
crisis stricken villages especially at the moment when amnesty and
Constitutional amendments are expected, without provoking the reaction
of the Albanian population. Especially because his announcement of the
previous day was the following: "We are going and if OSCE and EU do not
wish to go with us, it's their problem". But it turned out that it was
also the problem of the MUP and Boskovski and not just of the monitors.
This was obvious from the reactions of European diplomats in Skopje and
the unprecedented pressure they exerted on President Trajkovski and
other state officials and finally police patrols withdrew. It is openly
and without any diplomatic restraint demanded that Trajkovski pacify the
head policeman in the state, since some new idea of his may cause a
serious interruption of the peace process, or what is even more terrible
a new drawing of Macedonia into a war or the twilight zone.
Sasko Dimevski
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LOBI, Oct. 1, 2001
FAREWELL TO ARMS
The curvy road leading from Tetovo to Sipkovica and then all the way to
the interior of the village constantly keeps narrowing so that it is
difficult for a single vehicle and a man to pass by each other. On
Thursday afternoon the people who had just come out of the mosque stood
up when a "Jeep" carrying Sali Ahmeti passed in front of them, while an
axe was heard in the hands of a young man who was cutting wood for the
winter. And at the end of the village, in the premises of the elementary
school in the presence of three of his associates, the political leader
of the People's Liberation Army stated the decision (un)expected by
many: "Last night at 24.00 hours, PLA was disbanded and all its soldiers
are the citizens of this state".
This decision followed the month-long operation of NATO called
"Essential Harvest" during which members of PLA voluntarily handed in
3875 pieces of arms of various calibres, including four tanks and
armoured vehicles, 17 antiaircraft defence systems and about 400
thousand explosive devices and various ammunition. The commander of this
NATO mission, in his statement for the public on Wednesday, said that he
believed that these figures are the true military capacity of PLA:
"Not a single organisation would hand in so many pieces of high-quality
arms if it were not completely devoted to peace", he said. It seems that
Ali Ahmeti himself, by now already former political leader of former
PLA, supports such an assessment. In his statement for Lobi he is very
clear - he says that Ohrid agreement, although a compromise still meets
the ten-year old demands of the Albanians in Macedonia.
"We have not entered this to remain a parallel army in this state. We
did it in order to ensure better status for the Albanians, so that the
decision we have reached we reached without grievance because we are
aware that we have achieved our goal", Ali Ahmeti claims. General Gezim
Ostreni, head of the Main Staff, speaks along these lines. The decision
to disband PLA, he admits, was not difficult. "Since the objective of
the war had been achieved, I say that it was not difficult. The
objective of the war had been achieved: I think that we have achieved
what the Albanian people had tried to achieve in Macedonia - equality
with the Albanian people and that is why arms are losing their role".
And while the Albanian party, political and military, strongly supported
the peace process, the Macedonian party is on the move now. The attempt
to "take the edge off" this document (read: Constitutional amendments,
but also amnesty of Albanian guerilla warriors) in the labyrinth of the
so-called parliamentary procedure, just weaken its credibility in the
eyes of the international community. It is increasingly becoming aware
who is cheating it, now that the Framework Agreement was signed by four
major Macedonian and Albanian political parties, has the blessing of
President Trajkovski, but also guarantees of the international European
and American protagonists, NATO inclusive. On Tuesday at the camp of
German soldiers in Jerebina near Tetovo Secretary General of the
alliance Lord Robertson pointed his finger at the parliament asking that
the peace process be implemented to the end by passing Constitutional
amendments, and in connection with the manoeuvres of the Macedonian
party concerning these amendments and amnesty, he was very clear: "If
the political process in the parliament is not successful, the country
will sink into civil war".
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PRESS IN SOFIA
SEGA, Oct. 1, 2001
MACEDONIA AFTER THE "HARVEST"
... For the time being Albanian "extremists" (according to Reuters and
the Council of Europe they are not "terrorists") are demonstrating good
behavior. In fact they are panic-stricken that after the assassination
in the USA the West could change its attitude towards them, so they are
pretending to be reasonable and constructive. The latest news last week
was that the KLA had been disbanded. Whoever wishes may believe this is
true. In any case, when this was made public, for the first time they
made the effort to put on civilian clothes instead of uniforms. After
negotiations it was decided what the new NATO mission after the
"harvest" would be like. Skopje demanded that the mission have less
personnel and that its mandate be shorter, because it is trying to make
use of the situation and restore control of government forces in regions
KLA already considers its own. Skopje fears that a large NATO mission
would take away the police function of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and practically cement the division of the state.
What will happen next? The West cannot afford the luxury to have another
civil war break out. The pressure on Skopje and the leadership of
Liberation People's Army to carry out the agreement reached in Ohrid
will be very strong. The government in Skopje has been given a chance to
save the unity of the state and it must not be missed. Liberation
People's Army will be the loser unless it evolves in the direction of a
responsible political force. There are certain indications in this sense
- the objective is to have the new political party run in parliamentary
elections in Macedonia and overshadow the two existing political parties
of ethnic Albanians. A big problem will be when next parliamentary
elections will take place. The role of Bulgaria which was quite markedly
passive in the past months, will not be very big. Our country will be
appealing on the West to be more generous towards Macedonia and the
region. However, this will hardly move the investors. They do not like
at all to make experiments in risky zones.
Georgi Gotev
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TRUD, Oct. 03, 2001
IMPLICATION OF BULGARIANS
Macedonian media have implicated a Bulgarian company into the curious
business deal in connection with which the name of "certain Ljube
Boskovki" is mentioned. Accidentally the name of that "certain" person
coincides with the name of the minister of internal affairs in Skopje.
Also accidentally, "brother Ljube", as he is known "on the banks of the
Vardar", is close to Prime Minister Ljupco Georgijevski. And that very
same Prime Minister of Macedonia has taken Bulgarian-Macedonian
relations out of deep-freezer. The question is why has somebody in
Croatia chosen this moment to begin sending fax messages to newspapers
in Macedonia and Sofia. (...) "...at the moment when the world is
setting out to battle against terrorism, suddenly 'Bulgarian trail is
revealed in rice export'". Let the Macedonians try to cure their own
hangover because of "Albanian intoxication", because their problems are
not ours. All we can do is help them.
Plamen Jotinski
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REPUBLIKA, Oct. 2, 2001
HEAD OF NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE SELLS SECRETS
Head of National Security Service, general Atanas Atanasov, is getting
ready to sell top secret information on channels of narcotics on the
territory of Bulgaria to Albanian mafia for millions of dollars,
Republika learns from a high counter-intelligence source. The interest
of the Albanians is the result of the pressure exerted on them by the
USA because of Afghanistan, the same source assumes. As Republika
claims, a few days ago the general demanded to be given all active files
the service was keeping records on. It was to be done in less than 24
hours, but half of the heads of departments refused to provide the files
because they were not given orders in writing.
Ivan Prvanov
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DNEVNIK, Oct. 3, 2001
JOHN MANNERY TAKING OVER DUTY IN MACEDONIAN TELECOM
John Mannery, who was until recently the manager of MOBIKOM, will be the
new executive director of Macedonian company for telecommunications
MAKTEL. Last summer he submitted resignation to the post of the manager
of the first mobile phone operator in Bulgaria, after seven years spent
at the post. In December last year Macedonian Government published a
call for tenders for the sale of 51 per cent of the capital of
Macedonian company and the only GSM operator. Stonebridge Consortium got
the job. The members of the consortium are MATAB (Hungarian
telecommunications company) with 86.5 per cent, SEEF (Southeast Europe
Equity Fund) with 6.1 per cent, and KOSMOTELCO (Greek company) with 7.4
per cent.
Kamen Kirilov, Svetlana Nenova
end
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