Posted on 11/08/2001 1:27:14 PM PST by Pericles
Thursday November 8 3:13 PM ET
lbanians Balk, Clouding Macedonia Peace Drive
By Mark Heinrich
SKOPJE (Reuters) - One of two main ethnic Albanian parties said on Thursday it would not vote for pivotal parts of Macedonia's reform package -- a last-minute snag in a peace plan plagued by delays that have aroused fresh tensions.
Parliament had been paralyzed by Macedonian nationalist objections and diversionary tactics for weeks before emergency European Union diplomacy that seemed to rescue the plan, easing concern that impatient ex-guerrillas might take up arms again.
But a week into the deliberations that are supposed to climax on Monday with an ``enabling proclamation,'' or formal ratification vote, in the presence of top EU peace sponsors, one side handed the other side an opening to block it.
The ethnic Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) said it would reject draft amendments to the constitution's preamble and clause on religious rights because their wording did not reflect what was enshrined in the August peace accord.
It dug in its heels even though parliament speaker Tojan Andov had served notice that he would not allow a final ratification vote unless at least two-thirds of the 25 minority Albanian deputies joined to endorse each of the 15 amendments.
``Constitutional changes are taking place at the request of Albanians, and I would not want to see the future constitution be the catalyst for new crises,'' he told reporters.
He felt that without overwhelming Albanian support in parliament, reforms would not command broad enough legitimacy among former guerrillas to head off another rebellion.
The overall two-thirds margin -- 81 votes -- needed to amend the constitution can be mustered alone by the two largest Macedonian parties and the ethnic Albanian DPA party who have grudgingly settled their differences over revisions.
Diplomats said the PDP, fishing for pre-election support from demobilized Albanian guerrillas, had given Andov an excuse to throttle parliament again, just when ratification looked assured, without drawing blame for it this time.
GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT
Andov, a nationalist hawk, had earlier stalled the reform debate by springing untenable conditions such as the immediate return of refugees and word on the fate of the missing, before scheduling the climactic vote under intense Western pressure.
On Wednesday, NATO won a belated government commitment to a broad, clear amnesty for guerrillas who have disbanded. But that breakthrough won't be enough to assuage the rebels if reforms are held up indefinitely in parliament.
Two weeks ago, EU diplomatic troubleshooters tweaked the language of the preamble and religion amendments to settle disputes between the two Macedonian ruling parties and the DPA.
In summer peace talks, the government had agreed to replace the preamble's reference to ``national state of the Macedonian people and...other nationalities'' with unspecified ``citizens'' to placate Albanians' demands for broad civic equality.
But the government backpedaled after a public backlash rooted in fears of lost sovereignty, given challenges to Macedonia's national identity by historically predatory neighbors and the Albanians' much higher birthrate.
EU diplomats intervened after President Boris Trajkovski declared the reforms would founder in parliament unless ``the Macedonian people'' retained first mention in the preamble.
The compromise reads: ``...The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian people, as well as citizens living within the borders who are part of the Albanian people, Turkish people, Vlach people, Serb people, Roma people and others...''
A rejig to the reform that equalizes denominational rights added Protestant and Jewish communities to the list, although each is microscopic compared with the numbers of Orthodox Macedonians and Muslim Albanians.
PDP leaders contended that both changes effectively re- entrenched Macedonians as the superior community and lumped Albanians back with much smaller groups.
EU diplomats said the changes were largely symbolic and that Albanians are already guaranteed sweeping improvements in power-sharing, employment and language rights.
If we can get him to tear himself away from prostituting himself for Visa, Viagra and "Down Boy" (your choice of) Pedophilia or Beastiality ... we might could have "Both Sides of the Aisle" Bob Dole to the rescue!
Bob Dole & Yugoslavia: Concurrent Resolution 150 and Other Puzzle Pieces
I'm certain the Albanians would listen to a man whose record speaks for itself with regard to his consistent and dogged devotion to their cause.
By 1986, Mr. Dole was already, I am told by sources on Capitol Hill, under "the spell" of his assistant, Ms. Mira Baratta, reputedly granddaughter of a Croat Ustashe (fascist) officer in World War II. Ms. Baratta, whom at least one Hill staffer refers to as "the Croatian Mata Hari," was singled out by Senator John Warner for praise in framing and helping in the passage of Senate bill S-21, of July 26, 1995, which sought to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia's Izetbegovic regime. Izetbegovic founded a fascist "Young Muslim" movement in Bosnia in 1940 and was jailed by the Tito regime in 1946 for four years for perpetrating hate crimes against Bosnia's Serbs. In 1949, his revived "Young Muslims" staged a revolt and committed substantial anti-Serb violence, for which he and three others narrowly escaped the death penalty.
Appears to be "with the program".
Parliament had been paralyzed by Macedonian nationalist objections and diversionary tactics for weeks...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if its the Albanians who are bloking the vote, why are the Mak's at "fault" here for paralyzing the 'peace process'. Indeed, why is requesting ta 2/3 vote unreasonable if the constitution requires a 2/3 vote to pass an amendment???
BTW, "Andov, a nationalist hawk, had earlier stalled the reform debate by springing untenable conditions such as the immediate return of refugees and word on the fate of the missing..." Aren't these the some of the same conditions demanded by NATO of Milosevic during the Kosovo war?
Has anyone bothered to collect Albania's reactions to the 9/11 war on terrorism?
Seems they'd have had to say something in public.
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