Det finnes både makedonere og albanere som vil dele Makedonia etter vel-
kjent etnisk "renvaskelses"mønster. Og det finnes dem på begge sider som
ikke vil (se under). Er den etniske "renvaskelsen" historisk progressiv? Jeg
tillater meg å tvile, og håper faktisk å få lov til det uten å bli slått i
hartkorn med mordere og nazister av den grunn. Det er vel snarere slik at de
som fremmer den etniske "løsningen" iallfall tar en rekke menneskelige
omkostninger inn i en uviss framtid temmelig lett. Se på Midtøsten. Kypros.
I Jugoslavia gikk den etniske prosessen mot "endelige løsninger" i gang
framprovosert av Milosevitjs etnofascistiske bander som skulle sikre hans
maktbase og ble villig grepet av Tudjman som en anledning til å sikre sitt
med sine bander. Vesten applauderte det hele med Tyskland i spissen og alle
de gamle fordommene om Balkan fikk ny næring. Osv. De fleste vanlige
mennesker i området tenkte før dette ikke over om de var kroater eller
serbere, men de ble terrorisert til å gjøre det. Slik er det neppe
med folkegruppene i Makedonia, men betyr det at man ikke kan leve sammen?
En artikkel som påminnelse om hvordan infiltrert gerilja fra deler av
Kosovo-UCK i mars startet krigen i Makedonia og med hvilke mål:
"Nato sources say it is likely that the recent fighting is an attempt to
prompt a violent reaction by Macedonian forces against the ethnic Albanian
population - which makes up more than a quarter of the two million
population - thus radicalising them." (se resten under)
Slik sa man da. Lite tyder på at disse UCK-krefter inntil videre har gjort
sine makedonsk-albanske rekrutteringsobjekter annet enn en bjørnetjeneste i
kampen for å få borgerrettigheter og unngå diskriminering og forfølgelse i
Makedonia. Geriljaromantikere vil selvsagt tro noe annet, men det er bare
hva det er. Faktum er at denne væpnede kampen ikke oppsto blant albanerne i
Makedonia, men ble påført dem utenfra. Mønsteret er velkjent i dagens verden.
Vi har ikke sett noe fra albanerne i Makedonia som bare minner om
berberuroen i Algerie eller svarte oppstander i Sørafrika, enda de er utsatt
for forfølgelse. Albanerne i Makedonia er delt i sitt syn mellom nasjonale
ekstremister og moderate ++, presis som makedonerne er delt i alle mulige
grupper, hvorav de ekstremistiske nasjonalistene streber mot et slags
statskupp, støttet av UCK-infiltratorernes aktiviteter.
Man kan f.eks. spørre seg: hvorfor lot de makedonske polititropper dem
uhindret trenge inn i den forstad til Skopje som de nå ble evakuert av NATO
fra? Ønsket de en beleilig unnskyldning for å undergrave moderate krefter og
slå til mot albanerne? Slikt vil vi selvsagt aldri få noe svar på. Men det
viser hvor fåfengt det er å ville ta parti for ekstremister i en slik
konflikt som piskes opp av nasjonale fanatikere og intrigemakere på begge
sider og hvor håpløst det er å ville sammenligne med okkupasjonen av Norge
(som overhodet ikke hadde noe med etniske stridigheter å gjøre men skyldtes
militærstrategiske overveielser fra stormaktene).
Det har ikke foregått noe i Makedonia som tåler sammenligning med den
serbiske etnofascismens overgrep i Kosovo og andre steder, selvom den
makedonske overklassen dominerer og utnytter undertrykkelsen av albanerne.
Her bruker alle parter allverdens fule triks og det hele er et virvar av
intriger. Religiøse krefter puster selvsagt til ilden. Som sosialist må man
holde fast i dette: striden mellom slike grupper skyldes fordommer og
obskurantisme på alle sider og gavner kun overklassene og deres håndlangere.
Årsakene ligger i fattigdom og århundrers historiske maktintriger fra
overklasser og ikke i f.eks. en slavisk-ortodoks ond folkekarakter.
Det er mulig at dette vil munne ut i en deling av Makedonia med de truende
ringvirkninger av dette. Et makedonsk forslag med støtte hos statsministeren
går faktisk inn for det (se:
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010606_2_eng.txt) Dette vil
selvsagt ikke egentlig løse noe som vi kan se det på Kypros eller hvor vi nå
finner den typen konflikter. Sålenge fattigdom og mangel på dannelse består
vil hevnkrav og fordommer leve videre og kriger fortsette med å bli
iverksatt. Til glede for hvem? Folk på "venstresiden" som skal demonstrere
sin godhet og evne til å dømme skyldige og uskyldige i et eldgammelt etnisk
intrigespill og i ly av imperiale ambisjoner osv. hva enten de er
amerikanske russiske, tyske? (se:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4136440,00.html om den for
amerikanerne uhyre viktige oljeledning som planlegges gjennom Skopje,
Makedonia og Albania til Adriaterhavet).
Karsten Johansen
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr/bcr_20010606_2_eng.txt
Storm Over Macedonia Partition Plan
A proposal to divide up Macedonia along ethnic lines has provoked outrage
By Veton Latifi in Skopje (BCR No. 253, 6-Jun-01)
While Macedonian troops battle it out with Albanian guerrillas in the north,
a fierce political conflict has broken out in the capital over a proposal to
partition Macedonia.
The bombshell proposal was lobbed by Georgi Efremov, chairman of the Academy
of Sciences and Arts of Macedonia, ASAM, who suggested that the best way of
ending strife between Macedonian and Albanian communities was to carve up
the country into two entities.
According to this plan, Albanians would settle in the western regions of
Gostivar, Tetovo, and Debar which would then join Albania itself at a later
date. In exchange, Albania would hand over to Macedonia the town of Pogradec
and the surrounding area near Prespa Lake, where a small Macedonian minority
lives.
The exchange should be completed peacefully in three months, the academy said.
Efremov described his plan as a "document for the salvation of Macedonia".
He said that after the recent fighting in Tetovo and elsewhere, Albanians
and Macedonians could no longer live in peace.
The proposal enraged large sections of political opinion. Albanian minority
parties united in opposition, parties representing the Macedonian majority
were split, thus endangering the "grand coalition" set up a few weeks ago
with international blessing to guide the country through its crisis.
Among the few political leaders who refrained from denouncing the plan were
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, the leader of the Macedonian VMRO-DPMNE
party, and parliamentary speaker Stojan Andov, a member of the Liberal
Party, a junior member of the coalition.
Strong opposition came from Branko Crvenkovski who heads SDSM, Socialist
Democratic Alliance of Macedonia, the other major Macedonian party. He
called the ASAM plan "an incitement for civil war and suicide for
Macedonia". Crvenkovski favours pursuing current negotiations on giving
ethnic Albanians greater civic rights and recognising Albanian as an
official language.
The ASAM plan has brought unexpected harmony to the two main Albanian
parties, the DPA, Democratic Party of Albanians and PDP, Party of Democratic
Prosperity, which until now had been locked in bitter feuds. Both dismissed
the partition plan as "unacceptable and ridiculous".
The president of the Albanian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ylli Popa, also
rejected the proposal. "Inter ethnic problems cannot be solved by exchange
of territories and populations," he said. "The only solution to the
Macedonia crisis is to respect the rights of Albanians living there."
Macedonian political feuding intensified after the daily, Vecer, which is
close to VMRO-DPMNE, published a map of the planned exchange. When
Crvenkovski threatened to walk out of coalition, Georgievski said he would
not mind if the alliance did break up.
After lack of support from the Macedonian parties and outright rejection by
their Albanian counterparts, ASAM Chairman Efremov, sought to distance
himself from his own plan, saying it had been misinterpreted.
Efremov said it was only one of 25 possible ways of solving the crisis and
that it was not an official ASAM proposal, just the personal view of some of
its members.
Partition has been discussed several times since Macedonia became
independent a decade ago.
When the NLA first emerged at the beginning of this year, there were rumours
that its main goal was the federalisation of Macedonia. But a month later,
it backed away from the partition idea, saying it supported the territorial
integrity of Macedonia.
Instead, the NLA called for Albanians to be elevated to the status of nation
in the country's constitution.
During the last decade, the two main Macedonian parties have argued fiercely
about the country's integrity and sovereignty. LSDM has accused the
VMRO-DPMNE of working to hand over parts of Macedonia to Bulgaria. While the
latter has charged the former of trying to draw Macedonia back into the
Yugoslav federation.
The partition proposal, no matter whether it is ASAM policy or the idea of
some of its members, might be a severe blow to the country at a time when
all Balkan nations are oriented towards European integration.
If the plan frustrates the political process, the EU might decide to review
the validity of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Macedonia,
signed in Luxembourg on April 9. It could also undermine the support that
Macedonia has received until now. But no such measures are foreseen by the
EU at present.
The fact that Efremov is close to the VMRO-DPMNE and that his plan was not
rejected outright by some politicians might indicate other motives behind
the proposal. Whether it was a test of public opinion, an outright
provocation or a serious project, the plan has certainly shifted attention
away from the fighting in the north. It has also delayed political dialogue
between Albanians and Macedonians on resolving their present differences.
Veton Latifi is a political analyst and IWPR assistant editor in Macedonia.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac4521620137638&rtmo=0xx2RKiq&atmo=rrrrrrrq
&pg=/et/01/3/9/wbalk209.html
Veterans of KLA campaign open a second front
By Christian Jennings
THE Albanian rebels threatening a new Balkan war are a mystery to those
countries that are desperate to avoid another round of misery in the region.
The rebels, who have been clashing with Macedonian forces for a month, call
themselves the National Liberation Army, or NLA, whose initials in Albanian,
UCK, are the same as those of the now-defunct Kosovo Liberation Army.
The emblem worn by one of the few fighters to have been seen on the mountain
tracks on the Kosovo-Macedonian border is the Albanian flag, an eagle on a
crimson background.
After three Macedonian soldiers were killed on Sunday near the
rebel-occupied northern Macedonian village of Tanusevci, hundreds of yards
from Kosovo's southern border, Boris Trajkovski, the Macedonian President,
said the rebels were spreading "racial and ethnic hatred".
Nato, already beset with the regional security problems caused by another
Albanian rebel grouping in southern Serbia's disputed Presevo valley, calls
them an "extremist Albanian group". What is certain is that the estimated
100-plus rebels in the border village of Tanusevci, and an unknown number in
neighbouring Macedonian villages inhabited by ethnic Albanians, are causing
problems for Nato.
Western officials in Pristina, the Kosovan capital, say they were actively
involved with the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998 and 1999. "They did not
demilitarise like the rest of the KLA, but stayed put in northern Macedonia
or southern Kosovo, until the moment arrived to start fighting in Macedonia."
They are thought to have links to the UCPMB, an estimated 1,500-strong
Albanian rebel grouping who have been clashing with Serb forces inside the
disputed Presevo valley area of southern Serbia for 15 months.
The southern end of the Presevo valley is only 20 miles from Macedonian
villages where authorities have reported the latest clashes between their
troops and police and the rebels. "There is more of a link, rather than less
of one, between the UCPMB and the [Macedonian] rebels," said one senior
United Nations official in Pristina.
The worst possibility for Nato is if the groups are linked and if each group
decides to extend its territory in an east-west semi-circle around Kosovo's
southern border in a stab at creating a swathe of Albanian-controlled
territory.
The Macedonian authorities fear that the NLA rebel detachment around
Tanusevci may be staging a diversionary tactic while a far larger group,
based around the Albanian-dominated town of Tetovo, three miles from
Kosovo's border, readies itself for action against Macedonian forces.
Rebel activity has been reported near the town of Kumanovo, north-west of
Skopje, Macedonia's capital. If the rebels were to succeed in attacking the
motorway, which passes close to Kumanovo and links Austria, Hungary,
Yugoslavia and Macedonia with supply routes to Greece and the sea, then, as
one Nato analyst says, "we're in serious trouble".
Nato sources say it is likely that the recent fighting is an attempt to
prompt a violent reaction by Macedonian forces against the ethnic Albanian
population - which makes up more than a quarter of the two million
population - thus radicalising them.
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