|
Washington Bans Aid to Albanian Activists, Calls Them "Extremists"
WASHINGTON, June 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States announced Wednesday it would ban all financial and material aid to Albanian activists, who are fighting against the discrimination of the Muslim community, in Macedonia, and would deny entry to the United States to individuals undermining stability there.
President George W. Bush used the power of executive order to impose the measures immediately, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The decrees "send a clear message to the extremists and their supporters in the region, who actively obstruct and undermine peace and stability, that such tactics are unacceptable," Fleischer said in a statement.
"Their violent tactics threaten U.S. and international efforts to promote regional peace and stability and pose a potential danger to U.S. military forces and other Americans supporting peacekeeping efforts," he added.
He noted that Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski had called for U.S. support to fight Albanian activists "who are undermining the political dialogue currently under way among Macedonia's legitimately elected leaders."
"We must face down extremists in Macedonia and elsewhere who seek to use violence to redraw borders or subvert the democratic process," Fleischer said.
The first executive order states that Washington will "use the means at our disposal to isolate these groups and individuals and cut their access to financial support," by banning "U.S. persons from transferring, paying, exporting ... the property ... of persons involved in violent and obstructionist actions" in Macedonia.
Those people are identified in an annex to the order, Fleischer's statement added.
The second prohibits U.S. entry by "individuals who actively obstruct implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords or U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, and who otherwise seek to undermine peace and stability in the region."
The Macedonian government has come under intense pressure from Europe and the NATO alliance to reform its constitution to placate ethnic Albanian demands for their community to be given greater recognition.
But Trajkovski and his hardline Prime Minister, Ljubco Georgievski, have always refused to hold direct discussions with activist chiefs, accusing them of being separatist "terrorists" coming from Kosovo.
Nevertheless NATO envoys have held discussions with the separatists on the issue of negotiating a ceasefire, and on Monday U.S. troops escorted a group of 300 armed ethnic Albanian fighters away from the flashpoint village of Aracinovo.
|
