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EU Special Envoy Arrives In Skopje
SKOPJE, June 28 (News Agencies) - The European Union's new special envoy to Macedonia, Francois Leotard, arrived in Skopje Thursday to push for a ceasefire after a night of fighting between government forces and Albanian activists around villages they hold in the north.
Leotard, a former French defense minister, aims to quell escalating tensions generated by the five-month Albanian activist uprising that has threatened to push the multi-ethnic state into another Balkans bloodbath.
He will represent EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana during his four-month mission.
Leotard was obliged to clarify late Wednesday a statement he made earlier on French radio when he appeared to be calling for direct talks between the activists and the Macedonian government, something Skopje refuses outright.
He later specified that EU policy had not changed and that no representatives of the National Liberation Army (NLA) - whose insurrection has plunged the country into crisis - would have a seat at the political talks.
That line was reiterated on Thursday by the Council of Europe rights watchdog.
During an emergency Council debate on Macedonia, British representative Michael Hancock stressed that the "gangsters are not interested in stability, they are only interested in their criminal activities."
Roman Jakic of Slovenia said the "point of no return has not yet been reached" but warned that, "a solution must be found soon."
Leotard, who made no statement upon his arrival, has said his first mission was to negotiate a ceasefire. Solana announced a truce during a visit here Sunday that allowed NATO to escort hundreds of activists out of a town on the edge of Skopje to remove a direct threat to the capital.
The move provoked a violent anti-government and anti-Western backlash among Macedonian Slavs in the capital, who saw the operation as their leaders caving in to Western pressure to go soft on the activists.
Rioters fired automatic rifles in the air and dozens stormed parliament to trash the office of President Boris Trajkovski late Monday, while graffiti protests on the walls of the capital said "Solana = Satan," with the name of NATO scrawled next to a swastika.
There was a lull in the fighting in the north of the country as the French diplomat flew in after a night of clashes between the activists and the army around the NLA stronghold of Slupcane, in the Black Mountains between Skopje and the city of Kumanovo.
After a day of artillery and mortar duels, the night saw NLA snipers firing at Macedonian army positions near the village, army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said.
The army responded with mortars and machine guns, Markovski said.
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said this week there could be no permanent ceasefire until the NLA agree to lay down their weapons under a presidential peace plan which would grant them an amnesty if they allow NATO troops to disarm them.
NATO has said it is ready to deploy around 3,000 troops in Macedonia for a brief operation to collect the weapons, but there has been no response yet from NLA leaders.
The alliance, whose chief, George Robertson, said there would be no talks with "murderous thugs" and NLA "terrorists", said it had "facilitated" the withdrawal of the activists from the Skopje suburb of Aracinovo to remove the threat to the city and build confidence between the two sides.
The West sees a negotiated package of political reforms to give Albanians more rights as the only way to end the crisis, and has urged elected leaders from both ethnic groups to hammer out a deal and allow NATO to move in and decommission NLA arms.
But the talks have been hampered by mutual recriminations and broke down completely last week. They were about to resume when around 6,000 furious Macedonian Slavs descended on the parliament in protest at the NLA evacuation from Aracinovo.
No date has been set for a resumption of dialogue, while Markovski reported fighting late Wednesday around Tetovo and Nikustak, the village where U.S. troops dropped off the activists from Aracinovo.
Skopje reacted warmly to a U.S. government decision to close its doors to anyone linked with the uprising and try to cut off its funding.
Government spokesman Antonio Milososki said Europe should follow suit, referring in particular to Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.
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