|
Riots hit Macedonian town
Dozens of people have been injured in clashes between Macedonian police and protesters after violence flared over plans to give greater local powers to the country's 25 percent ethnic Albanian minority. The rioting in the early hour of Friday morning in the southern town of Struga on Lake Ohrid, where Albanians out number ethnic Macedonians, was the most serious sign of tension since the so-called Ohrid accord ended seven months of guerrilla conflict in 2001. Mobs stoned Albanian-owned shops and torched vehicles belonging to the coalition government which approved the "decentralisation". Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski had to be evacuated from his Struga party headquarters after two hours under siege by a crowd that threw molotov cocktails. He was unharmed.Demonstrators, some reportedly with guns, also set fire to cars from the European Union, the key broker of the peace accord which has 160 police stationed in Macedonia. "Obviously there are more protests planned so we're monitoring the situation closely," said EU mission spokeswoman Sheena Thompson, referring to a rally planned for Monday in the capital Skopje when parliament debates the measure. Struga police said at least 30 people were hurt, including 15 local officers and one person from the EU police mission, which took over from NATO peacekeepers last December. NATO sent troops to Macedonia three years ago to oversee the disarmament of Albanian guerrillas who had seized control of the northwestern region bordering Kosovo, triggering months of clashes with government forces. The deal that stopped the fighting is only now coming to fruition, in a final phase that will make Albanian the main language in Albanian-dominated areas. The plan proposes redrawing municipal boundaries so that Struga, for instance, would become predominantly Albanian. Control over schools, health and local economic development in such areas would pass to Albanian political leaders. It has sparked fierce debate among Macedonia's two million people. Opponents say it will ultimately divide the country. If the plan is adopted Skopje will become a bilingual city with street signs and official documents in both Albanian and Macedonian. Albanian will become an official language in municipalities with an Albanian population of at least 20 percent. Most ethnic Albanians in Macedonia live in the west of the country in towns bordering Albania and Kosovo, the majority Albanian province in Serbia administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 bombing campaign to halt Serb repression. Western powers are anxious to ensure Kosovo's demand for independence, which is expected to come to a head sometime next year, does not encourage another bid by armed extremists to forge a "Greater Albania" in the southwestern Balkans. Posted by: TS(vice girl) 2004-07-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=38848 |