Diplomatic Fever

In the case of Tanusevci, the international diplomacy in under two weeks made the transition from its usual calls for a peaceful solution to the crisis to pledging, albeit through clenched teeth, its full commitment to preserving Macedonia's sovereignty and territorial integrity

AIM Skopje, March 3, 2001

Not even the most meticulous chronicler of all that has happened over the past 10 days in relations between Skopje and the international community can hope to have registered all the relevant major diplomatic reactions. For the first time since it gained independence a decade ago, Macedonia has become the focus of high international politics thanks to a village absent from most geographic maps. As is a rule in all similar situations, almost no one has ever heard of Tanusevci before. Given that it is located in high mountains mostly engulfed in fog, on the border between Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia towards Kosovo, its anonymity was only logical. The village has suffered the misfortune of numerous other Balkan divisions -- the interstate border splits it into two parts, the smaller one belonging to Kosovo and the larger, to Macedonia.

Last month, a crew of the popular Skopje TV station, A-1, was held up in Tanusevci by unknown armed men who said they were members of the Tanusevci People's Defense. Before releasing them, they advised the stunned journalists not to ever come back because, as they put it, not even Macedonian police had visited them for a month or so. A little later it turned out that they were damned right.

This is how it started. Several days later the first exchanges of fire between the armed group from Tanusevci and Macedonian security forces started, the latter continuing their buildup. Meanwhile, some TV stations began showing footage of refugees from Tanusevci who fled to Kosovo, alleging that the Macedonian police were harassing the population which could not be confirmed.

About that time the presidents of the FRY and Macedonia, Vojislav Kostunica and Boris Trajkovski, respectively, at the Balkan Summit in Skopje signed an agreement on the border between the two states. Several days later the agreement was ratified, accompanied by praises from the international community. No one heeded warnings of ethnic Albanian political parties on both sides of the border that the moment for signing a border agreement was not right, if for nothing else, then at least because it was not clear how the border was going to be marked given the extreme uncertainty ruling in the area.

To ever more frequent provocations from Tanusevci, the Macedonian authorities responded luke-warmly and with restraint, but persistently demanding that the international community and KFOR finally take steps to secure the border on the Kosovo side. Instead of responses, formal statements praising the restraint the Macedonian government demonstrated continued to arrive, coupled with friendly advice that the sides should seek a political solution. Apparently, not even those who dispatched such worn-out messages knew what they would have done had they found themselves in such a position. Stunning the public, Prime Minister Ljupco Georgijevski admitted he had sought in vain "assistance" from its coalition partner, the Democratic Party of Albanians, to exert its influence on ethnic Albanian factors in Kosovo. This was the first in a series of diplomatic surprises that followed.

The crisis erupted, however, when on March 11 two members of the Macedonian security forces were killed when their vehicle hit a land mine and one by a sniper bullet. That heated afternoon after a meeting with Macedonian top leaders, international community representatives made a sharp turn -- OSCE mission head Carlo Ungaro said Macedonian forces had a right to resolve the issue of Tanusevci by force of arms, but that their response had to be limited and should not result in civilian casualties. U.S. Ambassador Mike Einik made a similar statement. The government decided to close the border crossings towards Kosovo, obviously intended to place KFOR into an unpleasant position and thus force it to act with more resolve.

After extensive deliberation, the government decided to demand an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council at which it would request that a five-kilometer buffer zone, similar to the one existing at the administrative boundary between Serbia and Kosovo, be established on the Kosovo side, and that KFOR be in charge of securing it. Macedonian representatives had hardly finished making their proposal when NATO Secretary General George Robertson decisively said it was out of the question.

But to avoid leaving the impression that the most powerful military and political alliance did not know how to respond to this challenge, and so as not to expose NATO to disgrace and criticism for inactivity, even before the session started on March 15, Robertson came forth with a rather surreal idea -- that the Yugoslav army be allowed to gradually return into the border area between Macedonia and Kosovo!

The Security Council session ended with a rather meek presidential statement," although unanimously adopted, which condemned the extremists' activities in northern Macedonia. Still, the final decision was left to NATO. This is why Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim hastily departed for Brussels to make an agreement on further steps with members of the NATO Permanent Council. It is incredible of how strongly Robertson's ingenious idea had appealed to all Western diplomats. It was obvious that, for them, the best and cheapest way to secure the border between Macedonia and Kosovo was to use Yugoslav soldiers. The move was supposed to work two ways: to reduce the exposure of KFOR soldiers to possible risks (this has yet to be proved), and to demonstrate "goodwill" (this also has yet to be proved) towards those against whom only two years ago NATO waged an aerial war. The Brussels meeting, however, ended with a vague announcement that the most powerful alliance in the world would consider Macedonian proposals. General support for the country's intentions to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity, however, was obtained. That diplomacy is a miraculous art indeed, that you can condemn someone to hell and simultaneously make him rejoice in that, was shown by initial, almost elated reactions from Belgrade.

Judging by what happened in the past several days, it turned out that the Macedonian government is willing to satisfy itself even with "robust activities" (a term forged in Brussels). One such "robust" move was the Hollywood-like entry of U.S. KFOR soldiers into Tanusevci. Of course, they entered the village from the Kosovo side. Namely, NATO representatives had great difficulties explaining to the merciless press that international forces have no right to enter the Macedonian territory. In any case, however, the media effect of the miraculous ability of the Alliance to put up with the worse guys when it wants so, was achieved.

Ethnic Albanians, on their part, are not even hiding their disappointment. They expected more from their powerful ally. With some uneasiness, they have even shown some signs of realizing that they themselves had contributed a little to this undesirable outcome, but are still not distancing themselves properly from the extremists in the Presevo Valley or in northern Macedonia.

What the Macedonian public should take greater notice of in the future is the fact that all four of Macedonia's neighbors (who are usually spoken of with much distrust) have condemned the extremists' violence and -- what is even more important -- have offered assistance. Greece and Bulgaria responded by sending equipment. Sofia even intimated a willingness to send troops, but after initial confusion it turned out that what Bulgaria had in mind was participation in a possible deployment of international forces. Belgrade is sympathetic because it faces a similar problem. Tirana, even if hardly capable of doing anything, did not spare words of understanding, although it is not certain whether the Macedonian public places any trusts in these words.

Albeit slowly, things are still moving ahead. Despite the usual slowness the international community, Macedonia has received support from all international factors. The question is, however, is that enough?

Zeljko Bajic

(AIM)