Forever Foes

At the time of the much needed national unity leading to the constitution of a national unity government, the two major Macedonian parliamentary parties both opted for a precarious decision: to continue campaigning against each other even if that meant endangering the very security of the country

AIM Skopje, November 14, 2001

The superstitious would say: what else was there to be expected with so many unlucky 13s around!? On May 13 the government of the national unity was formed, on August 13 the leaders of four major local political parties signed the Ohrid Agreement, November 13 as the date of Sobranje passing the constitutional amendments was escaped by a hair's breadth. No wonder the goddess of fortune is so harsh on us, to say nothing of the fact that all three of the above mentioned events were forced on the local authorities by the international community. So, what else was there to be expected but for our ministers to act much like an orchestra hopelessly out of tune - each playing to his own, party notes.

Perhaps things would not have been as bad as they were if the country was not in the midst of a grave security crisis making the need for political unity an imperative. Nevertheless, even the most hopeless political laymen could not help noticing that each of the parliamentary parties functioned as miniature governments of their own, turning Ljubco Georgievski's cabinet into a collective body of several governments thrown together. Under the provisions of the agreement of May 13, the two leading parties - VMRO-DPMNE and the Social Democratic Union - have somehow managed to come to terms as to who is to get which of the two ministries, that of the police and that of defense, the two strategically most important ministries.

But, alas, just a few days after the deal was struck, problems arose. The VMRO Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski seemed to go out of his way to add fuel to the fire by his statements concerning the alarming events in Aracinovo, a village on the outskirts of Skopje; his social democratic colleague, Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski, did his best to calm things down. Much in the same manner, that is how the business of governing Macedonia proceeded in the period leading to the signing of the Ohrid Argeement and days and months following the arrival of NATO "reapers" and "silver foxes". Judging by the statements issued by the two ministers following their meeting, the uniformed public could have come to the conclusion that their two ministers were speaking of two, entirely unrelated affairs. What the one described as desired and positive developments, the other chose to see as an eminent catastrophe. Naturally, that was not to be the end of the whole mess. The head of the Governmental Coordination Body for Crisis Management, social democratic minister Ilija Filipovski, had to get used to being constantly misinformed, or even worse, lied to by the officials of his coalition partners, the VMRO, as to the true state of things on the ground. Largely due to all this, up to now, the international community's plan for reconstructing this particular war-ridden region and the enactment of a lasting peace agreement have, quite understandably, failed to materialize. At a press briefing held last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Ilinka Mitreva - a Social Democrat herself - could not help but mentioning, if in a restrained and diplomatic mode of speech, that the current foreign policy of the country is rather inconsistent What Minister Mitreva chose not to say was that the current foreign policy of the country is a result of contrasting viewpoints regarding the exact position of Macedonia within the international community and - last but not least - the outcome of particular political interests of the parties having a sway over the current political scene in Macedonia.

The final countdown came in the form of a frontal clash between the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Defence a week ago. It all started when police intelligence circles, using their favorite media outlets, made it known that around 100 members of the NLA, according to what was being claimed, had entered the region neighboring a village on the outskirts of Skopje named Radusa. According to the same sources, there was cause for concern that in the up to now peaceful region of Gostivar trouble was in the making. The Ministry of Defense responded briskly: Never heard of any such thing! The ministry's spokesman Marjan Djurovski even bluntly stated that the police intelligence officer number one Goran Mitevski - was lying!

Then Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski was accused - once again through the press - of mishandling funds worth some DM 10 million. Buckovski adamantly denied the accusations, concluding that the whole thing was an attempt to draw a parallel with his VMRO-DPMNE predecessor Paunovski who was forced to resign because of very real financial misdeeds. Next to voice his outrage was Buckovski's chief, president of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Branko Crvenkovski who announced his party's intent to withdraw from the government: the security reasons which have compelled SDSM to enter Georgievski's cabinet, he said, no longer existed, and the party has no intention of providing a cover-up for the criminal activities of any other parties.

As was to be expected, a flood of prognosis of all sorts ensued: the VMRO-DPMNE was bound to look for new coalition partners, SDSM to push for extraordinary elections and back the obstinacy of Imer Imeri's ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity regarding the proposed amendments to the constitution.....

Sunday brought on an unexpected turn of events. As it was established later on - entirely on his own initiative - at the time, Interior Minister Boskovski ordered a unit of the police special forces to secure a location in the Tetovo region believed to contain a mass grave of the 13 Macedonian civilians kidnapped and massacred by ethnic Albanian extremists. In the course of the action, three policemen belonging to the- unit were killed in the vicinity of the village of Neprosteno; the operation was then called off and positions previously captured by the special forces handed over to NATO peacekeeping troops. Immediately following the deaths of the three policemen, Defense Minister Buckovski said what he thought of the whole affair: "This adventure is bound to cost us dearly!" And it did. As it turned out, the three men had laid down their lives in vain....

The Social Democratic Union is sticking to its promises (as of yet). It is not doing anything to worsen the present security situation. It has not withdrawn from the government. Which does not go to say it might not do so in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, if the truth is to be said, in present circumstances, it really does not matter much whether SDSM decides to withdraw from the government or not. So far, the six months of mutual indulgence on the part of the two major parties in the country have not resulted in much. Particularly not in any good worth mentioning. The antagonism of the two leading parties- or, as some would define it, the overrated ambitions of their leaders - have already cost Macedonia much too dearly in the past. Unfortunately, it seems as if there is no alternative to the present course of events. Whenever any future elections be held, it now seems as if Macedonia is to remain hostage of the rivalry of the two main opposing political parties.

It also seems the international community has hinted clearly enough what it expects the SDSM leader to do from now on in order not to "complicate matters further". The man in question happens to be an understanding sort of guy. Similarly to the hero of a popular pop song by composer-singer Balasevic (an UNICEF goodwill ambassador) he is a character of a highly obedient sort. As "good old Bane" from Balasevic's song, our man is just as likely not to withdraw from the government as he can be expected not to stay within it. Or if, perhaps, things do proceed according to the plan of the international community, "good old Bane's" ministers are to be expected to do their best, just as instructed, to tame the impermissibly "frolicsome" VMRO-DPMNE membership. In the best of cases, that is about all anyone could expect from them to do.

ZELJKO BAJIC

(AIM)