DOES NOT THE STABILITY OF MACEDONA DEPEND,AFTER ALL,

ON THE STABLE PARTY OF THE ALBANIANS?

AIM, Skopje, March 10, 1994

SUMMARY

The President of Albania Sali Berisa received as legitimate representatives of the PDP (the largest party of Albanians in Macedonia) a delegation headed by Dzaferi and Thaci. Some Albanian intellectuals think that Dzafer and Thaci are winning ever greater support among the Albanians from day to day, "because they are young and unsoiled" and that the "moderates" therefore want to renew the negotiations , as the new parliamentary elections are not so far away. Irrespective of all this , it is,nevertheless, clear that the stability of Macedonia depends on joint life with the Albanians, and to a great extent also on the PDP.

Are negotiations again "stewing" in the largest party of the Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia, the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) since the split at the Party Congress in the town of Tetovo on February 12, this year. The deputies and ministers from this party and the majority of delegates dubbed "the moderate wing" by the local papers walked out on the Congress, and convinced that the opposite side ("radicals - the hard" wing) was striving to work contrary to the Congress documents, held a Congress in another place. The so-called "moderates" elected Dzeladin Murati their President, while the "radicals" elected Arben Dzaferi, and Menduh Thaci, their leader till then, Vice-President. Even after all this, both claim their right to succession and the name of the party. It is worth mentioning that the split-up was preceded by months long negotiations "in the interest of the PDP" and that a group of deputies and ministers had invested a lot of effort and hope in this.

Deputy Abdurrahman Aliti, practically the Party's first man until the election of Murati, says that Murati dropped the charges as he did not want the Macedonian authorities interfering in the resolution of problems within the Party, as the Albanian population might interpret this in the wrong way. Murati had filed a legal complaint immediately after the holding of the two "parallel" Congresses, as the Party Headquarters in Tetovo were taken by a group which is associated with Dzaferi and Thaci, and which also took the seal and official stamp of the Party, as well as the name PDP. According to Aliti, the problem now is how to resolve things (outside Court). When we asked whether that was perhaps the wrong decision which would play into the hands of the "hard-liners", we did not receive any answer. The Skopje paper "Vecer" carried the statement of the PDP Deputies Leader, Muhamed Halili, who says that there will be no negotiations, while some deputies think that Murati is preparing more a precise complaint, which was not confirmed.

The "radicals" still enjoy the support of the Democratic Party of Albania, as well as of official Tirana, as Sali Berisa, the President of Albania received on March 3 a delegation headed by Dzaferi and Thaci as the legitimate representatives of PDP. The statement carried by ATA Press Agency and conveyed by the Albanian Embassy in Skopje to the Macedonian media, states that the talks concerned Macedonia, as an independent and stable state in the interest of all Albanians, as well as all the Balkan peoples. A few days before the reception in Tirana, the Macedonian media also carried the statement of Menduh Thaci given to the London "Observer" in which, it was said, threats of war and bloodshed were made.

This caused much bitterness among the public, and the majority of Macedonian parties released their statements condemning Thaci and his group, and even demanding that their activities be prohibited. Still, it is clear that something is amiss with these statements - one political view was given in Tirana and another, quite contrary, to the English journalist. Thaci has not yet reacted to our request for a statement denying or confirming the statement made in the "Observer", which was carried by the local media, although we agreed to fax the question and get the answer to it in the same way.

The man who told us that this would be the only way of communicating with the press in future, and who is also a member of the top leadership, nevertheless said something, although nothing concrete : "As the Serbs say - that's not it" (what Thaci stated). Some intellectuals - Albanians are of the opinion that Dzaferi and Thaci are winning greater support of the Albanians every day "as they are young and unsoiled" and that the "moderates" therefore want to renew the negotiations as new parliamentary elections are not so far away.

Naturally, the eyes of the parties from the ruling coalition of Macedonia, which also includes PDP, are turned on the new elections. The leading Social - Democratic Union, as well as the Liberal Party follow developments in PDP not only with great interest, but also with concern. According to common sense, even after the new elections PDP will be a party both desirable and necessary to form a coalition with , as it will again win between 20 and 26 deputy seats, out of the total 120. Naturally, this figure applies to a united PDP, which is not the case at the moment. Will there be two PDPs at the new elections?

Given the present split, that is of course impossible, because one of them must be registered as a new party. Will Thaci and Dzaferi accept to be a new party? As things stand now, they will not. And, if they do, will the competent authorities register it, or refuse to do so? The second alternative is also highly probable. Then again, logic says that it will nevertheless be more suitable for the present Macedonian authorities that the new PDP (with another name or prefix) is not registered. And, that the best variant would be that the PDP start negotiating and arrive at any sort of reconciliation whatsoever, at least until the elections are over. In this way, the highly probable accusations would be avoided that the state is through non-democratic means again dividing Albanians into suitable and unsuitable (as at the time of the one-party system). Maybe all these mentioned speculations are good enough reason for the Social - Democratic Union and the Liberal Party to avoid giving us their opinion on the current situation in PDP and their plans for the elections.

It may, nevertheless, be observed that these two parties have different views. Namely, SDSM openly supports a group of deputies and ministers, although they recently threatened to leave the coalition if the requests of the Albanians continue to be solved slowly, but without such a definite position vis-a-vis the opposite faction. The Liberals, on the other hand, are much more frank - they believe that the so-called "hard core", i.e. "radical" faction should be prohibited. All this gives us reason to believe that after all, until the elections, the situation in PDP will to a large extent depend on the moves of the coalition parties. Of course, we still have to count with the unpredictability of the leading people in the largest party of the Albanians in Macedonia, PDP, whose moves sometimes depend on some other circumstances, above all, perhaps on relations within the block of Albanian parties active in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and even on the attitude of the ruling party of Albania.

All things considered, the situation in PDP in Macedonia is nevertheless viewed with much concern, because this party wields the greatest influence among the Albanians in Macedonia, the most numerous minority in this state, whose number cannot be established with certainty by anyone at present. Do they account for 21%, as claimed by the Statistical Office, on the basis of estimates because the Albanians boycotted the 1991 population census, or for perhaps as much as 40%, i.e. 800,000 people? The precise number will maybe established by the extraordinary international census scheduled for this summer, which is to be financially supported by the international community, if the Macedonian Parliament previously adopts a law on the census. Despite everything, it is nevertheless clear that the stability of Macedonia depends on joint life with the Albanians and, to a large extent, on PDP too.

PANTA DZAMBAZOVSKI