NATO - EXPENSIVE "ENTERTAINMENT" FOR POOR MACEDONIA

AIM Skopje, June 13, 1996

A few very important diplomatic contacts between high officials of Macedonia and the USA, which need not necessarily be mutually conditioned, created in the first days of June an illusion on carefully orchestrated joint presentation in ptromotion of cooperation between the two countries on a very high level and in the very delicate sphere of defence. It all began with the exchange of diplomatic notes referring to the so-called SOFA - agreement on the status of armies, then continued with the visit of a four-member government delegation which was expected to consider possibilities of American presence and consequent withdrawal of peace forces, and ended with a speech, prestigious for Macedonian politics, of US State Secretary William Perry in the Macedonian Assembly.

Obviously, all these facts enormously encouraged local ambitions concerning association into Western-European defence allaince, which is adopted as the highest among all priorities of Macedonian foreign policy. It seems, nevertheless, that the decisive role in formation of public opinion was played by the mentioned exchange of notes (and their express ratification in the parliament) concerning the agreement which regulates the status of American troops as part of the NATO and the program Partnership for Peace in Macedonia. And vice versa. Such an agreement was signed by all the members of the NATO plus six "partners". Concerning the range and nature of the agreement, however, opinions vary a great deal. Essentially, it is an agreement on procedures which provides a legal framework for the stay of someone'troops on the territory of an allied state. In this case, it referred to the future status of Macedonian soldiers during the July manoeuvres of some of the members of the NATO and Partnership for Peace in Albania. But, at the same time, conditions were created for retaining American marines here without a repeated poll among the deputies, after the quite possible withdrawal of UNPREDEP perhaps as soon as after the next vote. As a reminder it should be said that "iron ambassador", Madelaine Albright, promised this to Macedonian officials on the occasion of opening of the American Embassy in Skopje.

We somehow already got used to the fact that something which is a purely technical question elsewhere is politics par excellence in this God forsaken space. Therefore, an essentially technical agreement overnight became top evidence that Macedonia was on the right track and that it was just a question of time when its overall politics would be awarded by widely open doors to the Alliance. The media started a campaign trying to prove to some people and to reassure the others that the NATO had just made the first step towards the East via the southern highway which was recently marked by minister Ljubomir Frckovski himself, in other words, that Macedonia had taken a step forward towards the refuge under the western defensive umbrella. The first to suggest this conclusion was the weekly Puls which, by the way, discretly reanimated the idea on renting Krivolak to the Americans, and later, after arranging their own mosaics from pieces taken from the initial text, state controlled radio and television and some independent media also started promoting the thesis about the key step forward made by Macedonian diplomacy.

Rapprochement with NATO quite nicely fits into the image the current Macedonian authorities wish to create about themselves. Completely aware that it is paying tribute to itself with it, but that it is nevertheless in the interest of the people, Macedonian political leadeship has obviously directed the propaganda towards convincing people that it is for its own good. And that it will sooner or later be a good thing. Somehow at the same time, on the occasion of the Day of Air-Force and Antiaircraft Defence, a modest aircraft review was held during which all Macedonian aircrafts were in the air at the same time and they all fitted into a single take of a camera. In fact, there are three Czech piston engine aircrafts and two Russian transport helicopters, recently purchased for the purpose of education of military personnel. Completely robbed by former Yugoslav People's Army and systematically prevented by unselective embargo on arms import, Macedonia is now making its first steps in the process of equipping its army units and creating its own combat potentials. Slightly archaic picture of considerably shabby and nondescript airplanes and clumsily painted helicopters suggested certain unpleasant comparisons and imposed the question how can anyone be a partner ("... for peace") with such technics.

The unpleasant question how Macedonian army intends to equip and arm itself in order to be at least to a certain extent comparable and compatible with the troops of the allies was not posed by anyone publicly, and the competent agencies skilfully avoided the trap in which they would have to answer such questions. The fact that Macedonian total this year's budget is about a billion and three to four hundred million dollars is highly indicative. Anyone who is even slightly acquainted with the prices of modern sophisticated combat means which form the axis of armament of modern armies, will know that even if Macedonia did not spend a single dollar on food in the next few years, it would still lag far behind the NATO standards.

That is why, perhaps, the local media have shyly started to ask the question whether the Macedonians know how much this planned "entertainment" will cost. Especially since certain high state officials are persistently relying on an all-national concensus concerning the initiated job without actually ever having conducted a poll, or any even more reliable test of the public will. A journalist of opposition provenance in Skopje daily Dnevnik reminded recently of the latest statement minister of defence Blagoje Handjinski made in the parliament to the deputies. While explaining tha nature of the mentioned agreement on the status of forces, Handjiski stressed that this was a right but also an enormous obligation of Macedonia "to keep forces amounting to one part per thousand, which need to be trained and drilled to participate in peace operations under auspices of the UN or the OSCE". The question is whether Macedonia has resources needed to train and equip this "internationalist" mobile contingent, under the condition, which actually noone cared to verify, that parents are ready to send their sons to pacify some Somalia, Timbuctoo or, after all, Bosnia. The mentioned text also assesses that just the first step, the entrance visa for the large project, would mean an incease in the budget of 60 per cent. Macedonia, which is taking great pains to make ends meet, simply has not that kind of money, if of course it does not decide to allow money issue. But, should that happen, everything will take a completely different turn.

TOMI ALEKSOVSKI