TIRANA-SKOPJE: RETURN OF ENMITY

AIM TIRANA, APRIL 10, 1999

The Honey moon between Tirana and Skopje seems to have come to an end after the unimaginable brutality shown by FYROM in the treatment of thousands of refugees from Kosovo. Tens of dead from hunger and freeze but above all that dubious and ferocious action to evacuate the Blaca camp by the Macedonian police the midnight of Wednesday, has shaked the Albanian - Macedonian relations.

The Prime Minister of Albania, Pandeli Majko, warned a freezing winter between Tirana and Skopje when during a surprising meeting in Tirana with the Macedonian Foreign Minister, Alexander Dimitrov, said that there is a trauma in the relations between the two countries now. "I request an evidence of individual responsibility that caused the death of hunger of refugees on the border. Otherwise this will remain an open problem between us," said Majko.

Tens of thousand Albanians from Kosovo, that thought themselves safe from Milosevic once in Macedonia, found another veritable hell on the Macedonian territory where they were left to die, beaten, thrown the bread as to dogs and than pushed away as hen. "I saw when the Macedonian soldiers killed a guy of 22 years old only because tried to pass the fence to get some water having his mother dying of thirst," witnesses Astrit Rremaku from Gjakova, one of the newcomers in Korca after the removal by the Macedonian authorities.

While part of the refugees waiting in Macedonia have arrived in Albania and another part has been sent to European countries, it remains a mystery the fate of 10 thousands Albanians trapped on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia.

The position of the Macedonian authorities towards the Albanian refugees has provoked a wave of anger and protest in Albania. The newspapers of Tirana have put out capital titles such as "Macedonia

• The second Serbia," "Macedonians - these Nazi kids," "Gligorov like Milosevic;" etc. Most of the newspapers have used a threatening language towards what they called "the so called Macedonian State."

The Prime Minister Majko used a strong voice in the meeting with the head of diplomacy in Skopje Dimitrov, even if this last has asked pardon for what happened trying to justify this with the unreadiness of his country to affort the situation. This meeting was made with the mediation of the Foreign Minister of Greece Papandreu when the nerves of Tirana were more tensed than ever. Papandreu was present in this meeting as well.

The President Mejdani has responded himself strongly to the words of the President Gligorov that "It is normal that Albanians should go to their mother country" reminding him "wherever Albanians live they are on their ethnic lands."

Former President Berisha went further, asking an international investigation for the mistreatment of Albanians inculpating Macedonia for collaborating with Serbs for the death or their disappearance after the intervention of the Macedonian police.

But what was all that storm on the unluckily crowd from Kosovo?

More than a fear from a probable destabilization from the pouring in of refugees, in the politics of Skopje towards the pushed away from Kosovo, it seems that that there might have been strong dozes of Albanophobia. The inhumane treatment of Kosovars from the Macedonian police and army, which was an extreme exaggeration of the order to not to let them penetrate, has spoiled the position of Macedonia in the conflict between NATO and Belgrade. This unexpected position of Macedonian state brings to the doubt that the violent riots anti-NATO exploded in Skopje after the first day of strikes on Serbia were made under the permission of the Authorities. The same, the doubt about a Macedonian collaboration on the capture of three American soldiers that are still hold as prisoners in Belgrade, are not without any basis.

The fear of a sudden reversion of ethnic rapport or the panic of a destabilization of the poor country of Macedonia from the pouring of refugees are simply a pretext to justify internationally the barbarity of the treatment of Albanians in Bllaca. It sounds as a futile luxury that a state who pretends to be part of the civilized nations should calculate the percentages of its population in such a humanitarian crisis Albanians of Kosovo are living through.

The displaced that had refused to go to the rich countries of the West insisting that their only dream was to return to Kosovo, in any case, were not appealed by the obscured perspectives offered by Macedonia. They should have been their as temporary as it is the challenge of Milosevic to the United States of America and the West in general.

On the other hand their acceptance by the Macedonians should not have hardened the already shaken finances of Skopje for the accommodation and the help for the Kosovars could be covered without great problems also by the Albanians living there that consist in one third of the population of the country. Until the order for blocking the refugees on the border all those displaced from Kosovo and were allowed to enter in Macedonia, were absorbed by their conation's who generously welcomed them.

The inhumane treatment is seen in Albania as the worst remuneration to the conviviality without any condition that Albania continuously has offered to Skopje. Albania ranked the first countries to recognize FYROM six years ago while Tirana could have waited to do this as a result of the acute problems the Albanian population there have with the Macedonian state policy. Two years later Albania offered its ports to the neighbor in difficulty after the dramatic acumination of the relations between Greece and Macedonia, when Athens decided to embargo Skopje. Independently that in Albania were in power Berisha or Nano, no change has been noted in Tirana's tendency to keep good relations with Skopje.

The too cautious behavior of Tirana and a kind of brandish on the part of Skopje, could find its explanation in the idea that the fate of Macedonia is strongly related with the interests of the USA and Europe in the region. But while such a fact is impossible to negate, it is completely unacceptable and even punishable each over passing of the right with this international guarantee. If the Americans do not prefer a disintegration of Macedonia this is because they have invested to make it stand still and not run over the others.

Following the ancestor echoes by the Macedonian state in this situation will not pass by without negative consequences for the official politics in Skopje. First, the brutal treatment of refugees from Kosovo has been a blow for the future of the political and delicate relations among the different ethnic groups in Macedonia. If the equilibrium in Macedonia is considered too fragile this is a result of the tense relations between Albanians and Macedonians. Infringing and humiliating Kosovars pushed away from Milosevic, the Macedonian state has given strong enmity signals to the albanians of Macedonia and has strongly shaken the temporarily armistice between them.

The Press in Tirana has criticized the reaction of the Albanian Ministers in the government in Skopje as insufficient. There have also been titles like "Arber Xhaferri beats the Albanians."

"Showing the rubber sticks to the refugees from Kosovo, Macedonians lost the historical chance to testify to the Albanians that they are for peaceful conviviality with them in their common state", wrote a political analyst in Tirana

The refugees crisis will influence, at least for a period the relations between Skopje and Tirana, which means that another tension area has been adjoined in the region.

Astrit Patozi (AIM)