Re: Cfar Behet Ne Kondove ????
[43] MACEDONIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ACCUSES GOVERNMENT OF INACTIVITY
Nikola Gruevski, who heads the conservative opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE), accused the government on 4 December of not doing enough to resolve the situation in the village of Kondovo at the outskirts of Skopje, which is reportedly controlled by an armed group of ethnic Albanians, "Vreme" reported (see "RFE/RL 30 November 2004). "I heard that the Interior Ministry has been instructed several times to do something about [the situation in Kondovo], but it has not started any operation yet," Gruevski said, adding that the government is waiting for ethnic Albanian political leaders to negotiate with the armed groups. "I regard it as a terrible lack of professionalism that state institutions are excluded [from dealing with the matter]," Gruevski argued. Prime Minister-designate Vlado Buckovski said on 5 December that opposition Democratic Party of the Albanians Deputy Chairman Menduh Thaci has told him that he is ready to negotiate with the armed group together with Ali Ahmeti, who heads the governing ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, the private A1 TV reported. UB
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Kondovo, Macedonia: Albanian Armed Groups Demand Amnesty
Pro Macedonian Media...
By Goran Momirovski
Respect for the Law of Amnesty and re-socialization of the former NLA members were the demands voiced by the armed groups in Kondovo who today had a three-hour meeting with DUI leader Ali Ahmeti and DPA Vice President Menduh Thaci.*
The meeting started at exactly 4 pm in the Kondovo primary school, after Ahmeti and Thaci passed through [the guard] of armed individuals with assault rifles and RPG rocket launchers who control the village entrance. Armed men dressed in black and new green uniforms - some of them wearing bullet-proof vests - also occupied the main village street, and the side roads leading to the village.
Most of the members of the armed groups are young people, aged between 20 and 30. At the main village crossroad they gave directions for the A1 TV crew on how to reach the village school. However, upon arrival they ordered us to stop filming and to leave the village. Besides the "soldiers"--as the villagers call the men in uniform--about a hundred civilians gathered on the main street, awaiting the negotiations' result.
A1 TV's sources from Kondovo affirm that the talks have been constructive, but that many questions were left unanswered. After the meeting, Ahmeti repeated his claim that the [notoriety of the] Kondovo case is a result of media speculations.
"The meeting was attended by Kondovo inhabitants and some young men who laid down their demands, above all [regarding] the problems with their treatment by state authorities. So, it was stressed that the media didn't approach [the issue] in a serious manner, and the village representatives expressed an opinion that nothing should 'accidentally' happen to the villagers," said Ali Ahmeti of DUI.
According to Thaci, we should now wait to see to what the government can do to solve the Kondovo problem, but he did not speak of withdrawal of the armed groups from the village.
"Today we talked about concrete problems, and I said that our stance as political parties was that political problems should be dealt with by existing political parties in Macedonia," said Menduh Thaci of DPA.
A1 TV sources claim that the Kondovo villagers initiated the meeting, with the help of the representatives of international organizations in Macedonia. A few minutes before the arrival of Ahmeti and Thaci, a team from the EUMM entered the village, while OSCE teams remained there during the whole day.
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MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN LEADERS NEGOTIATE WITH ARMED GROUP
Ali Ahmeti, who heads the governing ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), and opposition Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH) Deputy Chairman Menduh Thaci held three-hour talks in the village of Kondovo outside Skopje on 6 December with a group of armed ethnic Albanians, the private A1 TV and other Macedonian media reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 November and 6 December 2004, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 5 December 2004). During the talks, the armed men reportedly demanded that the government fully implement an existing amnesty for former members of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (UCK), which launched an insurgency against Macedonian authorities in early 2001. Ahmeti was the UCK's political leader at the time. After the meeting, Ahmeti repeated his stance that unspecified media reports have exaggerated the size of the armed group. Ahmeti said the predominantly young men talked about the problems they have with Macedonian authorities, while Thaci said he told the armed group that it is up to the political parties to resolve political problems. UB
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Situation in Macedonian village of Kondovo still reportedly tense
December 06, 2004
MK
Text of report by Macedonian A1 TV on 6 December
[Announcer] Our reporter Goran Momiroski has been in Kondovo [where a group of armed ethnic Albanians has appeared]. Goran, following the statements by [Democratic Union for Integration leader] Ahmeti and [Democratic Party of Albanians deputy chairman] Thaci, do you think the visit had any results? Was this, in a way, an attempt to disarm the groups in Kondovo?
[Momiroski] Even though we asked Ahmeti and Thaci this question, we did not receive a concrete response about whether the armed individuals would withdraw from Kondovo following this meeting. A1 has learned from its sources in the village that although the talks in the local school were constructive, no final resolution was reached to the problem in Kondovo.
The meeting lasted a few hours. It ended about 10 minutes ago, after which Ahmeti and Thaci made statements outside Kondovo. They said that they had met the residents of the village to hear their demands, which primarily relate to the amnesty for the former National Liberation Army members. I also want to say that Ahmeti repeated his position that the Kondovo case is a product of the Macedonian media. But what the A1 crew and the other media saw at 1600 [1500 gmt] when we entered the village was completely different. We saw a number of well-armed individuals, who were equipped with infantry weapons and were positioned at all the main and side roads in the village.
After a few minutes in the yard of the local school, where Thaci, Ahmeti and Fatmir Dehari met the representatives of the armed groups, the journalists were ordered to stop recording and leave the village. I also want to say that besides the number of well-equipped individuals dressed in black and green uniforms, the media also noticed a large number of unarmed civilians who were waiting for the outcome of the negotiations.
Also, a few minutes before Ahmeti and Thaci entered the village - that was about 10 minutes before 1600 - an EU monitoring mission jeep entered the village. We have also learned that OSCE teams were also present in the village today.
[Announcer] Goran, you left Kondovo a few minutes ago. What is your impression? Were the armed groups still present in the village?
[Momiroski] It is difficult to talk about the impressions after the meeting, especially because we were not able to see the armed individuals from where we were forced to stand. Plus, there is a certain dose of optimism following Ahmeti and Thaci's statements that the situation in Kondovo would enter into a certain legal procedure, that is, that they will try to establish what these individuals in Kondovo want. Both politicians said that they would assess all the founded demands and that the state would act on them. But I must say that the scene that we saw in Kondovo today, that is, the large number of armed individuals, does not inspire a lot of optimism. All that remains is the hope that this situation in Kondovo, which has lasted a few months now, will be resolved soon.
(Source: BBC Monitoring / A1 TV, Skopje)
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