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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 165, Part II, 30 August 2004

MACEDONIAN LEADERS SPEAK TO RFE/RL ABOUT KOSOVA'S FUTURE. Macedonian
President Branko Crvenkovski told RFE/RL's Macedonian broadcasters on
29 August that the future status of Kosova and the future of
Macedonia must not be linked. Crvenkovski added that Macedonia
supports the policy of "standards before status" in Kosova, adding
that the final status of that province is of primary interest for
Prishtina and Belgrade, but not for Skopje. The president said that
the question of whether Kosova is ruled democratically is of much
greater importance for the province's immediate neighbors than is its
final political status. Ali Ahmeti, the chairman of the governing
ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), told
"Utrinski vesnik" of 28 August that clarifying Kosova's final status
will be beneficial for Macedonia. "We must free ourselves once and
for all from the complex that Kosova is a permanent threat and danger
to the integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia,"
Ahmeti said in an allusion to fears that any changes in Kosova will
harm interethnic relations in neighboring Macedonia (see "RFE/RL
Balkan Report," 29 July and 20 August 2004). UB

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 162, Part II, 25 August 2004

MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN PARTY PREDICTS 'END OF MACEDONIA.' Ethnic
Albanian opposition Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD) spokesman
Kenan Aliu said on 24 August that his party will call on its members
to boycott the referendum against the government's redistricting
plans, "Utrinski vesnik" reported. Aliu said the PPD opposes the
referendum because it is directed against the country's Albanian
minority and expresses the Macedonians' phobia of the Albanians (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 24 August 2004, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2, 23,
and 30 July and 13 August 2004). Aliu predicted that a successful
referendum could mean the "end of Macedonia." He did not elaborate,
but said his party would consider supporting a possible referendum on
the Albanian minority's political autonomy. The Justice Ministry is
currently counting the signatures on a petition that ended on 23
August to call a referendum against the redistricting plans. The
referendum drive was initiated by the nationalist World Macedonian
Congress in February and later supported by all ethnic Macedonian
opposition parties. UB


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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 161, Part II, 24 August 2004

MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN LEADER WARNS OF DEEP POLITICAL CRISIS. Ali
Ahmeti, who heads the governing ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for
Integration (BDI), recently told the Prishtina daily "Bota Sot" that
the country could face a deep political crisis if the upcoming
referendum against the government's redistricting plans succeeds,
"Utrinski vesnik" reported on 24 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20
and 23 August 2004, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2, 23, and 30 July,
and 13 August 2004). Ahmeti said the opposition parties support the
referendum drive not because they oppose the redistricting plans, as
they claim, but because they oppose the 2001 Ohrid peace agreement.
The peace deal ended hostilities between ethnic Albanian insurgents
of the National Liberation Army (UCK), who were then led by Ahmeti,
and government forces. Ahmeti said a successful referendum would mean
that the peace deal is dead and that Macedonia will lose any
possibility of NATO and EU membership. He added that the only way to
avert a civil war would be for the governing parties to defeat the
referendum proposal. UB


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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 160, Part II, 23 August 2004

MACEDONIA'S GOVERNING SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ACCEPT REFERENDUM. Macedonian
Defense Minister and Social Democratic Union (SDSM) Deputy Chairman
Vlado Buckovski said on 22 August that his party accepts the results
of the petition drive for a referendum on the government's
controversial redistricting plans, "Utrinski vesnik" reported (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 20 August 2004, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2, 23,
and 30 July, and 13 August 2004). Buckovski added, however, that his
party will try to convince people that the referendum is divisive and
a waste of effort and money. In the meantime, the SDSM's junior
coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for
Integration (BDI), which opposes the referendum, demanded that
parliament approves the referendum only with a "double majority" as
stipulated by the 2001 Ohrid peace agreement -- a majority of all
members of parliament and of all ethnic Albanian legislators,
"Dnevnik" reported on 21 August. UB


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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 159, Part II, 20 August 2004

MACEDONIAN REFERENDUM DRIVE SUCCEEDS. A broad coalition of ethnic
Macedonian opposition parties announced on 19 August that more than
150,000 citizens have signed a petition to call a referendum on the
new Law on Territorial Organization, Macedonian media reported (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 19 August 2004, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2, 23,
and 30 July, and 13 August 2004). The organizers of the petition
drive said they will continue to collect signatures until the 23
August deadline to make sure that the validity of the signatures is
beyond question. Former Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov, who is
among the supporters of the petition, said the parliament must set a
date for the referendum within 30 days after the speaker receives the
petition, while the referendum must take place within 90 days after
the announcement of the date, "Dnevnik" reported. As a result of
this, the local elections that are slated for 21 November are likely
to be postponed once again (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August 2004).
Meanwhile, the governing Social Democratic Union (SDSM) and the
Liberal Democrats (LDP) are reportedly planning to call their own
referendum on the redistricting law, "Dnevnik" reported. Their
coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian Union for Democratic
Integration (BDI), opposes any such plans, arguing that referendums
supported by only one ethnic group will only polarize society. UB



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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 158, Part II, 19 August 2004

LOCAL ELECTIONS MAY CONFLICT WITH REFERENDUM IN MACEDONIA. Macedonian
Prime Minister Hari Kostov said on 17 August that if a petition drive
for a referendum against the controversial Law on Territorial
Organization is successful, the governing and opposition parties
should seek a compromise over postponing the local elections that are
slated for 21 November, "Dnevnik" reported. Kostov added that the
deadlines for holding the referendum might have to be changed. The
petition, which is supported by the major ethnic Macedonian
opposition parties, aims at stopping the government's plans to cut
the number of administrative districts from 123 to 80 in 2004 and to
76 in 2008 (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2, 23, and 30 July, and 13
August 2004). Thus far, some 125,000 out of the required 150,000
citizens have signed the petition to put the measure on the ballot.
The deadline for collecting signatures is 23 August. Conservative
opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
(VMRO-DPMNE) Chairwoman Ganka Samoilovska-Cvetanova said if the
government postpones the local elections once again, her party will
insist that they be held in the spring of 2005 together with general
elections (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August 2004). UB