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MILCHO MANCHEVSKI: JUST A MORAL OBLIGATION
Macedonia is collateral damage of the US policy in Kosovo A report by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (which monitors the
events in Macedonia), a statement by the State Department, and a UN officer
this week all pointed at the Albanian separatists fighting in this Balkan
country as perpetrators of ethnic cleansing directed at the Macedonian (often
incorrectly called Macedonian Slav) population. The good guys of yesteryear
became bad guys.
This comes as no surprise to those diehard Balkan-watchers who have been
following the evolving tragedy in Macedonia.
During the ten years of brutal fighting in what once was Yugoslavia,
Macedonia managed to stay unscathed. This she did without help from the
international community. After tense negotiations, the Yugoslav army left
peacefully, an admirable task credited mainly to the first Macedonian
president Kiro Gligorov. There was tension (Gligorov himself survived an
assassination attempt which left him with one eye and with shrapnel lodged in
his brain), but no fighting. The government and the people were repeatedly
applauded by the international community for their efforts in creating and
maintaining a multiethnic society. (The international community didn't help,
though. The embargo on Yugoslavia crippled Macedonia's feeble economy; Greece
waged its own embargo on the young state.) Parties representing ethnic
minorities sat in the parliament. Albanian parties were coalition partners in
all governments since independence, and at present six of seventeen
government ministers are ethnic Albanians, the parliament vice-president is
Albanian, as well as several ambassadors. There are primary, secondary
schools and colleges in Albanian; an Albanian university is about to open.
There are tv stations, theaters, newspapers in the languages of the
minorities. Why then the recent ethnic violence?
The Albanian militants claim they are fighting for human rights. This is a
mantra which has proven to be a winning argument in the past. However, this
time the human rights issues are a front for armed redrawing of borders. The
occupation of territory, abduction and murder of civilians, the threats to
bomb the parliament building (in downtown Skopje, the capital), cutting off
water supplies to the third largest city and - finally - the ethnic cleansing
perpetrated on the majority Macedonians (who are a minority in the area of
the conflict) point to the obvious: does one fight for language recognition
with mortar fire and snipers? (Can someone kill cops in LA or Miami demanding
that Spanish be spoken in the Senate?)
The "ethnic cleansers" - NLA - are mainly old KLA soldiers who fought in
Kosovo alongside NATO. (Even their initials are the same in Albanian: UCK.)
Most of their arms and fighters come across the border from NATO-administered
Kosovo. The UN Security Council last week requested that KFOR and UNMIK
patrol the porous border more vigilantly.
American, EU and NATO diplomats try to broker a peace agreement which centers
on better guarantee for the Albanians' minority rights, as a pre-requisite
for disarmament. This misses the point: the radical Albanians fight for
territory.
They are doing precisely what many observers have been warning against for
years - escalating the violence until the average citizen gets affected and
radicalized.
Even though the diplomats insist they will not negotiate with NLA (whom
NATO's secretary general George Robertson called "thugs and murderers"), the
west is - de facto - legitimizing killing in the name of a language dispute.
What a paradox!
Meanwhile, the fragile and impoverished country which was praised for its
multiethnic society and government, the same country which was (and is) the
primary base for NATO's operation against Milosevic's Yugoslavia and
peace-keeping in Kosovo (much at its own peril), the country which took
350,000 refugees from Kosovo (an increase in population of whole 15%) is
being ripped apart under the armed onslaught of gunmen armed and trained by
NATO. Macedonia is collateral damage to NATO's involvement in the Balkans.
The US and its allies consider it too risky to try to disarm KLA (or NLA),
even though this was an explicit responsibility of their Kosovo mandate. Last
year's disarmament of the KLA was largely a symbolic affair. Body bags are
not sexy, so NATO chose to let the militants keep their western weapons.
(Three weeks ago the US evacuated several busloads of militants from the
surrounded village of Aracinovo - complete with their weapons. A rumor that
seventeen American advisors were among the surrounded extremists triggered an
angry reaction by the Macedonian crowds who tried to block the busses, and
later stormed the parliament building.)
NATO's Kosovo escapade did much more than arm and train the militants who now
execute a classical blowback. It escalated the conflict in the Balkans to a
higher level. The psychological effect of the entire world putting itself on
the side of the Great Cause (as seen by the Albanian extremists) has given a
boost to their armed secessionist struggle. Ethnic cleansing and occupying
territories is an advanced step in redrawing borders. The last ten years in
Yugoslavia taught us what this leads to.
The US has a chance to stop the bloodshed and further collapse of democratic
values in Europe. This can not be achieved by hypocritical appeals to "both
sides." NATO, EU and the US applied immense pressure on democratic Macedonia
not to defend itself. Now, the aggression and insurrection got out of hand.
As a result of the "peace process," Macedonia is on its way to federalization
and disintegration.
Last month President Bush issued an order blocking the accounts of the
leaders of NLA and barring them from entering the US; the European allies
followed suit. This is obviously not enough.
If the US wants to demonstrate its stand against redrawing borders in the
Balkans, if she wants to stick to her word (NATO promised to defend
Macedonia, as General Wesley Clark points out in his book), if the she
doesn't want to set an example where she discards her allies when tough
action (even on a minor scale) is demanded, then the US should choke the arms
supplies and send the warmongers where Milosevic went. The NLA must be forced
to abandon its armed aggression and insurrection BEFORE there is more
political talk. The US must do this even if it requires limited military
involvement, such as arresting the NLA leaders (and expanding Bush's "black
list") and seizing its arms depots. The US has a moral obligation to stop
them from turning Macedonia into another Afghanistan or Cambodia, two sad
examples of blowback and collateral damage from American involvement . As we
learned in Bosnia, leaving the ethnic-cleansers unchecked causes much more
trouble down the line.
Or, as that proverbial lawyer in a Hollywood joke said: "Good news. It's only
a MORAL obligation." Except this time it is a practical obligation as well.
Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the Academy award-nominated "Before the
Rain," which also won Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Independent
Spirit Award and 30 awards worldwide.
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