Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Saso Ordanoski in Skopje

 

A campaign to protect the interior minister from war crimes charges seems rooted in domestic electioneering.

 

A strident campaign has flared up in Macedonia to prevent the ultra-nationalist interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, being handed over to the war crimes tribunal, but political analysts believe the campaign has more to do with the coming general election scheduled for September this year rather than any real threat from The Hague.

 

Boskovski's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation, VMRO-DPME, is not doing well in opinion polls and the reasoning seems to be that boosting his hero status might improve the party's fortunes.

 

The war crime blamed on Boskovski concerned an incident last August following seven months of civil strife between the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian rebels.

 

It happened at Ljuboten village, north of Skopje, where at least nine ethnic Albanian civilians were allegedly killed by Macedonian security forces in retaliation for the death of eight soldiers. Macedonian authorities claimed that the dead Albanians were either guerrillas or "battle related victims", even though several of those killed were over 70 and one was an infant child.

 

Last week, prosecutors from The Hague tribunal, together with Macedonian forensic experts, finished their exhumation of 10 bodies in Ljuboten. A statement was expected after the autopsy.

 

On April 22, war crimes tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartman protested against Macedonian government efforts to present Boskovski as an innocent victim of the tribunal. Interviewed by Skopje's daily Utrinski vesnik, she said that while the tribunal was investigating his case it is too early to say whether he is likely to be indicted.

 

The opposition Social-Democratic Alliance of Macedonia, SDSM, commented sardonically, "How can we give 'brother Ljube' to anybody when nobody is asking for him?" The party's secretary-general Gjorgji Spasov said, "The SDSM is also against giving Boskovski to the tribunal, because we want to prosecute and try him here in Macedonia."

 

The "pro-Ljube" movement reached a climax on Friday, April 26, when thousands of demonstrators were bussed into Skopje from all over the country, waving banners proclaiming, "We are not giving up Ljube!" "No compromise with terrorists," "Carla go to Kosovo," (a reference to Hague prosecutor Carla Del Ponte). Organisers promised a turnout of 50,000-60,000 but only a few thousand showed up.

 

Boskovski began his speech, "Macedonia has said its historic NO tonight! Macedonians have proved that they will not kneel or beg in front of some international..." at which point his words were drowned out by ecstatic cheering. Similar ovations punctuated other wildly patriotic remarks.

 

"I came here because I'm sick of Europe's double standards - I've had enough of Brussels dictating what we should do," said a Macedonian from Strumica.

 

"We were pushed into a war that we did not deserve and now the ones that defended us could be tried for war crimes - it is completely unfair! Albanians should stand trial. This is a disgrace for Europe."

 

An international diplomat is reported to have said: "This is nothing new. We have seen such campaigns in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia. The tactic is to show how popular Boskovski is and make the international community afraid to send him to The Hague."

 

It was notable that not one anti-Albanian remark was made by Boskovski in his speech or in the statements of his supporters. This was due to two factors.

 

First, VMRO-DPMNE and the major Democratic Party for Albanians, DPA, have renewed their old coalition for the forthcoming elections. Secondly, some western diplomats have said they have reached an agreement among the major parties not to use inflammable rhetoric about ethnic divisions during pre-election campaigning.

 

"It is odd that DPA says that they have won the war and liberated the Albanian population while at the same time VMRO-DPMNE claims that Ljube Boskovski is a liberator of Macedonia," Spasov commented.

 

At the last SDMS press conference on April 26, the party claimed that the whole governmental and political infrastructure of VMRO was involved in the campaign against the tribunal. "VMRO members are visiting homes in the provinces making lists of people regarded as 'traitors' and threatening them with loss of jobs if they do not support Boskovski," one SDSM official said.

 

 

President Purvanov: Law on Classified Information Satisfactory.

 

Koprivshtitsa, May 1 (BTA) - President Georgi Purvanov said that the new law on the protection of classified information solves in a satisfactory way the problems with the use of such information. Purvanov decreed the promulgation of the law on Tuesday despite pressure from the right-wing opposition to veto the legislation because it repeals the law on the access to the files of the Communist-era state security service.

 

"Despite my objections to the law I think it would be best to promulgate it in the 'Official Gazette' and use is as a serious pro-NATO argument in our favour," Purvanov said, noting that almost all other NATO membership aspirants have adopted similar laws.

 

Purvanov said he objects to the fact that the law does not give Bulgarian citizens the option to contest in court a refusal for access to particular information. He said the absence here of such a mechanism can be compensated if it is planted in another piece of legislation.

 

He also said that the mechanism for the formation of the commission envisaged in the new law creates opportunities for future political purges.

 

Asked for his opinion about the idea to transfer the files of the former state security for safekeeping to the Presidency building, Purvanov said he cannot take on such a responsibility in the absence of the appropriate legislation and in view of the fact that others have so far been in charge of the records. "I still think that the names of people that acted as informers to the political police should be revealed," Purvanov said, adding that each citizen should be allowed to see the file that was kept on him/her. However, he said he still considers very inappropriate the divulgence of the names of people that worked for Bulgaria's interests.

 

 

 

Dairy Farmers Protest Low Purchasing Prices of Milk.

 

Sofia, May 1 (BTA) - Dairy farmers and producers gathered in front of the Farming Ministry building on Wednesday to protest low purchasing prices for milk and to demand that procedures for the payment of product quality-related bonuses be eased. The rally was organized by the Independent Association of Milk Producers (IAMP).

 

IAMP executive director Mincho Minchev highlighted before the protestors the problems the industry is facing: low purchasing prices and complicated procedures for the payment by the Agriculture State Fund (ASF) of bonuses for premium quality milk. "For 12 years now we have been waiting in vain for someone to take interest in our problems," he said, noting that all attempts on the part of IAMP to engage the Farming Ministry in some sort of a dialogue have failed.

 

Deputy farming minister Boiko Boev invited journalists to his office and said that IAMP representatives are yet to make their demands at a meeting of the Consultative Council on Milk (CCM), a body formed by the Farming Ministry and milk industry guilds. He said the target subsidy for premium quality cow and buffalo milk has been increased this year by 0.04 leva/l and that for first quality milk by 0.03 leva/l and that a further increase is planned for 2003.

 

However, there is no way the subsidy could be made available to producers indebted to ASF as demanded by IAMP, he said. At Farming Minister Mehmed Dikme's insistence, IAMP's recent actions will be reviewed at the next CCM meeting in the context of the memorandum on loyal cooperation between the ministry and the milk industry guilds that has been signed.

 

The National Milk Association, the National Association of Milk Producers and the Association of Milk Processors in Bulgaria distanced themselves from the Wednesday protest.

 

 

 

Bulgarian Publication Debuts in Great Britain, Ireland.

 

Sofia, May 1 (BTA) - The inaugural issue of Bulgarian newspaper "Budilnik" came out on Wednesday in Great Britain and Ireland, said Svetlin Panayotov, owner of "Budilnik" publisher TGM-Publishing Ltd-London.

 

The newspaper will aim to be an independent source of information for the Bulgarian communities in Great Britain and Ireland. The publication does not claim to reflect the totality of interests and views of expatriate Bulgarians but will provide a forum for discussion between its readers, the press release said.

 

Political analyst Ivo Maev will be editor-in-chief. The 24-page newspaper will be printed twice a month, with longer-term plans to make it a weekly, and will cost 0.90 pounds.

 

 

 

Sofia, May 1 (BTA) - Bulgarian natural gas supplier Bulgargaz and Turkey's national gas company BOTAS will form a working group by mid-2202 to inspect the opportunities for the transiting of Bulgaria-bound natural gas via Turkish territory, Bulgarian Energy Minister Milko Kovachev said Wednesday upon his return from a three-day visit to Turkey paid at the invitation of Turkish counterpart Zeki Cakan. "We are building infrastructure that will expand the market and I think the working group can come up with interesting proposals in that respect," he said.

 

Kovachev confirmed that a second 400KV powerline linking Bulgaria and Turkey's electricity grids will be completed in May.

 

Kovachev said he had discussed with Cakan and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz the development of the electricity and gas networks and the bilateral accord and protocol on cooperation.

 

The Turkish side said they will continue to import electricity from Bulgaria.

The intergovernmental agreement with Turkey envisages the involvement of a Turkish company in the construction of the Upper Arda hydropower facility but concrete companies were not mentioned, Kovachev said. He has familiarized Yilmaz with Bulgaria's position that regardless of the exact composition of the consortium for the Upper Arda project, it must involve a strategic investor and companies with good reputation and adequate expertise.

 

Bulgargaz executive director Kiril Gegov and National Electric Company executive director Vasil Anastasov were also on the Bulgarian delegation.