Press
Briefing
held
on 27 March 2002
at the NATO Press Centre in Skopje
Statement by Craig Ratcliff:
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to today’s press conference. Of course,
in the past few days many of us have been focused on the events that occurred
Monday evening in Mala Recica. The ambassador would like to read a statement
for you at this time.
Statement by Ambassador Klaus Vollers:
We have a joint press statement.
The International Community joins together to strongly condemn the violence
perpetrated Monday night in Mala Recica. We reiterate our full support
for the peace process and efforts to implement the Framework Agreement.
We fully support those persons, those groups and people who are dedicated
to peace and reconciliation and those that are continuing to work on the
full implementation of the Framework Agreement.
The act is contrary to the interests of all citizens of Macedonia no
matter their ethnicity. Those who continue to promote violence and criminal
activity as political means will not be allowed to set the agenda for
this country, nor will their actions turn Macedonia away from the its
goal of being a peaceful, stable and prosperous part of modern Europe.
The actions of Monday night will not stop the peace process. It will
not stop re-deployment. It will not stop progress towards unity and prosperity
for all of Macedonia.
We will continue our efforts to contribute to the full implementation
of the peace process and the Orhid Agreement.
Ratcliff:
We are going to follow our usual order and then the Ambassador would
like to make some closing comments.
Despite the negative and erroneous reporting by one television station
in particular, the news surrounding Monday’s event has been generally
objective. It was very difficult for most of you to make sense of the
event without a clear picture of what occurred. Remarkably, this has resulted
in some fairly accurate reporting, but also some reporting based on speculation.
We do not place any fault on anyone in any way, you acted responsibly
and fairly based on what you were able to find out as, I think, quite
a few of you called me yesterday, we discussed that with other representatives
of the international community.
So, as a personal note in my statement today, I feel I’ve got a
very good relationship with most of you, so, I do apologise to Tino for
what I am going to say. Sitel has reported some very erroneous and inflammatory
information on the event.
Yes, there was an exchange of gunfire and rocket propelled grenades between
two groups Monday evening. Yes, there were at least two people killed,
but not the ten that was reported by another source today.
No, we cannot confirm who the participants were. But we do not believe
that it is a start of a civil war or the imaginary spring offensive that
is pushed consistently by a local television media.
We are not an investigative body, nor do we have the mandate to conduct
such an investigation to confirm the full details of the event. .
However, because we have the mandate to protect monitors and other international
community members, we were in the area. This is what I can say reference
to the event.
Task Force Fox did have a routine patrol in the area. Gunfire was reported
by that team around 22:15 that evening. TFF did sent additional teams
to support the one team on patrol. We sent them in order to monitor the
situation and address the threat to the international community members
in the area.
As part of the erroneous reporting, it was stated that we sent a rescue
team to rescue someone from that event. TFF did not send a rescue team
to extract Ali Ahmeti, as it was reported. We sent teams only to maintain
a close observation of the event, in order to support the government with
an accurate picture until they could arrive and investigate as we assume
they will. It is common knowledge that Ali Ahmeti was at a meeting at
that location several hours earlier, as reported by the media. But he
was not anywhere close in the area at the time of the event. We do know
that the incident or the fighting continued to about 00:30 in the morning.
We did remain in place all night to monitor the situation. And yes, we
did enter the area at daylight to fully assess the incident. At that time
we could confirm that there were at least two dead with three injured.
However, there has been no other independent investigation from any other
institution or persons to validate or contradict our observations.
At this point, any other thing other than what we have been able to report
is speculation until an investigation can be conducted by the appropriate
authorities. As in any other case, the international community has openly
offered and is prepared to assist in any investigation the appropriate
authorities will conduct.
That concludes my comments and now I’ll pass it to Florin.
Statement by Florin Pasnicu:
Thank you, Craig. Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.
Allow me to add a very short note to the joint statement that Ambassador
Vollers read and then to convey a message of a more general, professional
nature. In regard to the joint statement, let me reiterate our previous
statements, that the OSCE mission condemns without reservation the use
of violence for political goals. And to reiterate our full support for
the unity and territorial integrity of this country.
As for the message of general professional nature, last week I attended
the ceremony for awarding the prizes for the best investigative story
of the last year. It was a nice and useful professional event, that I
was happy to attend. I am pleased to see some familiar faces from that
ceremony here in the audience. Let me address a message to all of those
who were awarded prizes, who participated in the competition and who expressed
interest in doing investigative journalism at large. I congratulate all
of you and I hope that you will have a successful career.
Statement by Irena Guzelova:
Thanks, Florin. There is very little or more I can add to the fairly
lengthy statements, coming both from Ambassador Vollers and from Craig,
and also of my colleague Florin here. All I can say is that the EU, too,
strongly condemns the violence on Monday night in Mala Recica. And the
communiqués that come from the so-called ANA, which are faxed to
you and faxed to us as well, only play against the interests of Macedonia’s
Albanians. The vast majority of Albanians in this country support the
peace process and we fully support all parties who back the Framework
Agreement and the re-entry of the police, which has proceeded faster and
smoother than many had previously anticipated.
And over to Ambassador Vollers.
Statement by Ambassador Vollers:
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I don’t want to make another fairly lengthy statement. I came today
to say farewell to you because I am leaving this country on Saturday.
I came from the beginning and I stayed for six months, and I will leave
at the end of the month, after a time which, I think, was fairly successful
for Macedonia. If you think about the time around 1 October, when I came,
and compare it with this time now, you can say that this country has achieved
lot of stability in the meantime. So, I will leave this country full of
satisfaction with what has been achieved in the meantime and had I left
last Saturday, instead of next Saturday, I could have said the peace was
fully re-established. Anyway, I think what we had this week is a small
incident of some isolated people and we have to really find out what happened,
but this is neither an attack on this country, spring offensive or anything
like this, but it will be cleared up in a short time, I think. So, I think
that this country would go on, the police re-entry will be finished very
soon, stability will return and we will all talk about economic questions,
instead of political questions here.
I worked with the press, I think it was a good work, I enjoyed it and
I thank you for you cooperation, I want to thank you for that. I am leaving
the country, I wish all of you and to all Macedonian people that peace
is restored and prosperity will come in a short time, when all Macedonians
concentrate on the economy.
Thank you very much. I had a very good time here, I enjoyed it, it was
a good time and I will think back of Macedonia when I am back in Berlin.
Ratcliff: I don’t think it’s inappropriate for me at this time
to publicly state how personally and professionally rewarding it has been
to be able to work with Ambassador Vollers. And I hope that I speak on
behalf of both my fellow spokespersons and on behalf of the press. You’ve
had a great opportunity to work with a really good guy who has also done
an excellent job here. I appreciate it, thank you, Ambassador.
Part of my earlier statement, in particular for apologising to Tino,
your article, the story the other night, I actually thought was very objective.
So, my criticism is pointed at other individuals.
Subject to questions.
Question 1: A question for Ambassador Vollers. Before you leave
Macedonia, do you think that you estimated wrongly when you said the Albanians
were disarmed and that ANA is just a virtual organisation which has only
two computers?
Vollers: I would take back the two computers. There are some people
on the ground, but what the organisation is of ANA, we don’t know
yet. There are computers, we know, there are some people on the ground,
but how they fit together and whether all things which ANA claims are
really done by anything which is called ANA organisation, we don’t
know. So, it seems to me that all people who are against the development
of the country, just call themselves ANA, that might be one explanation.
But we don’t know enough about the organisation or if there is one
organisation.
Ratcliff: May I add that we’ve never denied that there was
never an organisation called ANA. There was a press conference several
months ago, last fall, that they’ve been around as an organisation
in other areas since 1998 or 99, but we don’t know if they are credible
organisation in Macedonia. In addition, there are many splinter groups
and individuals that continue to promote violence and there is a tendency
to attach that to that organisation. We should avoid that. There are many
individuals operating independently or small groups that continue to act
in such a way.
Also, in reference to weapons, nobody ever said that Harvest was going
to collect every weapon in Macedonia. It was an act of good faith on the
part of the NLA to provide a framework and a base to start the peace process.
And to assume that former members of the NLA or a person of a specific
ethnic origin is the only person who has an illegal weapon in Macedonia
is not true. There are illegal weapons in the possession of many different
people in this country, not one group.
Question 2: You said there were at least two dead. Does it mean
that NATO have some unconfirmed reports that there may be more casualties.
The second question – do you expect a more wider conflict between
these two groups?
Ratcliff: We were able to confirm two. I know that there are other
reports that say three or five or ten. However, in that location, when
we arrived to further investigate and monitor to make sure it was secure,
there were two.
As far as speculation on whether there will be further armed conflict,
we have always said that there are splinter groups and individuals who
promote violence. Whether it’s this group or another group or another
individual, that is all speculation and we can’t predict the future.
But we have always said and strongly encouraged people to not promote
violence as a way to resolve their disillusionment with the current situation.
Question 3: I have several questions. The first one is for Mr.
Ratcliff. Do you know that last night the police checkpoint in Aracinovo
was attacked with RPG rounds and who did it? Are you aware that in Monday’s
incident the majority were people who were amnestied. Do you think amnesty
was justified?
My second question is for Florin. With regard to the incident, will the
police re-enter the village of Sipkovica tomorrow?
Ratcliff: With reference to your question about Aracinovo. I was
briefed this morning that there were several reports of several incidents
that occurred last night. However, upon investigation by Fox teams and
liaison teams, we were not able to find credible evidence to confirm in
any way that any of those attacks occurred. There was no evidence at the
location. There was just no indication that any of those things occurred
and in particular to what you were referring to. It does not surprise
us that there were reports, but again, we sent people out, there was no
confirmation and no evidence that that ever happened.
Vollers: You talked about amnesty. I think the question where
you want to go from the conflict of last year is very clear. We have to
overcome what happened last year and on both sides we have to forget the
past and go on to the future for the interest of all Macedonians. Therefore,
I think amnesty is justified, it should be responded by the Albanians
in an appropriate way, of course, but I think this is a very good final
point to leave behind what we call the crisis and go on to a peaceful
cooperation in this country.
Pasnicu: In regard to police redeployment, allow me to remind
you that the final decision about redeployment is taken by the Crisis
Management Centre and the Ministry of Interior. The OSCE mission has never
made the decisions in this respect. We try to facilitate the process,
to support the process, to build confidence and to give recommendations
based on the information we could get from the field. As this is our main
task at the moment, to support police redeployment, what we can say is
that we will not allow violent groups to obstruct this process. Police
redeployment has to continue and we would do our best to make it proceed
according to the plan. You may be aware that police redeployment in the
other regions went well yesterday and today. There are plans for police
to re-deploy soon in another 15 villages. We hope this will happen. And
to answer specifically to your question, I guess that the final decision
on this will be made probably tonight, at the Crisis Management Centre.
Question 4: I have a question for the three spokespersons, not
for the Ambassador. I’d like to save you for the last time. My question
is very simple: did you advise the Macedonian authorities or the Macedonian
side to stay aside of the conflict between the two Albanian groups or
was there any advice to tell them to get involved. The Ambassador said
last night that the police was not involved in the conflict. Are there
any ideas that the Macedonian police or any armed…side should get
involved in that inter-Albanian problem?
Ratcliff: No international community member, person or organisation
implied or told the police or the army or any security force to not enter
the area. Period. Next.
Question 5: Are you able, are you in a position to assess what
is the range for the threat for the stability of this country, having
in mind this kind of conflicts. Regarding and having also in mind the
possibility that there is a chance for younger people to join the splinter
groups. This is the first question.
The second question is: do you advise an independent investigation which
will be conducted by Macedonian authorities?
Ratcliff: I said earlier that we expect a full investigation to
be conducted by the appropriate authorities. That is not unusual. In any
case an investigation should be conducted. I also said that the international
community will assist in any way if asked or in any way that is appropriate
with our mandates. And again, that is not unusual.
As far as more groups, more violence and opportunity for people to join
those groups, I’ll go with what we said earlier – there is a
potential for any individual or any splinter group, as they’ve done
in the past, to promote violence as a way to promote their problems. Do
we encourage or support that? Absolutely not. We strongly condemn that.
But, as far as your question about opportunity for people to join this,
that or whatever, that is totally inappropriate for me to even venture
into that area.
Journalist: Craig, please, are you in a position to comment whether
this is going to have an effect for the peace process in the country and
do you think that this is the end of the clashes?
Ratcliff: I stated several times for people yesterday that no,
it will not have an impact on the peace process. We’ve said several
times today that redeployment will continue and the implementation of
the full peace agreement will happen.
And again, Tino, back to your question about potential for further violence
– we can’t predict that, but based on past patterns and this
recent event, we know that there are individuals and groups that continue
to promote violence as a means to solve their problems. Neither you or
I or anybody else can predict if it will occur again. But we do not discount
that it will occur again.
Question 6: Do you think that the government should be more decisive
when it comes to the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement so as not to
allow any groups to use violence?
Guzelova: Well, as you know, initially what was foreseen as a
timetable of the Framework agreement has slipped. But, the main laws have
been adopted. And that is the actual constitutional amendments which were
adopted by parliament, as you know, last year. And then the Law on local
self-government and finally the Law on amnesty. The Law on amnesty is
being implemented with remarkable speed. I will give you some figures
now. As of yesterday, and these are figures that are fairly broad, I mean,
they are not decisive, final figures. Eight people who were convicted
and detained have been granted amnesty so far, 11 people who were in pre-trial
detention or pre-conviction detention were amnestied; 179 people against
whom criminal proceedings are ongoing have been amnestied and 459 draft
evaders or deserters. I don’t think that this process is going particularly
slow.
Ratcliff: I’ll answer the second half of the second, but
Ambassador Vollers has to leave. Are there any questions in particular
for the ambassador?
Question 7: Something outside Monday’s incident. Have you
cleared things up with Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski about the incident
in Ohrid with the film?
Vollers: Yes, we had a talk yesterday and it was cleared. My people
are righted, they did the right thing, they did not do anything wrong
and we departed as friends.
Ratcliff: I think somebody asked a question about the government
preventing violence. It would be totally appropriate for the government
and all public institutions as well as every citizen of Macedonia to work
towards preventing future episodes of violence. I think it’s fair
to say that that is one of the points behind police redeployment and redeployment
of security forces, the security of the border and all those other things
that affect peace.
Pasnicu: I think that this recent incident underlines once again
the need for effective law enforcement and for effective policing. As
we stated several times, the rule of law is not negotiable, law must prevail
and must be properly enforced. And we support legitimate police actions
aimed at investigating and preventing further violence. And as police
redeployment is going on and as this process was completed in many villages
already, the efforts of the OSCE mission in particular will be increasingly
directed towards supporting effective policing in the villages. We have
a significant number of police advisors who work closely with police in
daily activities and in daily patrolling, for enabling police to deal
properly with this kind of situations and with any other crime that affects
the well-being and prosperity of all citizens.
Guzelova: And if I can just add one more thing referring back
to the question on the Framework agreement. I mean, clearly there are
laws that are foreseen in the Framework agreement that have not been adopted
or passed. Working is being done to prepare the draft versions of these
laws. But what I was trying to say before, previously, is that the politically
sensitive laws, such as amnesty and the Law on local self-government,
have been passed and have been adopted by Parliament. These laws, we expected
from the start, would be the hardest, but also these laws were the ones
which were absolutely crucial to establishing some kind of stability and
peace in the country. And the Law on local self-government was also a
prerequisite for the Donors’ meeting. So, the EU had to prioritise
these laws and give these specific laws, especially the Law on local self-government
and the Law on amnesty, priority.
Question 8: A question for Irena. Is the EU still looking into
the proposal of the International crisis group for appointing an anti-corruption
advisor?
Guzelova: This was an interesting proposal, but I don’t think
it was ever on the European Commission’s agenda to appoint a special
anti-corruption advisor. So, it was never on the agenda and it’s
not on the agenda.
Ratcliff: OK, just like in school, no more questions. Thanks for
coming today, I appreciate it.
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