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Press Briefing held on 9 October 2002 at the NATO Press Centre in Skopje Statement of Craig Ratcliff: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today’s press conference. We certainly appreciate the continuous interest in the international community operations in Macedonia, in support of Macedonia as well. The issue, of course for NATO, today is to reiterate the President’s letter to the Secretary General. Looking at the early news reports from last night and this morning, I think that most of you already had the letter faxed, so you are aware of the contents. We certainly see it as a very positive step in support of Macedonia and the international community’s support of Macedonia to further stability and security in the region. And certainly looking as the process continues with the new government establishing itself, we are looking forward to working with the new government in relationship to mandates and mission in the future. Certainly we will be open for discussion afterwards if anybody has any questions about mandate and mission. Apparently, in relation to current activities in country, both my partners on stage have come today with no formal statements to make but they are here to answer questions or discussions that you may have on current issues. So,… anybody other than Linda? Question 1:First I’ve got a question for Irena and Harald about this protest of students today. It is not very clear what is really happening. Do you have any real version on what is going on with these schools and are you involved in trying to find a solution because it seems that it is an ethnic thing between Macedonian and Albanian school in Semsevo, and something is happening here in the secondary school in Skopje. And then, I also have a question for you Craig. President Trajkovski said yesterday that he would not prefer to see a change of the role and the responsibilities of the actual mission. Is there any NATO option for a new mandate, for a new role of NATO here, it does not seem that you really need to protect those observers, nobody is attacking them, at least not now after the elections? Ratcliff: Ok Linda, you are right. Nobody attacked them to this point but that is because we are here. The protection and security of the monitors is a nebulous sort of issue. Do you have protection or do you not have protection? And of course, we all know, there has always been discussion, about the future and NATO is talking formally and a lot of people are talking off record about the mission in future and that is a debate right now, whether there should be a change of the mandate, whether there should not be, and then how far does the mandate go? But that is not an issue for NATO in itself, that is an issue for the Government of Macedonia and the international community as a whole on what our focus, our mission and our support to the country should be and how do we do that. The nice thing is that Macedonia has made a great progress so the nice thing about your question is that we are in a position to ask it and to question the future; that is good. That is good, that means that Macedonia is on the brink of a very stable, peaceful and secure environment and in a position to move forward as a member of the European community. That is good. I already said it was asked until December, it has always been a 90 days segments to this point and discussions with the new government will occur after they take place or after they install themselves and we will see what the future holds. Journalist: You said that there are debates on the change of the mandate. So, if there are such debates it means that the situation here is still fragile. Would you say the same, because in the meantime the NATO mission is here to protect the monitors, so if the police and the security forces in this country would be able to function like in any normal country, they would do that, without NATO. Ratcliff: OK, by saying that I am referring even back to the whole of last year, ever since Fox came in, whether it is HQ Amber Fox or Task Force Fox, people have from day 1 been talking about changes in the mandate. That is why I say that there have always been debates about what the mandate is and what it should be, so that has not changed. Mandate changes are initiated by the government itself. I remember a press conference, I think you asked the question even back then, is there a need to change the mandate and the answer is: if the government requests one we would look at it. Neither the former government nor the future current government has requested a change, so there will be no change until December, however, if they want one it is an option for them to request one. So, really it is the same issue, just month. Schenker: With regards to Semsevo, we have been quite outspoken about this issue, publicly and over the last few days so I don’t know if I should repeat everything but fine…First of all, we are concerned about an environment in which Macedonian students have been made to feel unwelcome in their own school. Changes in employment, changes in the names of schools, placing of monuments and all these things should and can only be done in accordance with the law and as a result of a democratic process. What has happened there is contrary both to the law and to the letter and spirit of the Ohrid Agreement. And it is harmful to the process of reconciliation of the citizens of this country. So, we have repeated and we continue to call upon politicians and the citizens of Semsevo and the whole region to put an end to this negative behaviour and to work together in the spirit of tolerance and understanding. And the most important thing is that the school should be a place for teaching and not for intolerance or archaic things like nationalism and other such things. So, that was about Semsevo. What is happening in Skopje, there were some positive signals there, meaning that obviously the Association of students have been talking to each other and have been having rather similar stands in regards to the issue. There, I see a rather technical issue that has been blown way out of context. It is very important that a decision is taken there rather soon by the Government, by a probably new minister of education, because what we have at the moment is ongoing protests, high school students being out of the streets, exercising what is their democratic right, however, it is a volatile situation because you know what it means when you have…we have all been young, we have all participated at protests at some stage, I suppose, when you have a big group of young people being out on the streets, instead of where there should be now, and that is in school. Guzelova: As far as Semsevo is concerned, I can only support what Harald has said. Essentially we understand the concerns of the Macedonians, and we hope that a solution that will allow all ethnicities to study side by side will be found as soon as possible. But ultimately, it is something that has to be dealt with in the Ministry of education and according to the laws of the land of Macedonia. What is clear is that Macedonians must be able to study and live in the whole of the Tetovo area. Question 2: A question for Harald. What about the citizens from Sipkovica, Kamenjane and Bogovinje who have been recently stating that they would like to voluntarily hand over the weapons that are in their illegal possession, and another question for Irena, is it possible to request from the government to enact a new law on that issue? Schenker: This issue is again continuing to be in the public discussion. What has happened is that some people have approached us or the police in that area saying that they are concerned about the massive existence of weapons. I guess, there is not much to say against that, everybody should be very concerned about a lot of weapons being in private hands. When we are talking about political moves, I would say give it some time. When the new government will be appointed, when the new government will be in place, they would have to make a lot of decisions and just give tit some time… Guzelova: I don’t really have anything to add but just the same thing. The government has not been formed yet, so… Question 3: Craig, there is still a little bit of confusion about why the mandate was extended, i.e. will be extended I suppose, only until 15 December, having in mind that the other mission mandates have been extended by 3 months. Do you have the explanation why the authorities requested only an extension for a month and a half and what about the reviewing of the NATO presence in the next year? Ratcliff: I think a reasonable assumption at this point, Tino, is that the mandate has always been extended to 90-day groups. It’s originally I think only 90 days and it has been 90 days every time, depending of the security situation. It is probably also tied in with the process of establishing a new government, you have to give them a chance to get on stage, take over, take a look at that and then let them evaluate where they want to go for next year. Certainly, a 60 day extension, I think that what it works out to be, to the middle or so of December, gives them a chance to come on board, take a look at everything and make a hard decision about the future and with full evaluation, I think it is reasonable to say at this point that it is positive until December with a possibility for a longer mandate, depending on the new government. We have always looked very positively on this, it is just a question on when the new government decides what they are going to do. Question 4: A question for Harald, related to the latest report issued by the State Department regarding the religious tolerance or intolerance in Macedonia, basically, saying that the Cross that has been built on the Vodno Mountain is a provocation for the Albanians. What is the position of the OSCE on that? Schenker: The position of the OSCE is that there is a legal framework for monuments, they can be built by decision of various authorities, now whether that was a wise thing to do or not is a different story. According to us, the priorities of the national authorities and the IC here is to rather repair the damage that has been done to the religious sites. That could be a serious confidence building measure for the immediate future which could have long-term implications as well. Journalist: Do you think that the cross really irritates them or not? Schenker: well I guess you will have to ask them, who ever they are. Monuments are often an issue of debate over the artistic value. Now, you don’t expect a comment from me on that… Ratcliff: Ok, Thank you for coming, it is always a pleasure to see you.