Speech
delivered
by Dr. Vlado Buckovski,
Minister of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia
Dear Colleagues,
Republic of Macedonia is going through the most difficult time since
its existence. For three months now, our state has been exposed to constant
attacks by the Albanian extremist and terrorist gangs.
International community has been working on the stabilization of Kosovo
for too long. The incomplete disarmament of the UCK has created preconditions
for the crisis to spill over the Republic of Macedonia. This is a reason
more for the international community to involve itself more actively in
the crisis settlement in the Republic of Macedonia.
Dear Colleagues,
Republic of Macedonia developed a disarmament plan for the terrorists
which will be presented by the President of the state today in front of
the deputies of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and which we
believe will lead to the solving of this tragedy that could encompass
the entire Balkans and Europe. Therefore, we expect full support and assistance
by the international community and NATO for our plan for elimination of-
the terrorism and its causes to be implemented in as short time frame
as possible.
Dear Colleagues,
The final goal of the plan is to continue in stable conditions and within
the institutions of the system by building a civil society, in which the
legal order and the institutions of the government would be fully functional
and which provides for respect of the human and minority rights and freedoms
of all citizens of the Republic of Macedonia in accordance with the international
standards.
In order to set up the parameters for successful crisis completion,
the plan will include the following key aspects:
- Isolation, i.e. neutralization of the terrorists.
- Laying off, i.e. turning in of the weapons within the stated deadline;
- Confidence building measures which are crucial for the establishment
of the right way towards the future and they have to be locally recognizable
and familiar to the population in the surrounding area. This requires
coordinated public information campaign for the local population.
- Provision of time for the terrorists to hear and understand the disarmament
plan.
- The geographic dimension of the disarmament process must be determined.
It must be in phases and implemented with a maximum speed.
During the implementation plan, the Republic of Macedonia is prepared
to cooperate with the international organizations, i.e. with their monitoring
missions, while the modalities of their involvement and mutual cooperation
would be discussed additionally.
Republic of Macedonia intends to undertake the following activities
in order to deal with the crisis:
- To isolate the terrorists who operate in the northern and northwestern
areas of the country.
- To develop a confidence building measures system.
- To start up the disarmament process which will be conducted in phases
and by geographic regions:
- Kumanovo - Lipkovo region
- Tetovo - Sar planina
- Debar region
- Remaining part of the country
- Implementation of infrastructure and social projects in the areas
that are covered by terrorist activities (including reconstruction of
living facilities, improvement of health care conditions, water supply,
roads etc.);
Security operations should be conducted in phases in order to achieve
step - by - step progress towards politically agreed solution:
The first phase, which has already been started, provides for coordination
of the organizational and planning, political and diplomatic initiatives,
personnel and material preparations for implementation of the disarmament
operations of the terrorists.
At the same time, the following more specific plans should be developed:
- Media campaign plan;
- Plan for development of confidence building and restoring measures;
- Joint plan for the use of the security forces
- Plan for disarmament and establishment of peace and security
- Plan for coordination with the international organizations
The second phase should include initiation of an intensive media campaign,
which will enable to point to the confidence building measures. Security
forces will conduct operations for terrorists isolation in order to break
their desire to continue the terrorist activities and to disturb their
cohesion.
The purpose of the third phase is conducting disarmament of the terrorists
and creation of normal peacetime living and working conditions. This will
be conducted on the bases of a developed operational plan for which implementation
we count on the international community especially NATO, EU and OSCE .
All of the activities in this phase will be conducted in close coordination
with KFOR.
The purpose of the fourth phase is creation conditions for going back
into peacetime life and work. After the mission is accomplished, the security
forces will be withdrawn in phases while the public peace and order will
be maintained by the regular police authorities. The initiated infrastructure
and social projects will be completed in the areas that were covered by
the activities.
We should mention that the plan is not a definite one and it is still
under development. However, it basically envisions social integration
of all of those who are prepared to lay down the weapon so that all the
requests could be pursued through the institutions of the system.
We are prepared to integrate in our society all Macedonian citizens
who have not committed a crime against mankind, and want to continue living
in peace, laying down the weapon.
The implementation of this plan requires an assessment of the required
financial resources and provision of funding sources for reconstruction
of the facilities that were damaged during the conflicts, as well as for
the planned infrastructure projects which are necessary in the respective
areas.
At the end, I would like to emphasize that, this plan represents a defense
of the Euro-Atlantic values, i.e. our modest contribution to the stability
of the region, and at the same time, a proof for our preparedness to justify
our positions of a NATO membership aspirant country.
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