An effort to mix 'oil and water'

By Vaiju Naravane

TEJZE (NORTH WESTERN MACEDONIA), JUNE 19. Jonuz Halil is sixty years old. His feet encased in worn embroidered slippers, he drags himself forward supported by his wife Cesnje. With shaking hands, Jonuz hitches up his shirt to show the bullet wounds riddling his abdomen just below the thoracic cavity.

``We were very, very lucky - these were only flesh wounds. Had the bullets pierced his chest cavity he was lost''. Holding out her palms, Cesnje turns her eyes heavenward, murmuring ``Falimender!'' (thank you).

Jonuz was riding his donkey near his fields in Kalje village in the hills near Tetovo when the shooting began. ``They could watch me with their binoculars down below. They could see I was an harmless old man on a donkey. But still they kept shooting. The animal perished. I managed to crawl to safety. My family came looking for me and took me to hospital,'' he says showing me the blood stained, bullet-riddled shirt he was wearing at the time. ``We are poor peasants, humble people. What do we know of terrorists? Do I support the terrorists? Not really. I don't support violence. I do not want anyone killed or hurt. But I do want more rights for our people, our children,'' he says. There is a barrage of gunfire and Jonuz covers his ears in terror. ``He's been like this since he got shot,'' his son Hamdi explains.

In the village of Drenovic which overlooks Tetovo, the 65,000- strong predominantly Albanian town near the border with Kosovo, Haji Saiti Taip looks at the ruins of his home. Macedonian troops have used helicopters and heavy ammunition to blast its roof and walls. All that's left is an empty shell. Many other houses nearby have suffered the same fate. ``Tell me, do I look like a terrorist to you? We are all quiet people. But we support the NLA demands. We want equal rights for the Albanians. We have suffered enough at the hands of the Slavs,'' he says.

As the conflict in Macedonia nears its fifth month, positions on both sides, Albanian and Macedonian appear to be hardening. Guerillas with help from Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo have launched an insurgency in the north west of Macedonia. Over the past two weeks they have captured towns close to the capital Skopje and threatened to bomb the airport and oil refinery.

Albanians make up a third of this Balkan republic's population of two million. They say they are discriminated against, in terms of equality of opportunity, language, status and jobs.

Macedonians are dismissive of these complaints. ``They don't get jobs because they don't want to study and work. They want easy money through crime,'' says Jovan, who waits tables at a cafi in Skopje. Such views are expressed not just by the unsophisticated and undereducated.

Mr. Georgj Marianovic, is professor of criminal law at the University of Skopje and president of the Macedonian Democratic League. ``If we are elected we will give them equality,'' he sneers. ``We will make them pay taxes like

everyone else. Albanians don't pay taxes. They are tax evaders. Macedonians on an average have three children. Albanians have 10. If we are elected we will make them pay taxes for the fourth child onwards. Macedonians and Albanians are like oil and water. They can never mix,'' he says.

Negotiations are now under way to find a political solution to the crisis which began almost five months ago. The national unity government set up in May under international pressure and which includes Albanian parties is meeting behind closed doors to work out a compromise. Both sides have declared a ceasefire until June 27 to allow the talks to proceed calmly although sporadic violations have been reported. Reports filtering out of the conference rooms say Albanian leaders are holding out for official status for their language alongside Macedonian.

The Macedonian President, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, has said he is willing to accept changes to the country's Constitution if that would help avert civil war.

Mr. Ljubomir Frckovshi, one of his principal advisers who helped draft the 1991 Constitution said: The preamble to the Constitution could be completely redesigned. In the present Constitution Albanians are listed as ``minorities'' while Macedonians are described as ``founders of the nation''.

A western diplomat described the changes as ``extremely symbolic in a country where symbols are overwhelmingly important.'' But Mr. Xhevat Halili, a professor of French at the University of Tetovo said that these changes ``might come too late''. He says there is a radicalisation of positions on both sides. ``We tried through peaceful means for ten years to make Macedonians see reason. It was only when certain Albanians took to arms that the Government sat up and listened. I am afraid the compromise might come too late. Our people have been hurt very badly,'' he said.

Mr. Halili was referring to several incidents of torture and human rights abuses which have taken place recently. This correspondent was able to meet Ismail Jakupin who was tortured by the Macedonian police recently.

Nazim Bushi, an Albanian serving in the police force guarding Skopje's international airport was also brutally beaten up by his colleagues who suspected him of giving out maps and airport details to the rebels.

Several times this correspondent was stopped and searched and on two occasions threatened by army reservists at road blocks leading to Albanian villages neat Tetovo and the capital Skopje. At one such roadblock the soldiers were clearly drunk and abusive.

Mr. Sasko Klekovski of the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation says the Government is not aware of such incidents. However, with reports of brutality on the rise the Government has decided to call back weapons given to Macedonian reservists.

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