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MILS: News from the FYROM, 96-11-08Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWS8th November 1996[01] 'ANA': NEW YORK NEGOTIATIONS TO CONTINUE TILL FYROM'S POSITION DETERMINEDAmbassadors Christos Zaharakis and Ivan Toshevski resumed talks in New York yesterday - within the latest round of negotiations which had been commenced two days ago - in order to come up with a settlement regarding the name- issue ...reports the Greek national press agency 'ANA'.'Makfax' is quoting the latter on releasing the information that 'talks would continue until the position of FYROM had been determined.' The Greek agency is revealing data obtained by UN sources that efforts are being made to fasten negotiations by holding meetings on an ambassador level lasting several hours In addition to this yesterday Greek media also focused on President Gligorov's intention to invite Greek PM Costas Simitis to visit Skopje. Pro-government paper 'Ta Nea' quotes well-informed circles in Athens by claiming that Simitis would be invited to attend the Conference on the Europeanization of the Balkans, scheduled to be held in Skopje next January. The paper further states that should Simitis accept the invitation Skopje would consider this an act of recognition. It has moreover been assessed that Gligorov is attempting to draw the attention of the international community upon him by forwarding the invitation, as it puts the Greek PM into a deplorable position. Should Simitis decline - according to 'Ta Nea' - Skopje would obtain the opportunity to exclude Greece from an international event for the first time. [02] PROPOSALS ON CONCRETE COOPERATIONYesterday was marked by the opening session of the Second Conference on Peace, Democracy and Cooperation in the Balkans in Athens. This event is being hosted by the Balkan Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations, and it included an address to the attending by the head of the Macedonian Liaison Office in Athens, Ljupcho Arsovski who expressed his hopes that the ideas and concepts aired at this conference will be integrated into the official policy of Greece - which has the potential to become one of the main protagonists in the Balkans. Arsovski also used the opportunity to pledge the European orientation of the Republic of Macedonia, as well as to forward several initiatives and proposals made by Macedonia to facilitate a further intensification of bilateral economic relations to the Secretary-General of the Greek Foreign Office. This 'non-paper' (an unofficial communiqu, which is not a document of official character) contains a suggestion on establishing a Consular-Trade Dept. within the Macedonian Liaison Office in Thessalonica; an invitation to form a joint expert team on organised crime, drugs and terrorism, as well as subsequent equipes which would discern matters of cooperation in the border region, or in such fields as education, history, archeology, etc.[03] MACEDONIAN RESOLUTION ON STOPPING THE VIOLENT DISINTEGRATION OF STATESOn 30th October the Republic of Macedonia submitted a Draft-Resolution on 'The Preservation of International Security and the Stopping of the Violent Disintegration of States' to the Secretariat of the UN General Assembly. MTV reports that this proposal had received the wide support of EU and Central European countries, thus that several states involved in UN organisations and bodies - i.e. in its six committees - are to endorse and mentor the Macedonian initiative. According to procedural regulations within the UN the Macedonian Resolution should be put to vote earliest at the 53rd Spring Session of the General Assembly, after which it could become the universal foundation for the prevention of the violent disintegration of states.[04] MINISTER FRCHKOVSKI: MACEDONIA NO LONGER ACCEPTS THE MANDATE OF THE GERD AHRENS GROUPThe Republic of Macedonia does no longer accept the mandate of the Expert Group on Minority Rights in Former Yugoslavia, headed by Gerd Ahrens... This statement is attributed to Foreign Secretary Ljubomir Frchkovski by the Macedonian Radio. The Minister is supposed to have mentioned the above during talks with the high-rank international official on Bosnia, Karl Bilt - throughout an unofficial meeting in Strasbourg. The actual reason for Frchkovski's stay in this city is the participation in the 99th Session of the Council of Europe Ministers. While addressing the latter Minister Frchkovski said that it was not too premature to consider new roles the Council of Europe could assume. With respect to the EU regional approach, the Macedonian Foreign Secretary estimated that what had to be avoided was the transformation of this approach into a procession in which all countries would have to march in tune with the least developed one. During his stay in Strasbourg Frchkovski also had several unofficial meetings with the Foreign Secretaries of Bulgaria (Mr. Pirinski) and Albania (Mr. Shehou), respectively.[05] MACEDONIA READY TO EXTEND HOSPITALITY TO 'NATO' TROOPSAt the International Conference on 'The Integration of NATO Doctrines into National Military Doctrine' at Tirana, the Deputy Chief of the Macedonian Armed Forces Command, Colonel-General Janakie Manasievski, stated that Macedonia was ready to extend its hospitality to NATO troops - as well as the fact that the country had troops ready to participate in peace-keeping operations.Manasievski furthermore emphasised that Macedonia's defense strategy was - as its name suggested - purely for defense purposes and not directed towards any neighbouring country; as well as that Macedonian forces were trained according to western criteria which is conducive to the permanent integration of Macedonian cadre into logistic and command structures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. [06] B&H SUSPENDS VISA REGIME, AND BULGARIA DROPS PREREQUISITE POLIO VACCINATIONThe Government of Bosnia-Hercegowina decided to suspend the entrance and transit visa regime towards Macedonian citizens, states a release of the Macedonian Foreign Office. 'Dnevnik' also reports that the latter institution mentioned that Bulgaria had suspended the special measures applying to Macedonian citizens entering their country - which had been introduced to prevent the spreading of polio.[07] OUTLINED CONDITIONS OF 'ESAF' LOAN AND PARAMETERS OF ECONOMIC POLICYNegotiations between the IMF and the Macedonian Government - which had been brought to a close two days ago - have yielded the following conditions regarding the 'ESAF'-loan for the structural adaptation of Macedonian economy: the loan will total the amount of 80 million dollars, due to be returned within 15 years - with an interest rate of 0.5% and a grace-period of five and a half years. The funds are to be procured on a semi-annual basis - between 1997 and 1999, paralleling the execution of the economic reform programme promoted by the Macedonian government... this has been part of a presentation given by Deputy-PM Ljube Trpevski, who also stated that the economic parameters for 1997 had been outlined in cooperation with the IMF. These predict a GNP growth-rate of 5%, a decrease of the export deficit, the provision of currency stability and an inflation rate of merely 2%. During the three-week negotiations with the IMF in Skopje it has been determined that the most efficient way to achieve these objectives had to be the implementation of an appropriate monetary and fiscal policy. It has also been decided to double the share of the national budget put aside to maintain currency stability, and to increase banking limits.Finance Minister Taki Fiti stated that this should bring about the decrease of interest rates - and subsequently the increase of interest into taking up loans in the private sector. [08] DECEIVED CLIENTS OF 'ALPHAS' BANK TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST MACEDONIAN NATIONAL BANKThe Interest Group comprising of former clients of the 'Alphas' bank - who have suffered the loss of 10 million DM in savings, or as they have called it 'the largest robbery in Macedonia' - have once again gone before the public yesterday, denoting the entire matter as 'organised crime.' MTV reports that the association of clients supported this statement by the fact that no charges against the owner of this bank had been pressed so far.The stakeholders furthermore assessed that the National Bank of Macedonia is implementing measures which should at leas be denominated as 'doubtful' , as it granted the owners of 'Alphas' the permission take in another 1.5 million DM five months after the reception of new savings by this bank had been prohibited. The affected clients publicized their intention to press collective charges against the National Bank of Macedonia, at the same time appealing to the public to withdraw their savings from all banks - in view of the overall instability dominant in these institutions in our country. [09] MACEDONIA ASSUMING COMPLETE CONTROL OVER ITS AIR SPACEBeginning with one o'clock after midnight yesterday Macedonia assumed complete control over its air space - which includes air flights at an altitude of over 7 000 m which were being handled by air traffic control services in Belgrade so far. According to officials of the Flight Control Centre in Skopje all technical prerequisites had been met, and their institution was fully capable of taking over flight control in Macedonia. The overall costs of this venture - including the subsequent updating of equipment throughout the following two years - amount to approximately 17.5 million dollars. Further modernisation would be necessary according to Flight Control Centre officials, since though the present equipment meets current demands - there are forecasts predicting a considerable increase of air traffic in Macedonia in the future, which do require the improving of the air control system's capacities.[10] OCM: 1997 A YEAR TO CELEBRATEThe Holy Archiepiscopal Synod ('Convention of Top Orthodox Clergy') of the Orthodox Church of Macedonia (OCM) - held yesterday - concluded that 1997 is to be a year of celebration, as it marks the 30th Anniversary of the Re- establishment of the Ohrid Eparchy, i.e. of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. It has also been decided that the Synod is to compile a programme to mark this anniversary appropriately throughout the year with a series of events.Macedonian Radio furthermore reports that the session focused on conditions in the two overseas eparchies - evaluating the activities of the American-Canadian Orthodox Eparchy as particularly successful and positive, whereas there was room for improvement at the Australian Eparchy. The OCM also announced its intention to formulate a public reply to provocative, anti-Macedonian statements given by Bishop Pahomije of Vranje and other church officials during the convention at Sremski Karlovci. Another festivity important to the OCM - also attended by its head the Reverend Mihajlo and many church officials, political and diplomatic personalities - was the Centennial Anniversary of the Blessing of the St. Dimitriy Church. [11] LOCAL ELECTIONS - I.E. FIRST ROUND - TO COST 78 MILLION DENARSBased on financial analyses the National Election Committee (NEC) revealed yesterday that the planning, preparing and conducting of local elections - i.e. the first round - is to cost 78 million denars. Committee Chairwoman Ljiljana Ristova also said during yesterday's press conference that the NEC has appointed 123 Municipal Election Commissions and one for the city of Skopje - as prescribed by law. In addition to this it had appointed 124 presidents and the corresponding number of deputies - as well as 992 members and reserve members based on the ratio 2 government representatives plus 2 opposition representatives. The closing of the nomination stage had revealed that 803 forms for city counsellor slots and 655 for mayor positions had been submitted, by a total of 33 parties and 9 coalitions or voter groups. The total number of voters amounts to 1 498 453, and all of these will have the opportunity to cast their vote at 2 631 polling stations, provided they present their ID card or passport.In the end Ristovska informed the public that the NEC intended to publish 3 706 668 voting slips bearing serial numbers, which are to be forwarded in sufficient numbers to all election units. [12] PRE-ELECTION ACTIVITIES THROUGH PRESS CONFERENCESAt the height of election campaigning several parties and independent candidates held press conferences once again yesterday during which - as the media observed - the already-known attitudes and opinions surfaced once again, besides a few more prominent ones.Thus the state of the voters' register had not been improved but worsened due to political selection (a large number of opposition supporters are reported to be omitted) or the increasing of the electorate by 10% (a new gray zone leaving room for manipulations)... This is only part of the statement delivered by DP spokesperson Jovan Manasievski who also stressed that current PM Branko Crvenkovski had tied \a rope around his own neck by plunging into the thesis advocated by neighbouring states that Macedonia represented a state created by decree in 1991. The LP objected to the way election campaigning was covered by the media, emphasizing that National media quite obviously did not provide equal opportunities for all political parties by favouring the SDSM. It was also stressed that the campaign of the latter involved several NGOs, which is why the LP intended to raise this issue in the Parliament, apart from notifying international monitoring missions. 'Election campaigns of the extra-parliamentary opposition is marked by a polarization, i.e. within this 'coalition band' one faction is moving towards the extreme - the 'black right', whereas the other is more inclined towards the democratic centre position. How far this permanent tension is to get them remains to be seen, and we are most likely to witness this success...' are the latest words of SDSM spokesperson Nakje Stojanovski, who furthermore assessed the campaigning of his party as problem-free and gradually intensifying. Independent mayor-candidate Gordana Mihajlovska stressed that her election victory would entail a shift of accent upon civic consciousness; citizens would therefore be consulted on every major issue likely to affect their lives. She also emphasised that some sort of organised service (of an apolitical character) should be incorporated into local government structures to solve the citizen's existential problems - as well as vital operational issues on a city level. Another independent mayor-candidate, Ljupcho Nikolovski - Fufo, promotes the need for functional solutions. To that purpose he focused on his agenda which indicates the necessity to turn Skopje into a modern city, clean and illuminated, and equalling European metropoles in terms of communal services, recreation and sporting facilities, entertainment complexes, children's playgrounds, traffic networks, etc. 'Makedonsko Sonce' reports the opinion of independent mayor-candidate Velibor Dzharovski that 17th November had been chosen on purpose in a rather perfidious manner by the Government, so that the latter could go about breaching the pre-election moratorium unobstructedly, as ... '17th November marks the 5th Anniversary since the passing of the Constitution of the country and while other parties will hold their silence - the one in power will celebrate its victories via various events, opening ceremonies and ribbon-cutting occasions.' [13] MAJOR SUCCESS OF MACEDONIAN BASKET BALL TEAMBy beating 'Real Madrid' with 69 : 68 in Skopje at Round 6 of the Euro-Cup in Group C - the basket ball team of 'Metalski Zavod Tito' has achieved the biggest win in this club's history so far. This - as the media report - represents a giant leap forwards, towards reaching one of the top four places which would mean the continuing of competitions to get the title.Round 6 also brought another victory for Macedonia in Group A where 'Godel Rabotnichki' has beaten 'Skavolini' from Italy with 78 : 71. MILS SUPPLEMENT[14] 'Distilleries Blooming Throughout Macedonia'('Vecher' - 7th November 1996)In spite of the fact that police are exercising restraint, at least ten 'distilleries' of 'original' cognac, brandy, whisky and wine have been shut down in Skopje - but also in Kriva Palanka, Shtip, Gevgelija, Negotino... The most interesting issue in the eyes of the public throughout recent days has been the existence of 'distilleries' which have been setting up a bootlegging- network (illegally) offering a variety of alcoholic drinks on the domestic market. Those familiar with the situation speak of a 'tradition' spanning over several years, which has been ignored by the police until a few months ago. Recent more frequent actions undertaken by law enforcement services bear evidence to the fact that the latter are determined to deal with the above mentioned problem, and put a halt to bootleggers, i.e. unauthorized producers of alcohol. Unofficial sources within the police revealed that the number of actions launched to remedy the situation have become more frequent during the past few weeks, as well as that most of them concentrated on the dissolving of these 'unauthorized' distilleries. Talks with the police also provided us with data regarding police efforts to integrate all valid and solid evidence within a network which would facilitate the constructing of a case against such offenders. In addition to this we have been informed that police has apprehended several individuals who were still being submitted to corresponding police procedure, as well as that the public would soon be informed of any eventual findings resulting from this investigation. That the police is indeed resolved to break up the bootlegging and distribution rings is confirmed by the detection of illegally produced 'Badel' cognac on Friday. This had been achieved during an surprise inspection of the 'Badel - Skopje' HQ, following the detection of several litres of illegally produced cognac bottled up in containers of this well-known company, in several cities in Macedonia. Main indicators of this were the unsatisfactory quality of the drink itself, as well as the badly manufactured labels. The 'corpus delicti' had been found on those very labels. According to experts the introduction and use of 'bad' or 'different' labels - or any goods in general - is being executed in order to be able to claim mitigating circumstances. Since it is hard to prove 'intentional' falsification with minor 'changes' to the original product. Thus there is always the possibility of reducing one's legal liability, in case of apprehension and prosecution. The discovering of the 'field distillery' for the production of 'Badel' cognac at a hangar right behind the 'Metalski Zavod - Tito' factory (at the Madzhari suburb) represents nothing but the proverbial 'drop of water in the ocean' of bootlegging, according to official sources. As we have already reported on previous occasions we are being confronted with entire production, bottling and distribution 'conglomerates' - incorporated into a bootlegging network spanning over Kriva Palanka, Negotino, Shtip, Kavadarci, Tetovo and Skopje. Besides the above mentioned distillery there are several similar ones in the capital of Macedonia, and the most probable sites are along the route Novoselski Pat - Momin Potok, at the suburbs of Shuto Orizari and Madzhari, according to speculations. Such 'distilleries' are most often housed in larger housing objects, garages or warehouses. Possible eyewitnesses claim that these 'distilleries' do also possess their own cooling-system for distilled produce which are to be bottled. Although it is common knowledge that they have not been subjected to maturing. This kind of alcohol contains a large percentage of methyl-alcohol, which would not be the case with legally produced alcohol. This substance which is also known as methanol is highly toxic, and a side-product of quickly and illegally produced alcohol in 'bootlegging' facilities. The manufactures of such goods are most often not concerned with the heath of their consumers - or the fact that they inflict direct damage upon the latter, since their prerogatives are maximum production and maximum profit. Methyl-alcohol is an extremely dangerous toxin which accumulates within the body, and is cancerogenous. Its most common manifestation is the loss of eyesight, and there have even been fatal cases in some instances. Both effects are attributed to the fact that this toxic substance evaporates easily and is therefore inhaled, or absorbed through the pores of one's skin. Uncontrolled substance intake - even by bootleggers in production and bottling facilities - thus increases this risk to dangerous proportions. (The End)Mils news - 8th November 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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