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Skopje, October 1st, 2001
Security situation
Incident at the Rasce spring.
At September 24 the Ministry of Defense announced that members of the
Macedonian army shot a 71 year old person, an ethnic Albanian, who, along
with another person, did not stop after being warned by the soldiers not
to approach the checkpoint securing the Rasce Spring.
Withdrawn heavy weapons. The Army of the Republic of Macedonia on September
25 withdrew the heavy weapons from the Tetovo Kale and the top of the
hill Baltepe. For almost a month there were barricades by the citizens
of these Tetovo inhabited areas, who were thwarting the withdrawal.
A convoy with displaced persons to Matejce and Lipkovo.
On September 28 a convoy was organized for the displaced persons, ethnic
Macedonians and Serbs, visiting the village Matejce. Also, a convoy with
displaced ethnic Albanians was visiting the village Lipkovo.
Borderline incident.
On September 27, in the borderline area of the watchtower "Spas"
near Debar, there was an incident in which an ethnic Albanian was killed.
After the warnings by the borderline patrol, since the vehicle was moving
on a prohibited way, the ARM patrol opened fire, thus afflicting two persons
with heavy injuries, one of which succumbed to them. All four people in
the vehicle are citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.
Political situation
Established draft-amendments to the Constitution.
On September 24 the representatives in the Assembly of the Republic of
Macedonia (RM), established all 15 draft-amendments for changing the Constitution.
The Seventh amendment, which refers to the religious communities, was
voted for again and received 65 votes. Since September 24, during a period
of ten days there is a public debate regarding the draft-text. Citizens,
political parties, citizen associations, bodies and organizations, address
their remarks and suggestions to the proposer of the amendments, the President
of the State and to the Commission for Constitutional issues of the RM
Assembly. The Constitutional issues commission is obligated to follow
and summarize the public debate, to prepare a report for the results from
the public debate and to submit it to the proposer and the Assembly. The
proposer - the President of the State prepares the text for the proposal
of the amendments and submits it to the Assembly. On September 27 the
Assembly session was resumed regarding the announcement of a referendum
about the changes of the Constitution.
The "Indispensable Harvest" mission has ended.
The NATO task force "Indispensable Harvest"
on September 25 ended collecting the voluntarily surrendered weapons on
behalf of the members of the so-called NLA. A total of 3,875 pieces of
weaponry and 397,625 pieces of ammunition, explosives and mines were collected.
The commander of the task force General Gunar Lange informed the State's
President, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, about the completed mission. The task
force started withdrawing from Macedonia on September 27.
Visit of the NATO general secretary Robertson to Macedonia.
During George Robertson's visit to Skopje he conveyed
the plan of the countries members of the Alliance for a new mission in
Macedonia numbering 700 soldiers and lasting three to six months. The
new NATO mission in Macedonia is called "Amber Fox". The mission
will be led by Germany. At the talks with the Macedonian leaders the issue
was raised for the amnesty of the members of the so-called NLA. The RM
Government passed a decision to deploy NATO "Amber Fox" forces
on the territory of the country.
The training of the first Albanian policemen commenced.
On September 24, in the center for staff training
in Idrizovo, the training began of 100 policemen, ethnic Albanians, by
American instructors. As the Albanian language newspaper "Fakti"
reports, Albanian candidates met with provocation by Macedonian police
force members. Otherwise, this training is provided for with the Frame
Agreement.
A press conference of the ex-so-called NLA leader.
The former political leader of the so-called NLA
Ali Ahmeti held a press conference in the village Sipkovica, where he
informed that the so-called NLA had been disbanded, and its former members
are now common citizens.
The session for passing the amendments is scheduled.
The President of the RM Assembly, Stojan Andov, announced that the session
for adopting the amendments for changing the Constitution is possible
to be scheduled on October 5.
New OSCE monitors in Macedonia.
The Permanent OSCE Council, on September 29 in
Vienna, brought a decision for augmenting its mission in Macedonia with
additional 159 persons, who are to join the existing 51 representatives
that are in the country.
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