Murder near Kosovo fuels renewed ethnic tension in Macedonia
Macedonian Albanians stormed the country’s constitutional court on Thursday with criticism over its controversial decision to ban the use of Albanian flags in public buildings, adding further tensions to already fragile relations between two ethnic groups following the fatal attack on a police patrol in the Albanian-dominated northwestern part of the country which led to the deployment of special forces and helicopters in the region.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, October 26, 2007
The Macedonian Constitutional court, in split decision, ruled that Albanian flags cannot be displayed on public buildings along with the Macedonian one, resulting in uneasy tensions between two major ethnic groups in tiny Balkan country.
"Macedonian sovereignty cannot be divided", the court ruling said.
Such a decision enraged local Albanians, as local media reported that all Albanian members of that body voted against the ban.
The head of Macedonian Constitutional court, Mehmet Jusufi explained that all three Albanian representatives in the nine-member body voted against the measure, and called the decision "a political one".
Skopje analysts said that the court decision brought back the fear of renewed violence, as it was seen back in 1997 when three people died and dozens were injured in clashes which erupted in towns of Tetovo and Gostivar after the police attempted to remove black and red Albanian flags from municipal buildings.
The fears appeared to be more real as mayors of all 14 Albanian-dominated municipalities in Macedonia said they would not remove Albanian flags.
The controversy over the Albanian flag came just a day after unknown attackers ambushed Macedonian police patrol near former stronghold of Albanian rebels in northwestern Macedonia, killing one and injuring two officers.
Macedonian police, after initial investigation, blamed the incident on "Albanian smugglers and outlaws" in an apparent attempt to defuse the already fragile security situation in the region close to the Kosovo boundary.
However, the usual suspect in attacks on police in Macedonia, shadowy Albanian National Army (AKSh) denied any responsibility for the shooting, blaming the incident on "Serbian extremists".
Shortly after the shooting, the Skopje government deployed special police forces to the volatile region, and restricted the traffic to the area close to the Kosovo boundary.
A number of patrol helicopters flew over the Albanian-dominated villages of Tanusevci, Malino and Brest for the second straight day Thursday but no fresh incidents were reported.
The representatives of the largest Macedonian opposition party, the Social-Democrats, described the security situation in the region as "alarming", calling the ruling coalition to take serious measures to bring back the stability and peace.
