Let us stop the War in Macedonia!!!

For ten years already, the area of the former Yugoslavia has been a theatre of war and conflict.

For as long as ten years, we have witnessed the same or similar scenes of suffering of the civilian population, regardless of their ethnicity.

It has been ten years that the ideologists of blood and territory, the creators of ethnically clean states and advocates of ethnic homogenization have been thriving on the civilian's discontent and suffering in order to survive on the political scene, amass wealth and share the spoils.

For ten long years, only the location of war conflicts has been shifting place.

This time it is Macedonia.

"The flirt" between Macedonian and Albanian nationalists who have been sharing power in Macedonia was short-lived. For both sides, the main objective was to stay in power.

In the name of the Albanian people, armed insurgents, who call themselves ONA (The National Liberation Army), hiding behind "higher objectives" generate brutal violence. "The war for peace" that they are waging has a sole aim - the formation of an ethnically purified state, that would exclude, and even eliminate, all others and different.

We hope that the armed violence of Albanian rebels will not serve as an excuse for a potential oppression of the Macedonian state, Army and Police against the Albanian people in Macedonia.

We hope that the Macedonian authorities will not follow the example of the Police and The Yugoslav Army during the regime of S. Milosevic, that they will not wage "a war for peace" by destroying towns and villages and killing civilians…

We hope that the ethnic communities in Macedonia will find enough strength and courage to stop any further ethnic rallying and confront a belligerent policy with non-violence. We hope that this time they will oppose OVK/UCK, who now appear under different names.

We hope that the civilian groups in Macedonia will demand from the government to launch negotiations for a peaceful solution of the conflict.

We hold responsible the international community, KFOR in particular, for the spreading of the conflict, because they did not implement demilitarization of Kosovo.

Instead of a policy of power, subsequent advice and taking either of the sides, as it has, practically, always been so far, the international community ought to promote negotiations as the only way out of the crisis.

We lend our support, as we have always done, exclusively to those who opt for peace and non-violence, negotiations and co-existence.

We invite everyone to join our protest against violence and armed conflict in Macedonia on Wednesday, 21st March 2001, on Republic Square, from 15:30 till 16:30 hours.