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No fewer than 550 spotlights are trained on the gigantic cross that is now standing, 76 meters tall, on the Vodno mountain (1,800 meter) near Skopje. The cross took two years to build and can be seen from up to 80 kilometres away. It is a clear signal: Orthodox Christian Macedonian Slavs are here to stay.
The cross was dedicated Wednesday evening by Patriarch Stefan of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the presence of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski. His VMRO-DPMNE party had furnished much of the necessary money for the project.
Political Signal
"This cross is a prayer for our
victory, for protection of Macedonian citizens who are living in
difficult times," Georgievski said. The erection of this huge
Christian symbol in the middle of the Macedonian election campaign
is seen by many as a clear political signal to the ethnic-Albanian
minority – most (though not all) of whom are Muslims.
But the inauguration of the cross is by no means the only reason why tension is mounting again in Macedonia. On Monday, two Macedonian Slav policemen were killed while on patrol in Gostivar, a town in western Macedonia, where there is a strong ethnic Albanian presence. Shortly after midnight, a Volkswagen Golf without license plates had driven up to the patrol, and three or four men had opened fire with automatic guns. Two policemen were killed instantly, a third returned fire, but the Golf drove away from the scene at high speed.
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At once, Western diplomats in Skopje went into action to launch a "damage control" action. Three ethnic Albanians, former members of the National Liberation Army UÇK , were arrested and charged in connection with the killings. Minister for the Interior Ljube Boskovski further wanted to arrest former UÇK commander Ali Ahmeti, who now heads the Democratic Union for Integration, an ethnic-Albanian political party. One of the arrested men apparently happened to be a cousin of Mr Ahmeti.
The Western diplomats managed to persuade the interior minister not to arrest Mr Ahmeti – a step which would have caused great unease among all ethnic Albanians in Macedonia at a time, with the elections coming up, when calm was absolutely necessary in the country. The Macedonian Foreign Minister, Slobodan Casule, then suggested that Ali Ahmeti, in return, should agree not to attend pre-election rallies in Skopje since his visible presence in the capital would cause extra tension among the Macedonian Slavs. Mr Ahmeti agreed, but soon after seven Macedonians were kidnapped not far from the Albanian village of Zerovjane. It then emerged that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mr Ahmeti after all.
Isolated Incidents?
The incidents once again show how
close violence is in Macedonia, how it can still break out at any
time, in spite of cool heads and internationally-brokered peace
accords. Western diplomats in Skopje feel that the Gostivar
shooting incident is an isolated criminal act, not a politically
motivated act of terrorism.
These diplomats claim that there are two or three criminal gangs
operating in Macedonia. These gangs are interested in creating a
climate of unrest: they engage in this sort of incident to spoil
the political climate ahead of the elections. The diplomats feel
there is no organized military structure that co-ordinates
incidents like the one in Gostivar. They may be right. But the
recent near-civil war in Macedonia has demonstrated that isolated
incidents caused by independently operating groups can easily,
quickly turn into something that closely resembles all-out ethnic
warfare.
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Tags: Albanians, Ali Ahmeti, Ljubco Georgievski, Macedonia, OSCE, Skopje, Slavs, UCK, VMRO-DPMNE