MILS NEWS 22/03/96

From: "M.I.L.S." <[email protected]>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 22 March 1996

[01] MADLEINE ALBRIGHT IN MACEDONIA TOMORROW

Ms. Albright will attend the official opening of the US Embassy in Skopje, and will visit the US battalion of UNPREDEP.

[02] FRCHKOVSKI: SPREADING OF NATO TO SOUTHERN EUROPE

He also informed on the meeting he had with his Chezh counterpart Zelenec where they discussed on the current legal, economy and political bilateral contacts, as well as the possibilities for signing agreements in the field of legislation, which would outline the future cooperation.

Macedonian interest in the participation in CEFTA Organisation had also been emphasised, on what Chezh party will give full support. Macedonian Foreign Minister stresed that the invitations for Minister Zelenec and President Vaclav Havel to come to Macedonia were renewed.

[03] NORMALISATION OF FRY- MACEDONIA RELATIONS WILL NOT INFLUENCE THE SUCCESSION

Ms. Mitreva informed the Slovenian colleagues that the forthcoming normalisation of the relations between Macedonia and FRY will not influence the process of succession of former SFRY nor the mutual stands based on the conclusions of the Badinter's Commission.

[04] ATHENS WILL ACCEPT A COMPLEX NAME WITH 'MACEDONIA' IN IT

The options mentioned were, as alleged, 'New Macedonia' and 'Slav Macedonia'. The Greek officials said they would succeed to reach an agreement for that in Greece, despite the resistance inside the governmental coalition.

Belgrade media also informed yesterday that Athens shows signs of acceptance for the name 'New Macedonia', as a compromise which could be reached soon. According to 'Makfax' agency, Belgrade media wrote yesterday that Athens was greatly relieved by the postponing of Miloshevic's coming to Macedonia. They added that Athens was not against the normalisation of the relations, but disagreed with the intention of FRY to recognise Macedonia under its Constitutional name, without waiting for the results of the negotiations on the name issue in New York.

[05] ENCOURAGING THE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

Today daily 'Dnevnik' writes about the possibility for a branch of the Greek Ionian Bank to be opened in Skopje. The paper says representative of the Bank had meetings with the Macedonian National Bank, as well as with Stopanska, Komercijalna and Rado Banks. Uncompleted regulations in the banking system of Macedonia is still a problem, adds the paper. Ionian Bank is one of the oldest in Greece and is controlled by the government.

[06] BRITISH AMBASSADOR MET WITH TITO PETKOVSKI

[07] TANSU CHILER DID NOT ASK TO VISIT MACEDONIA

[08] SDSM IN THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL?

[09] LIBERALS SUGGEST RELEASING OF THE PARLIAMENT

The explanation of the proposal reads that after the breaking up of the coalition "Alliance for Macedonia', this came as a necessity. The stand of the Liberals is that 88 members of the Parliament, elected in 1994, should reconfirm the trust of the voters, as at that time, they were candidates of the coalition: SDSM, LP and SPM.

[10] NEGATIVE TRENDS IN ENERGY AND METAL INDUSTRIES

[11] DAYS OF ECOLOGY

[12] ECO PROTEST IN TITOV VELES

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[13] Reasons to Worry

('Vecer', 22 March 1996)

The fact that more than 200 murders have taken place in Macedonia since its independence must not be neglected. It increases the feeling of jeopardy in the public, which had resulted in several meetings of mothers and parents, who were trying to organise themselves for a more secure life.

Many competent experts find the reasons for the murders in the lower quality of life, in the ineffectiveness of the police, in the slow reaction of the courts, etc.

D-r Zoran Suleimanov, the Assistant Minister of Justice, whose specialty is the research of the murders phenomena, has different attitudes about it. He recently published a book titled 'Murders in Macedonia', in which he presents all the characteristics of the murders for the period from 1973 to 1983.

According to him, the murders in Macedonia are at a constant level of 38 average murders per year. The difference is that several paid for murders have taken place since 1991, as a consequence of the new social system. Therefore, one can not jump into conclusions that things are going downwards. What we should be afraid of is the future.

'We voluntarily took the risk of building a new system, and had accepted all its positive and negative sides. That is why it is normal to expect an increased number of murders in future. My opinion is that their number will increase, maybe three or five times. But I do not think that the motives will change, I think the reasons will be settling of accounts between organised groups, drug trafficking, orders murders etc. The social layers will be becoming more and more distant, and we have to expect from people to start killing for money.' says Suleimanov.

He claims there is no system which can make people feel completely secure and that until there are relations between people there will be crimes, as well. 'We can make efforts to reduce the crimes, but we can not prevent it. There is a feeling of insecurity amongst the citizens, but it is not due to the increased number of murders, but due to the greater interest of the media in them. Nothing else. There might be insecurity due to the bigger number of other crimes, but that is another issue. The picture of crime in a country was always created from the situation regarding murders, as capital crimes. And if the public is animated in this area, it can be in others, as well.'

Suleimanov writes in his book that the best prevention is 'the improving of the social and economy conditions of life, overcoming the primitivism and the narrow-mindedness of people.' Increasing the level of the consciousness of people is a sphere where actions should be taken immediately. Also, arms smuggling has to be stopped, the control of who possesses a weapon must be improved, the education level has to be raised (especially the sexual education). Efforts have to be made to fight alcoholism, to reduce tensions inside families, and to improve the the media approach on crime issues.'

'The responsibility of the government is limited. Taking into account the fact that the most developed systems have not succeeded to deal with murders, drugs smuggling and other crimes, we must not think we could do something 'big'.

What we have to understand is that we will have to fight constantly. And there will be no successes if there is no cooperation. One should pay special attention to the improvement of the legal procedures and of the implementation of verdicts, so that people's confidence in the law system becomes greater,' says Suleimanov.

In his book, he writes that 384 murders took place in Macedonia in the period from 1973 to 1983. It is interesting that 72% of them were done by respected citizens, quiet and family oriented ones, but, at the same time, constantly surpressed and mistreated. Only 0.5% of them had appeared later as recidivists.

It is also interesting that 89.1% of the murders were done by men, and only 10.9% by women. Women are, however, more consistent, as 90.5% of them finish what they have started.

The men-murderers in Macedonia are usually at the age of 21 to 30 years, married, and without completed primary education, usually farmers. The most often used weapons by them are pistols, rifles, knives and axes.

(end)

mils news 22 March 1996