Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - conditions not in place for deployment of international monitors

VIENNA, 4 October 2001 (OSCE) - "I urge President Trajkovski to undertake steps to get back into the sequence of measures agreed, both political and security-related, and would like to strongly encourage all parties to stick to the agreement reached in Ohrid, including the Parliamentary process", stressed the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana during his visit to Skopje today (4 October).

The purpose of the visit was to fine-tune the co-ordination effort of preparing the deployment of OSCE monitors. Mr. Geoana met with President Trajkovski, Minister of Interior Boskovski, and with EC Commissioner Patten and EU HR Solana. The meetings included also the two facilitators present in Skopje, Francois Leotard for the EU and James Pardew for the USA and the Personal Envoy of the Chairman-in-Office, Max van der Stoel, as well as the Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Craig Jenness.

Mr. Geoana expressed his surprise at the start of re-deployment of police forces into the crisis-affected areas without prior co-ordination with the OSCE and the International Community, and commented it as "premature and counterproductive", and likely to create unnecessary political tensions and security risks. "The OSCE monitors are not in the position to deploy until appropriate conditions are in place", he added. These conditions include amnesty for former combatants, clearer planning and improved political co-ordination on this issue between the government, NATO, OSCE and EU.

Mr. Geoana emphasized that the OSCE was deeply interested in remaining engaged in the establishment of confidence-building measures and was fully prepared to continue the consultation process.

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