Explosion Rocks Macedonian Parliament
by Christopher Deliso in Skopje
November 1, 2002

SKOPJE - A powerful explosion, believed to be from a homemade bomb, went off outside Skopje's Parliament building around 5:30 Thursday morning. No one witnessed the attack, and the perpetrators remain unknown. The detonation damaged several cars and the Parliament building itself. Local residents interviewed afterward claimed that they did not see the attack directly, but believed that it came from a speeding car.

The bombing occurred less than three hours before Parliament sat down to vote on the make-up of the new government, featuring a coalition of the Socialist SDSM and the Albanian DUI of Ali Ahmeti. The outgoing government of VMRO-DPMNE, in the opposition for the first time in four years, announced its opposition to a government of "terrorists"- a reference to Ahmeti's former role as NLA chief.

Prime Minister-elect Branko Crvenkoski, defending the new government's make-up as a bow to "reality", urged parliamentarians to give the coalition a chance, pledging that no figures directly involved in the fighting would be allowed into the government.

Nevertheless, many Macedonians are displeased that the new health minister, Redzep Selmani, was the former chief doctor for the NLA in the flashpoint village of Lipkovo, Kumanovo region. A further affront was the nomination of another DUI candidate, Musa Xhaferi, as vice-prime minister. Xhaferi does not know Macedonian, and is in fact a citizen of the Republic of Albania.

There are fears of violence in the coming weeks, as Macedonia prepares for a two-week national census, set to begin tomorrow. This will be the first census since 1994- when Albanians were said to make up 22.7 percent of the population- and Macedonians are fearful of the possible results of a "high" Albanian count. The Albanians, on the other hand, are suspicious that Macedonians will try and undercount them. The increasingly polarized atmosphere has become more tense over the last couple weeks, after the murder of a Macedonian teenager in Tetovo led to street demonstrations and some inter-ethnic fighting. Parts of Tetovo itself have become off-limits to both ethnic groups. Armed gangs are said to control whole neighborhoods.

Although the September 15th elections passed more peacefully than many had expected, the following weeks have become more uncertain. Gunfire and heavy detonations are again becoming a regular part of nocturnal life in Tetovo and the surrounding mountain villages. On 26 October, a bomb- apparently meant for a member of Ahmeti's DUI- went off in central Skopje, damaging several nearby cars. Five days earlier, the Macedonian Army's main base was briefly attacked by unknown assailants. The bombs, made of an "unidentified substance," left deep craters near the wooded base north of Skopje.

Now, a new, pro-Western government has been sworn in, rescuing once strained relations with Macedonia's international overseers. Yet ironically, just as the new government appears to be winning over the foreigners, it runs the risk of losing local support- if Ahmeti and his would-be secessionists appear to be getting too much for free. Despite the overtures of peace, and the new government's promises to implement the Ohrid Accord, Macedonia could return to organized violence at any time.

Previous articles by Christopher Deliso on Antiwar.com

Explosion Rocks Macedonian Parliament
11/1/02

Baghdad Braces for War
9/14/02

Envisioning Peace in the Shadow of War
9/5/02

Seducing Intervention:
The Dangers of Diaspora
8/13/02

Nobody's Fault But Their Own?
7/12/02

In Macedonia, Transforming the Media Through Technology
7/9/02

European Intelligence: The US Betrayed Us In Macedonia
6/22/02

A Georgian Gaffe
and the War on Terror
6/18/02

Heavy Fighting Erupts in Aracinovo on First Anniversary of NLA's 'Free Zone'
6/8/02

Kodra Fura and Macedonia's Emerging War
6/6/02

Kosovar Terrorists Renew Attacks on Macedonia
5/25/02

Macedonia On War Footing Over Kosovo Border Provocations
4/19/02

Macedonian Tortured In Tetovo Village, As Gang War Rages
4/18/02

A Macedonian Miracle
4/16/02

Balkan Meltdown
3/27/02

Macedonia: A Nation of Ingrates
3/21/02

Mujahedin In Macedonia, or, an Enormous Embarrassment For the West
3/12/02

How Not To Capture Osama bin Laden
3/7/02

Whispers of Folly and Ruin
3/4/02

Blurring the Boundaries in Macedonia
2/26/02

When The Terror Goes Down To Georgia: Some Thoughts On The Caucasus Imbroglio
2/19/02

In Macedonia, Terrorism Remains the Law
2/14/02

But Would It Be an Evil Axis?
2/12/02

Economics and Politics in Macedonia: an Interview with Dr. Sam Vaknin
1/29/02

Macedonians and the Media
1/28/02

Secrets of the Blue Café
1/26/02

On the Front Lines in Tetovo
1/25/2002

Interview with Ljube Boshkovski
1/24/02

A Connection Between NATO and the NLA?
1/23/02

The Legacy of War: Kidnapped Persons in Macedonia
1/22/02

The Day's Disturbances and Developments in Macedonia
1/21/02

Macedonia: A Prelude
1/19/02

Crisis in Macedonian Government –
Vice President Resigns
1/18/02

Albanian Hackers Deface Macedonian Website
1/18/02

On Names and Power
1/4/02

Partition: Macedonia's Best Lost Hope?
12/26/01

Important Notice to Readers of the Macedonia Page
12/515/01

Selective Democracy Comes to Macedonia
12/1/01

Macedonia Capitulates
11/20/01

With a Friend Like Pakistan
10/27/01

Afghan-Americans Oppose Interventionism, Seek Unity
10/19/01

The Afghan Quagmire Beckons
10/17/01

Suddenly, Terrorists Are Everywhere
10/10/01

Turkey's Eclipse:
Earthquakes, Armenians, and the Loss of Cyprus
10/5/01

Chechnya Comes Home To America
9/29/01

A Quiet Battle in the Caucasus: Georgia Between Russia & NATO
9/26/01

Central Asia: The Cauldron Boils Over
9/22/01

Bin Laden, Iran, and the KLA
9/19/01

The Meaning of Belarus
9/8/01

The Macedonian Phrase-Book: Writing NATO's Dictionary of Control
9/5/01

Barbarism and the Erasure of Culture
8/24/01

Macedonian Endgame: The Sinister Transformation of the Status Quo by Christopher Deliso
8/14/01

Christopher Deliso is a journalist and travel writer with special interest in current events in the areas of the former Byzantine Empire – the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, and the Caucasus. Mr. Deliso holds a master's degree with honors in Byzantine Studies (from Oxford University), and has traveled widely in the region. His current long-term research projects include the Macedonia issue, the Cyprus problem, and the ethnography of Byzantine Georgia.