DISARMING THE SO-CALLED “NLA”

DISARMING THE SO-CALLED “NLA”

On August 15, 2001, as I said earlier, the Government decided to stop all military actions, on both sides, and after that to start the disarmament. Of course, this was to be done after the Ohrid Agreement was signed.

At that moment I remembered the letter from Peter Faith in which he clearly said: “As a confidence building measure you are required to stop all air-military actions during the operation, with the exception of those made for regular logistics needs of the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia and emergency evacuations, to be carried out in coordination with the “Harvest” Task Force commander. Furthermore, you are required to withdraw all heavy weapons and garrison extra forces during the collection of weapons from the ethnic Albanian armed groups, taking into account security forces that will be required for the protection of the Republic of Macedonia.”

All these requirements, especially the withdrawal of troops with heavy weapons (tanks, artillery), were met: The entire cache of weapons from the crisis regions was withdrawn and taken back to the barracks.

In addition to having to withdraw our heavy weapons from the crisis regions, we had to also pull out our T-72 tank battalion. We had purchased these tanks from the Ukraine. They were manned by a professional crew and were capable of serious action. They were stationed in the “Ilinden” barracks in Skopje. We had no written agreement for this withdrawal, no discussions about it during the ceasefire negotiations and not a mention about it later, during the disarming of the so-called NLA.

The NATO Secretary General was particularly interested in this battalion and he wanted it stationed as far away from the crisis zone as possible. Knowing the unit’s potential for combat, NATO demanded that the battalion be stationed in Strumitsa. With the daily pressures put on the President of the Republic of Macedonia by NATO, the entire tank battalion, including its officers and crew composition, was ordered to deploy in Strumitsa which, of course,

was done. After that, every time, even if a single tank had to leave Strumitsa it had to seek permission from NATO.

I believe, by some means, we were played while the negotiations for disarming the so-called NLA were going on. Namely, during the drafting of the disarming Agreement and the manner in which it was to be executed, the NATO “Harvest” Task Force, from the beginning of the talks, had agreed to: allow the presence of ARM and Interior Ministry officers at each disarming point to act as observers while dressed in civilian clothes. This was a requirement at the opening of the negotiations because we had learned that the so-called NLA was armed with various weapons that came from some of the countries which were members of NATO. But, before the implementation of “Harvest” began, under the excuse that “we cannot guarantee security for our observers”, we were not allowed to enter the gates where the weapons were collected. Our observers were turned back by the NATO Task Force.

Even after the Agreement was signed and even after the Government of the Republic of Macedonia approved the stationing of Task Force “Harvest” in Macedonia and even after the plan for disarming the so-called NLA was developed, the situation did not improve. There were serious incidents taking place in the crisis areas, especially in Tetovo Region.

SECURITY SITUATION IN THE VILLAGE PATAE REGION -AUGUST 21, 2001

To ARM General Headquarters, personally to General Pande Petrovski (Photocopy of the report from the Commander)

The report, sent by the Commander of the Operational-tactical group - 1, Brigadier General Josip Boshevski, among other things, said:

“Gunfire from an armed group in the area of the village Ratae, outside of the control of the Interior Ministry and the composition of the anti-terrorist combat units, was heard during the evening hours on August 19, 2001. A tank unit, under the command of Major Trajkovski, acted at the mosque in the village Neproshteno. I believe

today’s blasting of the monastery in the village Leshok was a terrorist reaction as a sign of retaliation.”

“On behalf of OTG-1 and personally on my behalf, you have been informed and repeatedly made aware to take immediate measures to cease actions by the above mentioned units because they were not in danger at that point, and thus need to be handled. Also, I would like to inform you that an armed group of police officers is stationed in the village Ratae which operationally is not under the Tetovo control and command, and that it often opens fire without need and can cause serious consequences for the implementation of the Peace Agreement...”

“On August 21, 2001 I personally sent one of our officers with a NATO mission in the area of the village Ratae, and it was determined that the armed group, according to the mission representatives, was concerned about rumours being spread “that every NATO mission will be killed.”

“To the question posed to the officer from OTG - 1 Command who leads this group and whose orders were executed by a person named Marian who did not want to give his surname, said that he and the band follow the General’s orders, and there is no account of someone else managing and commanding them.”

“From the parties with ‘red berets’ a high degree of loathing is manifested for the NATO mission expressed through expressing the threat: ‘You will see what will happen in two days’…”

General Headquarters and the Ministry of Defense, in those days, almost everyday, received these kinds of reports, especially from the NATO mission, pointing out that in this area there were some units that were outside of any control and that they could cause serious consequences for the implementation of the whole “Harvest” operation and for the implementation of the Framework Agreement. It also has been reported that the behaviour and actions of these “red berets”, have caused Macedonian residents to flee their villages several times. Of course the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic Macedonia have been informed about this.

This naturally was creating uncertainty in the events and future of the implementation of the Agreement and in the stabilization of the country.

Today (August 2006) all those events, immediately before the Ohrid Agreement and after its signing, look to me like feeble attempts by some structures to continue the crisis and confusion in the Republic of Macedonia. Attempts which no doubt must still be investigated and clarified. Fortunately nothing happened to aid these structures. I deeply believe that ARM significantly contributed to stabilize the situation - with its officers and soldiers and with their responsible behaviour throughout the crisis.