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Albania, Yugoslavia Pledge to Respect Macedonia's Sovereignty
Albania and Yugoslavia said Thursday they respect Macedonia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a peaceful solution to the unrest there.
Albania will not support violent actions and deem political dialogue the best way to solve the current problem of ethnic Albanian extremists in Macedonia near its border with Yugoslavia, Albania's Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said at a joint press conference with his Yugoslav counterpart, Goran Svilanovic.
"We are not supporting any kind of extremism," Milo said. "It is not acceptable to have any other solution than through political dialogue."
Svilanovic said his government supports the improvement of social status and advancement of rights of ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia. But he added that extremist actions will not help this.
Recent Attacks by Albanian extremists on the Macedonia-Kosovo border sparked international fear that violence could destabilize the Balkans again and prompted NATO to invite the Yugoslav army to return to a buffer zone NATO imposed after its troops' entry into the Yugoslav province of Kosovo in 1999.
The five-kilometer-wide buffer zone was used by Albanians to launch terrorist attacks on Serb police in southern Serbia and more recently in the Kosovo-Macedonia border. Previously, the buffer zone was only allowed to be protected by local police with light arms.
The two ministers' meeting in Vienna is the first formal high- level meeting between their countries since January 17, when Tirana and Belgrade agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 1999 after the outbreak of the Kosovo war.
Milo and Svilanovic discussed details of the resumption of diplomatic relations at the meeting. They also discussed the situation in Macedonia, Kosovo and southern Serbia.
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