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244 北约和联合国试图重新启动马其顿地区和平进程
NATO, EU Officials Try to Restart Macedonia Peace Process
Roger Wilkison
Brussels
26 Jul 2001 15:52 UTC
Two western envoys are in Macedonia on yet another 1)mission to stave off civil war in the 2)Balkan country. It is still not clear if the two - NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and European Union EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana - can help 3)avert a conflict.
Mr. Robertson said on his arrival Thursday in Skopje, the Macedonian capital, that if collapsed peace talks between majority Slav and minority 4)ethnic Albanian political parties can be 5)revived, Macedonia could be saved from the killing and 6)carnage that have characterized other Balkan civil wars.
Mr. Robertson and Mr. Solana decided on Wednesday to make another trip to Macedonia, despite anti-western riots in Skopje Tuesday night during which ethnic 7)Macedonians accused NATO and western mediators of supporting the ethnic Albanian insurgents who say they are fighting for more rights for their community.
Slavic Macedonians say the rebels are terrorists who aim to 8)carve off parts of the country where Albanians are a majority and unite them with heavily ethnic Albanian Kosovo. NATO and the EU strongly denied giving support to the 9)insurgents.
The chance of reviving political negotiations appeared to improve after NATO brokered an agreement calling for the rebels' 10)withdrawal from positions near Tetovo, a town with an ethnic Albanian majority. In exchange, Macedonian security forces promised to exercise 11)restraint, saying they would not launch another offensive as long as the guerrillas committed themselves to the 12)pullback.
But can the talks make progress after five months of fighting and broken 13)truces? Analyst Mike Taylor of the Economist Intelligence Unit, a London research institute, says that is the key question. "NATO and the EU are not going to give up very easily," Mr. Taylor said. "They've got a lot invested in keeping Macedonia together. And I suppose they'll keep on trying as long as they think there is some hope."
Mr. Taylor says the main 14)sticking point in the negotiations that were broken off by ethnic Albanian political parties last week is whether Albanian should be an official language of the country, alongside Macedonian. The Macedonians have been reluctant to accept that. "The existing constitution says that Albanian can be the official language at the local level" Mr. Taylor says. "What seems to really anger the Macedonians, and it does seem quite a fine distinction, is that the state will have to use Albanian."
Even if Mr. Robertson and Mr. Solana can find a way around that problem, NATO officials in Brussels wonder whether the parties are really serious about the on-again, off-again negotiations. One official says that, so far, each side's aim seems to be to blame the other every time the so-called peace process unravels and the fighting begins 15)anew.
(1) mission[5mIF(E)n]n.使命, 任务, 使团, 代表团
(2) Balkan[5bC:lkEn]adj.巴尔干半岛的
(3) avert[E5v:t]v.转移
(4) ethnic[5eWnIk]adj.人种的, 种族的, 异教徒的
(5) revive[rI5vaIv]v.(使)苏醒, (使)复兴, (使)复活
(6) carnage[5kB:nIdV]n.(尤指在战场上的)残杀, 大屠杀, 流血
(7) Macedonian[mAsI5dEJnIEn]adj.马其顿的n.马其顿人
(8) carve out雕刻,开拓,创业
(9) insurgent[In5s:dVEnt]adj.起义的
(10) withdrawal[wIT5drC:El]n.收回, 撤退, 退回, 取消, 退股
(11) restraint[rI5streInt]n.抑制, 制止, 克制
(12) pullback[`pJlbAk]n.撤退, 拉回, 障碍物
(13) truce[tru:s]n.休战, 休战协定, 休止
(14) sticking point n.顶住点, 关键, 症结
(15) anew[E5nju:; (?@) E5nu:]adv.重新, 再
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