No specific information on the treatment of ethnic Albanian citizens of Macedonia in the Macedonian armed forces could be found in the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

According to the Skopje-based news agency ASMA, the ethnic composition of the Macedonian Army was a source of "dissatisfaction" within the Macedonian armed forces (CSRC 11 June 1999). ASMA claimed that the proportion of ethnic Albanian soldiers was estimated at over 60 per cent of the total (ibid.).

On 5 February 2000, the Macedonian Defence Ministry reported that a Slavic Macedonian conscript had killed an ethnic Albanian with whom he had been serving the compulsory one-year military service (AP 5 Feb. 2000). The killing occurred at a checkpoint of the border with Albania, near the town of Debar, 90 kilometers southeast of Skopje (ibid.). The authorities arrested the Slavic Macedonian conscript and opened an investigation (ibid.). No further reports on this incident, nor on whether it was being treated as an ethnically-based shooting could be found in the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Associated Press (AP). 5 February 2000. "Soldier Kills Fellow Recruit in a Macedonian Army Unit." (NEXIS)

Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC) [Surrey, England]. 11 June 1999. "Reactions to Events in Kosovo." http://www.ppc.pims.org/Projects/csrc/G74Newsletter3.htm [Accessed 8 Aug. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Unsuccessful attempts to contact two oral sources.

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International (AI)

Balkan Human Rights Web Pages

British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG)

Freedom in the World 1999-2000

Human Rights Watch (HRW)
International Crisis Group (ICG).

Macedonia's Ethnic Albanians: Bridging the Gulf.

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF-HR)

Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia

Minorities at Risk Project

Open Society Institute in Macedonia

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

Transitions

U.S. Department of State

War, Peace and Security World Wide Web Server

World News Connection (WNC)