ALBANIANS IN MACEDONIA SPEAK FOR RADICAL POLITICAL CHANGES TO THEIR ADVANTAGE








BELGRADE, March 12, 2001. /from RIA Novosti correspondent Sergei Ryabikin/--The Albanian population of Macedonia is voicing itself more and more insistently for political reform in the country to their advantage. Last Sunday saw the formation of a third Albanian party, the National Democratic Party. The most radical demands of the day mentioned in its charter include changes to the Macedonian Constitution, transformation of the country into a federation, proclamation of Albanian as an official language and provision of Albanian representatives with a considerable number of seats in state institutions.


	The NDP will be headed by Castriot Hadzireda, a former activist of Macedonia's another large party, the Party of Democratic Prosperity.


	Two days ago Albanian extremists called for the international community to mediate a solution to "problems faced by the Albanian minority and the Slav majority" in Macedonia. The so-called National Liberation Army addressed the editors of some Western media, demanding also to introduce changes to the constitution and to transform the country into a federation. This "would prevent Albanians from being discriminated in political, governmental and local bodies of power, scientific and cultural institutions and in the media as well." Militants demand the release of all "political prisoners." Liberation Army representatives speak for a census of the population which would reveal the exact number of Albanian residents in Macedonia.


	According to observers, the National Democratic Party could likely be a political wing of the so-called National Liberation Army which has been provoking armed clashes with Macedonian servicemen in the north of this country at the border with Yugoslav province of Kosovo for about a month already.