Sir, - From 1997 to 2000 I was privileged to represent the Republic of Macedonia on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. I was thus in a position to see at first hand the admirable efforts made by the government and people of this small, landlocked and very poor country to create a functioning democracy and to begin the process of economic transition.
In 1999 Macedonia faced the huge challenge of coping with hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees from the Kosovo war. This country of only 2 million people - with majority Slav and minority Albanian communities - succeeded in providing both shelter and sustenance for the refugees and in returning them safely to Kosovo when hostilities ended. The UN, the EU and the entire international community rightly praised this communal effort and pledged practical help.
On my final EBRD visit last spring, I saw the preparations for major development projects in diverse sectors from energy and telecoms to water quality and tourism. With my colleagues, I also took part in discussions involving the Albanian political parties which are active both in government - holding several key ministerial posts - and in opposition. We were most impressed by their commitment to the Macedonian nation, despite the specific problems of the community they represented.
It is heartbreaking to witness the present violent threat to the hopes expressed by Macedonia's President, Boris Trajkovski, when he addressed the EBRD board last July, that his country could become a model of interethnic co-operation in a region which has seen so much bitterness and division over the past decade. If this threat is to be resisted, the Macedonian authorities - and the population as a whole - must receive the urgent and practical support of the international community, above all in ensuring that plans and programmes already in place for the balanced economic and social development of the country are delivered. This will require financial and technical assistance, together with guarantees for Macedonia's territorial integrity.
Ireland, in the framework of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and as a member of the UN Security Council, can play an important part in support of a small country which richly deserves the chance to prove that it is possible to move beyond the tragic recent history of the Balkans. - Yours, etc.,
Tony Browne, Bettyglen, Raheny, Dublin 5.