Macedonia’s parliamentary election descended into chaos on Sunday after one person was killed and nine wounded in shootings in ethnic Albanian areas, with voting halted in one town after a gun battle. The poll is seen as a test of the nation’s political maturity after campaign violence raised fears that slow progress toward European Union membership could be further delayed.
At least three people were wounded in a shooting in an ethnic Albanian area of the Macedonian capital, Skopje, during the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, police and party officials said. ”We were attacked,” said Izet Mexhiti, a senior official of the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration party.
No image available
/ 26 February 2004
Macedonia’s President Boris Trajkovski was killed on Thursday when his plane crashed in a mountainous part of southern Bosnia en route to an international investment conference. The Macedonian government aircraft, carrying Trajkovski and several other officials to the conference in the western Bosnian city of Mostar, crashed near the Bosnian village of Bitonja shortly after 8am.