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Sat, May 26 2012
Macedonia name dispute resolved after Gaddafi intervention
ODD COUPLE: At the Lampedusa summit on April 1, president Nicolas Sarkozy responded to the sudden arrival of Muammar Gaddafi with less enthusiasm than if he had been presented with English cuisine.
Photo: Reuters
ODDER COUPLE: Muammar Gaddafi greeted at the Lampedusa summit on April 1 by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who reportedly told the Bother Leader, 'there's always room for one more at a party'.
Photo: Reuters
The long-standing name dispute between Athens and Skopje about the use of the name Macedonia was resolved, for once and for all, at an all-night summit of leaders of the European Union, Nato, the African Union and Arab League.
In a twist that has astounded international diplomacy - notably, the United Nations, which has tried and failed for years to achieve a compromise - the broker of the Macedonia name dispute deal was Muammar Gaddafi.
Resolution of the name dispute had not been the initial purpose of the summit, which had been called to discuss turbulence in North African countries and the Middle East, especially a transition to a post-Gaddafi Libya, as well as Europe's migration crisis, the EU prospects of the Western Balkans, and, if time allowed, the respective chances of India and Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup final.
Details of the summit had hitherto been maintained in the highest secrecy. It was through the intervention of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had made available space on Lampedusa island by arranging cruise ships to remove large numbers of refugees, that a venue was possible. Senior sources in Rome denied speculation that the venue had been cleared by Berlusconi for purposes other than the holding of the international summit.
Matters had, however, not been proceeding swimmingly (even though some refugees were) when the puttering of an outboard motor announced an unexpected arrival, the yacht of Libya's Brother Leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
"So what brings us all here?" were Gaddafi's first words, causing an embarrassed shuffling of feet and downward looks among European, African and Arab leaders who had been studying a confidential Nato document entitled "A beginner's guide to Libya's royal genealogy".
A startled cry by French president Nicolas Sarkozy of, "hey, isn't that - " was cut off by German chancellor Angela Merkel, who stunned him into silence by showing him the latest credit ratings of Spain and Portugal.
After hasty whisperings, it was agreed to tell Gaddafi that the meeting was about the Macedonia name dispute, about which universal consensus had emerged that it had become drearily boring beyond words.
In what diplomats disclosed was a dizzying round of shuttle diplomacy, conducted in a hastily-erected tent on a Lampedusa beach, as the dawn broke on April 1 it emerged that Skopje and Athens had agreed to the formula the Great Socialist People's Macedonian Jamahiriya.
This had the beauty, according to those close to the talks of recalling the heady days of socialist Yugoslavia, producing a name that would offend almost everyone else, while, diplomats from an unnamed North African country conceded, allowing the continuation in a form of a name likely soon to fall out of use elsewhere.
The dramatic developments led to a sweep of emotion, with a spokesperson for the UN Security Council, Ms April Pfuhl, confirming that a resolution was to be tabled, with the backing of all permanent members of the council, conferring on Gaddafi the interim presidency of Kosovo, a post vacant after the constitutional court in Pristina ordered Behgjet Pacolli to resign on the grounds that his election had been unconstitutional.
Last reports of the meeting indicated that Gaddafi was in hasty conference with the corps of interpreters about having his Green Book translated into Albanian, while several European leaders had beaten a hasty retreat after the Brother Leader (unkindly referred to by one Western diplomat as "the Bother Leader") offered to lend them money.
"After all, I hear you guys are in real trouble," Gaddafi was said to have told them, urging that the date of April 1 had the potential to be remembered throughout history.
In a twist that has astounded international diplomacy - notably, the United Nations, which has tried and failed for years to achieve a compromise - the broker of the Macedonia name dispute deal was Muammar Gaddafi.
Resolution of the name dispute had not been the initial purpose of the summit, which had been called to discuss turbulence in North African countries and the Middle East, especially a transition to a post-Gaddafi Libya, as well as Europe's migration crisis, the EU prospects of the Western Balkans, and, if time allowed, the respective chances of India and Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup final.
Details of the summit had hitherto been maintained in the highest secrecy. It was through the intervention of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had made available space on Lampedusa island by arranging cruise ships to remove large numbers of refugees, that a venue was possible. Senior sources in Rome denied speculation that the venue had been cleared by Berlusconi for purposes other than the holding of the international summit.
Matters had, however, not been proceeding swimmingly (even though some refugees were) when the puttering of an outboard motor announced an unexpected arrival, the yacht of Libya's Brother Leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
"So what brings us all here?" were Gaddafi's first words, causing an embarrassed shuffling of feet and downward looks among European, African and Arab leaders who had been studying a confidential Nato document entitled "A beginner's guide to Libya's royal genealogy".
A startled cry by French president Nicolas Sarkozy of, "hey, isn't that - " was cut off by German chancellor Angela Merkel, who stunned him into silence by showing him the latest credit ratings of Spain and Portugal.
After hasty whisperings, it was agreed to tell Gaddafi that the meeting was about the Macedonia name dispute, about which universal consensus had emerged that it had become drearily boring beyond words.
In what diplomats disclosed was a dizzying round of shuttle diplomacy, conducted in a hastily-erected tent on a Lampedusa beach, as the dawn broke on April 1 it emerged that Skopje and Athens had agreed to the formula the Great Socialist People's Macedonian Jamahiriya.
This had the beauty, according to those close to the talks of recalling the heady days of socialist Yugoslavia, producing a name that would offend almost everyone else, while, diplomats from an unnamed North African country conceded, allowing the continuation in a form of a name likely soon to fall out of use elsewhere.
The dramatic developments led to a sweep of emotion, with a spokesperson for the UN Security Council, Ms April Pfuhl, confirming that a resolution was to be tabled, with the backing of all permanent members of the council, conferring on Gaddafi the interim presidency of Kosovo, a post vacant after the constitutional court in Pristina ordered Behgjet Pacolli to resign on the grounds that his election had been unconstitutional.
Last reports of the meeting indicated that Gaddafi was in hasty conference with the corps of interpreters about having his Green Book translated into Albanian, while several European leaders had beaten a hasty retreat after the Brother Leader (unkindly referred to by one Western diplomat as "the Bother Leader") offered to lend them money.
"After all, I hear you guys are in real trouble," Gaddafi was said to have told them, urging that the date of April 1 had the potential to be remembered throughout history.
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Well a lot English are ethnically Scottish
FYROM is April fool 365 days a year
John James!
Do not repeat an old anti-Bulgarian Propaganda. There exist NO SLAVIC ethnic people on this earth!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only in your imagination. Ancient BULGARIANS = Ancient THRACIANS! Period.
Well, a lot of the Greeks are ethnically Slavs (or Turkish) as well, as a recent UN study of population DNA showed. Take it or leave it......
I love my mom so NA!
These slavo bulgars are slavs.
Surprised? Should we.
Well, he couldn't be any worse than Gruevski !
April Fools was a welcoming distraction.
So, If Gaddafi could resolve the name issue, then We Should vote him in as RoM's next PM!
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Nice one, Sofia Echo. Almost as nice as the one we got into the Surrey Advertiser about Moldovans rebuilding Guildford Bus Station to make it more like Chisinau / Kishinev !
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Looks like the ICJ is going to slam Greece in their case with Macedonia. Unfortunately that happened on the 30th, so it isn't April Fools.
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Humour's ambivalence is always welcome on April Fools day!
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Nice april fool, hehe!
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