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Macedonian president's plane crashes in Bosnia
Reuters
(Feb
26,
2004) By
Kole
Casule,
(Reuters) SKOPJE
- A
plane
carrying
Macedonian
President
Boris
Trajkovski
crashed
in
mountainous
terrain
in
southern
Bosnia
on
Thursday,
a
government
source
in
the
Macedonian
capital
Skopje
said.
Asked
about
reports
that
the
president's
plane
had
crashed,
he
told
Reuters:
"Yes.
Somewhere
near
Stolac."
Stolac
lies
amid
mountains
east
of
Croatia's
Adriatic
port
of
Dubrovnik.
"The
president
was
in
the
plane
with
several
staff
members.
We
have
no
word
on
survivors.
A
chopper
is
on
its
way,"
the
government
source
added.
"There
is
no
doubt
about
it.
We
are
all
in
shock.
We
are
waiting
for
information
to
see
if
there
are
any
survivors,"
another
senior
government
official
added.
A
source
in
the
Macedonian
government
said
Trajkovski
and
his
entourage
were
flying
in
to
the
Bosnian
city
of
Mostar
on
an
official
executive
jet,
headed
for
an
economic
conference
there.
The
Bosnian
Interior
Ministry
said
weather
in
the
area
at
the
time
of
the
crash
was
bad.
Since
his
election
in
late
1999,
the
47-year-old
lawyer's
term
has
been
marked
by
tensions
between
Slavic-speaking
Macedonians
and
the
former
Yugoslav
republic's
large
ethnic
Albanian
minority.
He
presided
over
a
NATO-brokered
peace
deal
in
2001
that
ended
months
of
armed
clashes
and
prevented
a
full
blown
civil
war
in
the
mountainous
state
bordering
Kosovo.
An
English-speaker,
he
has
been
viewed
in
the
West
as
a
young
leader
with
an
international
outlook
and
an
ability
to
build
contacts
with
foreign
diplomats
and
politicians.
He
specialised
in
commercial
and
employment
law
and
once
headed
the
legal
department
of
a
construction
company.
In
early
1999
he
was
appointed
Macedonia's
deputy
foreign
minister.
During
the
Kosovo
crisis
that
year
he
accused
NATO
of
paying
too
little
attention
to
the
ethnic
tensions
brewing
in
Macedonia,
and
the
influx
of
300,000
ethnic
Albanian
refugees.
The
president
is
married
with
a
son
and
a
daughter.
The
mountainous
Balkan
region,
combined
with
difficult
winter
weather
conditions,
can
be
hazardous
for
air
travel.
In
April
1996,
a
member
of
U.S.
President
Bill
Clinton's
cabinet,
Commerce
Secretary
Ron
Brown,
was
among
35
people
killed
when
a
U.S.
Air
Force
passenger
jet
crashed
into
a
mountain
near
Dubrovnik
while
trying
to
land
on
a
trade
mission.
©
Reuters
2004.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Editor
note:
We
would
like
to
bring
to
attention
the
following
exert
from
this
article:
"...Slavic-speaking
Macedonians..".
Macedonians
do
not
speak
"Slavic"
but
speak
Macedonian.
"Slavic"
is
not
a
language.
Macedonian
has
always
been
the
language
that
the
Macedonians
have
spoken.
For
more
information
on
Macedonia,
visit
the
website
Macedonia
-
Makedonija
@ http://macedonia.ssport.net
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