Macedonia's Man of Peace

President Boris Trajkovski, together with eight members of his staff, was killed early on Thursday morning when his plane crashed in bad weather over Bosnia.

In a tragic twist of fate, the February 27 crash happened just hours before his government was due to submit its application for European Union, EU, membership at a ceremony in Dublin.

The government delegation immediately flew back to Skopje for an emergency session amidst tight security, with police placed on high alert in the capital.

Under the constitution, the speaker of parliament, Ljupco Jordanovski, steps in as acting president.

Trajkovski, architect of the Ohrid peace deal in 2001 which averted all-out civil war, enjoyed the support of a broad political and ethnic spectrum in the country. A strong ally of the international community and respected for his belief in tolerance and dialogue, he was seen as an example of stability and inclusiveness in a volatile region.

Macedonians lit candles and stood silently in heavy rain in front of the parliament to pay their respects to their late president. Local television and radio cut normal programming to broadcast live news, as messages of condolences flooded in from across the globe.

A visibly shocked Javier Solana, the EU foreign affairs chief who worked closely with Trajkovski on the Ohrid agreement, said, “He was a man of great passion and vision. I have been with him in many difficult moments, many days and many nights. We will do everything possible to keep his dream to bring Macedonia closer to the EU.”

Former NATO secretary George Robertson said, “This is a real tragedy for Macedonia and Europe. I say goodbye to the courageous statesman who fought for democratic values in the country.”

Flags flew at half-mast outside NATO’s Brussels headquarters.

At home, Trajkovski was regarded with affection for his common touch. He was seen as a man of vision and strong religious faith whose record, unlike that of many others in Macedonian public life, had remained untouched by financial scandal.

The 47-year-old career lawyer entered politics late in 1998 as deputy foreign minister, quickly becoming famous for his active role at a time when hundreds of thousands of Albanians were fleeing into Macedonia from Kosovo.

In 1999, he was elected as Macedonia’s second president since its secession from Yugoslavia. Although he was the candidate of the centre-right nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, he gained huge support from Albanian voters who rarely vote for ethnic Macedonian candidates.

Early on in his mandate, he managed to distance himself from his increasingly hard-line party and was widely viewed as the only political player to maintain an appeal for both Albanians and Macedonians.

Although his role as president was largely ceremonial, Trajkovski – a fluent English-speaker who built strong ties with both Brussels and Washington – played a significant role in putting Macedonia on the map. He was a strong advocate of NATO and EU integration.

Just one day before the crash, television footage showed him smiling and telling reporters that the upcoming application for EU membership, which bore his signature, was a project that enjoyed a broad consensus and would unite all citizens regardless of their ethnic background.

His role as a conciliator, often holding the ring between the international community and hard-line nationalists, was pivotal during the 2001 peace talks. Amid calls from the then ruling VMRO government for a state of emergency and an all-out offensive against the Albanian rebels, Trajkovski brought both sides to the table, and kept them there.

His insistence that the peace deal represented the only alternative to partition, and was a workable solution for a modern, multi-ethnic state, singled him out as one of the few genuine liberals to have emerged from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia.

Although Trajkovski won plaudits for his handling of the crisis, he had initially aroused criticism for courting Albanian votes during his 1999 election campaign.

Opponents among the Social Democrats were outraged by his cooperation with the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, calling his victory “flawed” and alleging ballot-rigging in the predominantly Albanian west of the country. They initially refused to recognise his presidency, referring to him dismissively as “Citizen Trajkovski”.

Moving quickly to diffuse the row, Trajkovski displayed a wily pragmatism that would later come to the fore, carefully repositioning himself as a non-partisan head of state. In a powerful address to parliament soon after his victory, he vowed to be a “president for all”.

Trajkovski’s often direct manner belied an acute instinct for political horse-trading, which set him apart from the many Macedonian politicians who are more noted for obfuscation and grandstanding.

Often ending speeches with “God bless Macedonia”, he was an active member of the Methodist church. His faith was widely seen as fundamental to his political vision of tolerance and reconciliation in a country and region so often torn by sectarian and ethnic strife.

In Bosnia, the aviation authorities confirmed that there were no survivors of the crash, and said they had found all the bodies in the wreckage of the plane.

In Skopje, the government discussed its next steps, and declared three days of official mourning.

"On this sad day we should mourn, but we should not have fears," said prime minister Branko Crvenkovski. Calling for unity in the face of tragedy, he added, "Macedonia is strong and stable and will continue on its path."

Trajkovski is survived by his wife Vilma, his son Stefan and his daughter Sara.

Ana Petruseva is IWPR project manager in Macedonia.