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GEOGRAPHICAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Macedonia is located on the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe.
The country is landlocked and has common boundaries with Albania
in the west, Bulgaria in the east, Greece in the south, and Serbia
and Montenegro (including Kosovo) in the north. The capital city,
Skopje, lies in the north, on the Vardar river.
Macedonia has total population of 2,022,547 inhabitants (census
of 2002), with an average population density of 78.6 inhabitants/km2
of whom roughly 60 percent live in urban areas. High population
is concentrated in the larger cities (Skopje 506 926 inhabitants,
Bitola 95 385, Kumanovo 105 484, Prilep 76
768 and Tetovo 86 580)
BRIEF
HISTORY:
Macedonia has a centuries-old history and culture, including Macedonian
which falls into the South Slavonic language grouping.
While
state independence was reached in most of the Balkans throughout
the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Macedonians
achieved independence only towards the end of the Second World
War. The Republic was formed on 2 August 1944 and subsequently
became part of the Yugoslav Federation as the Republic of Macedonia.
Independence
was achieved in 1991 after the collapse of the Yugoslav Federation.
There then began the processes of its recognition by other states
throughout the world and the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Macedonias relations with neighbouring countries reflect
its legacy as a former Yugoslav state, manifested in part through
an ongoing dispute with Greece over its name. In 1993 the United
Nations recognized the state as "the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia.
The
country is a full member of the United Nations (1993). Euro-Atlantic
accession is a major policy objective driving the government agenda.
In
2001 a conflict erupted, followed by peace negotiations between
ethnic Albanians and ethnic Macedonians, which resulted in the
Ohrid Framework Agreement. Compliance with the provision of the
agreement is the international communitys main bargaining
tool for promoting Macedonias accession to the EU and NATO.
POLITICAL
SYSTEM
Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy with an executive government
and an independent judicial branch with a constitutional court.
Currently parliament consists of a coaltion holding 60 of the
120 seats. Macedonia currently has 123 municpalities with their
own local governments. A new law reduces the number of municaplities
to 83 as part of the decentralisation process.
The
government coalition is composed of several parties, the main
of which are SDSM (Social Democrats) DUI (Democratic Union for
integration- ethnic Albanian party) and LDP, (Liberal Democratic
Party).
The oposition also gathers several parties, the main one being
VMRO-DPMNE.
INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY IN FYR MACEDONIA
NATO, the EU, the US and OSCE are the principal guarantors enforcing
the Ohrid Framework Agreement. There are many international organizations
present in Macedonia including the UN, which is represented by
12 agencies. These include UNDP, UNICEF, UNMIK, UNHCR, IOM, FAO,
UNODC, WHO,OHCHR, OCHA, the World Bank and IMF.
Since the end of the 2001 conflict and the stabilization of the
political situation in the country, UN support to Macedonia has
shifted from emergency assistance towards development.
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