BITONJA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Searchers on Friday located the wreckage of a plane crash that killed Macedonia's president and eight other people and were clearing a path through a mine field to reach the bodies, the Macedonian government said.
The plane carrying President Boris Trajkovski crashed Thursday in heavy fog in a remote, mountainous corner of Bosnia still sown with mines from that country's 1992-95 war.
Police in a helicopter found the wreck more than 24 hours after the accident, said Capt. Dave Sullivan, of Bosnia's NATO-led peacekeeping force. Pieces of the plane were strewn over a 200-yard area near the village of Huskovici, about 50 miles south of Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo, and searchers could see the bodies.
The plane went down just 40 miles from the spot in neighboring Croatia where a plane carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed in bad weather in 1996, killing him and 34 others on a trade mission.
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(AP) EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, center, expresses his condolences for President Boris...
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The death of Trajkovski, a 47-year-old moderate leader who helped unite his ethnically divided country, comes at a critical time for a nation still tense after its mostly Muslim ethnic Albanian minority took up arms in 2001 in a fight for greater rights.
Trajkovski was widely respected for his neutral stance in the former Yugoslav republic. He had called for a greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions, and had been widely hailed for his efforts to get both sides to live together in peace.
His twin-engine turboprop crashed Thursday in thick fog en route to an international investment conference in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar. Six other Macedonian officials and the plane's two pilots also were killed, said Saso Colakovski, a government spokesman.
"This is a tragedy for all of us. President Trajkovski was a sincere man, always willing to help everybody," said Reis ul-Ulema Hadziefendi Emini, the head of Macedonia's Muslim community.
Bosnia and Macedonia declared Friday a day of mourning, and messages of condolence poured in from world leaders. Mourners lit candles in front of Trajkovski's office in Skopje, where the mood was muted and flags flew at half-staff.
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(AP) Macedonians light candles to pay last respect to President Boris Trajkovski, in front of the...
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Pope John Paul II sent a message saying he was praying that Trajkovski's "resolute commitment to peace will inspire the nation to continue steadfastly upon the path of dialogue, mutual respect and reconciliation."
World leaders urged Macedonia's government to carry on Trajkovski's work to secure lasting stability in the country.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, visiting Skopje on Friday, urged all Macedonians to "show courage, unity and maturity."
"The loss is huge," said Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, who shared power with the president. "We should mourn, but we shouldn't be afraid. Macedonia is a strong and stable country."
Secretary of State Colin Powell called Trajkovski "a great friend of the United States" who helped put his troubled nation on "a stable footing."
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(AP) A couple pass in front of the city hall of Strumica, where Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski...
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said through a spokesman that Trajkovski would be remembered "for his crucial role in preserving the unity of his country and laying down the basis for the stability of a multiethnic Macedonian state."
Macedonia's parliament speaker, Ljubco Jordanovski, took over as acting president. The Defense Ministry said security was tightened along Macedonia's borders and at key state and army institutions.
But officials took pains to reassure people that there was no crisis. "All institutions are functioning normally and the security of the state is not in question," government spokesman Saso Colakovski said.
A Methodist minister, Trajkovski studied theology in the United States, where he converted from Orthodox Christianity. He was elected in November 1999, the second president in Macedonia's history.
His first major challenge came during Serbia's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in neighboring Kosovo, when hundreds of thousands of them fled across Macedonia's northern border from the troops of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in the 1999 Kosovo war.
Trajkovski promptly called on the international community to aid Macedonia and help the Kosovo refugees. The country opened its borders and homes, and allowed NATO to station troops there in preparation for punishing airstrikes against Serbia over Kosovo.
An even bigger test for Trajkovski came in 2001, when Macedonia's ethnic Albanians launched their insurgency to fight for more rights for their minority, which comprises a quarter of the country's 2 million people.
Through six months of bitter fighting, Trajkovski calmly steered the nation toward the Western-brokered peace deal that ended the conflict and urged reconciliation between the two ethnic communities.
