2024-07-31 19:10:46
The largest opposition party in North Macedonia, SDSM, demanded that the Prime Minister of the country, Hristijan Mickoski, release the Minister of Internal Affairs, Panče Toškovski, as the head of the Steering Committee for the Crisis Management System and appoint another to this position, BTA reported.
The government of Hristijan Mickoski and the institutions under his leadership are failing to deal with the fires in the Republic of North Macedonia, and the weakest link is the poor coordination in extinguishing the fires by air and delaying them for hours, SDSM spokesperson Bogdanka Kuzeska said in a statement. which defined the situation with the fires covering the country as alarming.
“More than 130 square kilometers have been burned, many fires are still active and a huge area of more than 20 thousand hectares has been affected. Citizens on the ground report that the firefighters act on time and persistently fight the fire, but at the same time they notice the slow response of the specialized planes and their delay for hours, as well as the lack of police presence. For more than 10 days, the fire has been burning near Makedonski Brod, the villages of Tazhevo and Breznitsa are threatened. Information from the ground confirms that there are permanent firefighters, but there is a lack of adequate air support. There are indications that some of the fires may have been deliberate. So far, however, there is no information from the Ministry of the Interior. Why has no one been arrested? Why has not a single case been solved,” Kuzeska asked.
Disputing it, the Prime Minister of the country, Mickoski, must take action and improve the efficiency of the institutions for a faster response of aircraft when extinguishing fires.
Asked about the fire situation during his visit to Kavadarci, Hristiyan Mickoski refused to comment on the statements of the opposition party and said that the fires started only days after his government took office, thanks to the quick decisions it took , the country has specialized aircraft in operation and representatives of the army have been mobilized, including firefighting aircraft.
Mickoski said the country was expecting help with planes and helicopters from Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany, after assistance was sought under the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism yesterday.
According to the director of the Crisis Management Center, Stoyanche Angelov, there are 12 active fires today on the territory of the country, which, in addition to land, are also being extinguished by air, and if necessary, the NATO aid mechanism will be activated, through which, if necessary, Firefighters from outside the country will be sought.
According to data from the Crisis Management Center, there were fires in the municipalities of Pehchevo, Kratovo, Sveti Nikole, Makedonski Brod, Kumanovo, Probistip, and the fire in the municipality of Doiran was localized.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that a man from the village of Ali Koc, municipality of Radovish in Eastern North Macedonia, was arrested for causing fires in two places near the village, where an oak forest was set on fire, and he himself confessed to what he had done.
“In these difficult times, when we are faced with catastrophic fires, I again appeal to all citizens to act conscientiously and responsibly, to avoid activities that can cause fires and to report suspicious activities. At the same time, I want to emphasize that the Ministry of the Interior will take strict measures against anyone who intentionally causes fires and endangers the safety and lives of our citizens,” North Macedonia’s Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski wrote on his Facebook profile.