DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti said that he received offers to partition Macedonia along ethnic lines, but rejected them, considering the high toll the move would exact on the country. Ahmeti was the commander of the terrorist UCK/NLA organization which sparked a civil war in Macedonia in 2001, killing hundreds.

Ahmeti said that the offer was made to him by “high officials”.

Any partition would be very harmful for the Albanians but also the Macedonians. There would’ve been minorities left on the other side here and there and new wounds would open. We did not accept this, and now we have our national symbols and language and we achieved our goals, Ahmeti said, making a pitch to the Albanian voters ahead of the April 12 elections.

In an earlier interview in 2014, Ahmeti said that the offer included giving Tetovo, Gostivar, Debar, Kicevo and Lipkovo to the Albanian entity, which would lead to removing 60.000 Macedonians from these cities.

Ahmeti is trying to present the latest concessions given to him by Zoran Zaev as major victories for the Albanian cause in Macedonia, while opposition ethnic Albanian parties insist that more could be gained. The DUI leader rejected the idea of a pre-election coalition with Zaev’s SDSM party, who is now competing with him for the Albanian vote.