Macedonia: 'Armed struggle over'

SIPKOVICA (MACEDONIA), AUG. 28. With NATO troops collecting rebel guns in Macedonia, the leader of the ethnic Albanian guerillas said his armed struggle was over and that a new struggle had begun - making the peace process take hold.

``It's necessary that we continue to live together,'' Mr. Ali Ahmeti said, referring to relations between Macedonia's Government and the country's ethnic Albanian minority. The political leader of the so-called National Liberation Army rules his forces from this tiny mountain village, where the streets are stone and dirt and rebels in jaunty red berets swagger past the villagers or gallop by on horseback.

The slight, bushy-haired kingpin of the ethnic Albanian insurgency seems to be trying to move in a different direction these days, away from fighting in the mountains and toward the carpeted drawing rooms of more typical leaders. He's agreed to let his forces hand over 3,300 weapons to NATO troops in a mission that is now under way and is set to last 30 days.

Rebels in the village of Sipkovica, 40 km northwest of the capital, Skopje, are expected to give up their guns. The Macedonian Prime Minister, Mr. Ljubco Georgievski, has said the rebels retain 60,000 weapons, but Mr. Ahmeti dismissed the latest disputes over the number of weapons to be collected as political posturing by hardliners in Macedonia's Government. ``I think this is all a political campaign,'' said Mr. Ahmeti. ``Their greatest fear is that they will lose position.''

Much hinges on his credibility, and whether he can persuade Macedonians that his efforts to end the six-month-old conflict are sincere. The peace plan is a carefully calibrated document in which every rebel action is met with a Macedonian reaction. The rebels hand in a third of their weapons in exchange for acceptance by the country's Parliament of a set of political reforms. The next third is received with the next set of reforms and so on. A snag anywhere along the line can scuttle the whole deal.

When describing the efforts of Macedonia's Parliament to take on political reforms, Mr. Ahmeti said it was up to the leaders to show they mean business. ``Certainly this is a process that requires a lot of courage,'' he said. Mr. Ahmeti praised the accomplishments of the peace accord and repeatedly expressing his desire to do everything in his power to carry it out. He also seemed sensitive to the need to transform his image from rebel to politician.

Meanwhile, Germany's opposition conservatives said on Tuesday they were no longer against sending German troops to Macedonia, paving the way for broad approval of the mission in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Next     : Blair Govt. under fire on voucher system