Hopes that pens will cement brittle ceasefire in Macedonia

SKOPJE - Huge hurdles remain to averting war in Macedonia even as politicians were due to sign a peace plan.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Nato Secretary-General George Robertson were to attend a signing ceremony at about 2 am New Zealand time today at the residence of President Boris Trajkovski.

A Nato-brokered ceasefire to defuse a six-month rebellion by ethnic Albanian rebels became effective yesterday. It followed a week with the highest death toll since the conflict began in February.

The signing of the peace agreement, hammered out last week by leaders of the main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties, is meant to help end the rebellion.

It is also one of the conditions for the deployment of 3500 Nato troops. Details of the accord have not been published.

A Macedonian official said the rebels, who have taken swathes of territory in the northwest of the country, were expected to withdraw to the lines of a July ceasefire under the truce brokered by Nato special envoy Pieter Feith.

An amnesty for members of the National Liberation Army has still to be resolved. The guerrillas were not at the negotiating table but have said they back the plan.

A Macedonian official said the signing ceremony would be kept low-key to avoid raising expectations. Any trumpeting of peace could upset Macedonians, who after days of funerals want revenge rather than reconciliation.

Diplomats say peace is still a long way off and point out that previous truces were quickly made meaningless by more fighting.

The ceasefire was worked out while the security forces used jets and attack helicopters against guerrillas in the northwest.

Hardliners on both sides believe they can win by keeping up the armed struggle. Some Macedonians think any peace deal amounts to capitulation at gunpoint, and the rebels see no reason to give up territory they have captured in the north.

Just hours before the ceasefire began, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski urged the "fiercest offensive" yet against the guerrillas.

The rebels say they are pushing for better treatment of the ethnic Albanian minority. The Government accuses them of wanting to split Albanian areas off from the rest of the country.

The signing of the accord puts Parliament, the rebels and Nato on an almost impossible timetable.

Parliament is meant to approve the peace plan within 45 days. But the head of the Macedonian Parliament has said he will not even discuss the deal until the rebels have disarmed.

The NLA says it cannot hand over weapons unless reforms are in place, as its members could give up arms on promises of change and then be annihilated by the army.

Nato has laid down three conditions for deploying its forces: the signing of the peace deal; an unconditional and open-ended ceasefire; and an agreement by the NLA to hand over weapons.

- REUTERS

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