Ethnically Mixed Police Begin Macedonian Village Patrols

In a key test of Macedonia’s peace process, the first ethnically mixed police units deployed Monday to areas seized by ethnic Albanian rebels during clashes with government troops earlier this year.

Sent to villages where tensions still smolder, the small groups of police are part of a Western-engineered peace accord signed by ethnic Macedonian and minority ethnic Albanian leaders in August. No violence was reported in Monday’s patrols.

In Tearce, 20 miles northwest of Skopje, the capital, ethnic Albanian children ran around shouting, “Police! Police!” and anxious village elders lined the main street as two police patrols drove in Monday, escorted by dozens of European monitors and a flock of reporters.

Even though they have formally disarmed in line with the peace accord, the ethnic Albanian rebels still control many of the villages in the north where the troops are deploying.

Tearce is among five villages selected as test cases for the police deployment. The predominantly ethnic Albanian community saw some of the heaviest fighting during the six-month conflict.

Swerving off the junction, police cars came to a halt Monday by the bullet-peppered walls of an Orthodox church across from the ruins of an ethnic Albanian home.

Dressed in regular blue uniforms, six policemen--three ethnic Albanians and three ethnic Macedonians--stepped out, cautiously smiling at the locals.

No one smiled back. Meanwhile, politicians from rival sides nervously shook hands.

The deployment plan initially called for six-man units to patrol the villages throughout the contested northwest--a move meant to boost trust between the rival ethnic communities. If the project was successful, the program would eventually be expanded to include more than 80 villages.

But the Macedonians objected to the plan last week, claiming that police armed only with handguns would be at risk.

Negotiations over the weekend with officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union concluded with a slightly revised plan. If a village was deemed especially tense, the police would be allowed to carry machine guns and expand the units to up to 10 officers.

The peace accord halted fighting between government troops and rebels demanding more rights for ethnic Albanians, who account for at least a quarter of Macedonia’s population of 2 million.