Macedonia’s Peace Is on Track--Just

Macedonia’s peace process inched forward Thursday, with NATO completing the second phase of weapons collection and parliament deflecting a move to hold a referendum on proposed concessions to ethnic Albanians.

Under the peace accord, ethnic Albanian rebels surrender their weapons to North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in three separate batches. The completion of each phase is to coincide with the passage of new legislation aimed at giving ethnic Albanians more rights, a pillar of the effort to end the 6 1/2-month-old conflict.

Announcing completion of phase two, Maj. Gen. Gunnar Lange, commander of NATO’s arms-gathering mission, said he had informed Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski that more than two-thirds of the 3,300 weapons to be collected had been turned in.

“We hope we can continue with the momentum in this process,” Lange said as he left parliament in Skopje.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity described Thursday as “another day of hope, another good day.”

“We comfortably exceeded the number of 2,200 weapons as envisaged by [phase two of] the agreement,” he said, adding that it was now up to the government to stick to its time frame.

Reflecting potential obstacles ahead, parliament on Thursday postponed a session that was to consider a request by a small Macedonian party for a referendum on constitutional changes that would grant greater rights to ethnic Albanians, who constitute at least one-quarter of the nation’s 2 million people.

Only a majority of 61 votes is needed to endorse New Democracy’s proposal, but no date has yet been set for the discussion.

A referendum could derail the entire peace process, and Western officials fear that the proposal might be endorsed by hard-liners within VMRO, the major Macedonian nationalist party.

Nicole Fontaine, president of the European Parliament, expressed concern about the referendum push, calling it a “very risky move for Macedonia.”

The final peace agreement, which includes the constitutional changes, would be passed only after NATO has collected all 3,300 weapons the rebels have agreed to surrender.

NATO is on a limited, 30-day mission in Macedonia, and is expected to complete weapons collection by Sept. 26.

Parliament Speaker Stojan Andov said discussions on troublesome draft amendments to the constitution would have to wait until after all weapons had been collected and Macedonian forces had regained control of the entire country, including areas currently controlled by rebels.

But, Andov said, Western officials have threatened to impose a financial blockade on Macedonia if the legislative process is hindered.

Alluding to the link between Western aid and compliance with the peace pact, Fontaine urged Macedonian lawmakers to move the process ahead, warning of the alternative--”a renewal of the armed conflict.”

About 15 armed rebels opened fire early Thursday on Macedonian forces in the area of Mal Tapan just inside Macedonia on the border with Kosovo, said an army spokesman, Col. Blagoja Markovski. The army returned fire, he said. No injuries were reported.