Macedonia Plans for Refugee Returns

Putting peace efforts to the test, this nation’s defense minister said Sunday that his government plans this week to start shepherding ethnic Macedonians who fled real or feared violence back to regions populated by ethnic Albanians.

An outbreak of violence, however, reflected continued ethnic tensions. Police reported a 45-minute firefight between the villages of Semsevo and Zilce, northeast of Tetovo.

Police blamed ethnic Albanian “extremists” for the attacks, which came after a similar outbreak between the nearby villages of Ratae and Neprosteno.

Western officials have been concerned about the activities in the area, where a suspected Macedonian paramilitary unit known as the Lions operates. Macedonian authorities say only regular police units are in the area, and there was no indication whether the outbreaks were linked to such concerns.

Sunday’s firefights came just hours after Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski visited nearby villages northeast of Tetovo to outline plans for the return of people displaced from the area.

Buckovski said efforts would begin Tuesday, with the first group returning to the village of Tearce, just north of Tetovo and an area of repeated clashes during the six-month ethnic Albanian insurrection.

Returns to Lesok and Neprosteno--both also north of Tetovo--would follow, Buckovski said in Tearce.

Macedonian security forces plan to conduct a security assessment of the villages, including removing land mines, the return plan says.

The plan also includes the redeployment of police to stations abandoned during the conflict, with proportional ethnic Albanian representation in the police forces as agreed to in the peace accord meant to permanently end the ethnic violence.

“Albanians must be part of our police forces,” Buckovski said, adding that he expected that all security forces--including the military--would return to their bases by the end of the month. According to the plan, police should reenter Tearce by Saturday.

About 120,000 people were driven from their homes after ethnic Albanian militants launched an insurgency in February.

U.N. refugee officials said last week that 30,000 ethnic Albanians had returned home since the violence ebbed with the signing of a cease-fire more than a month ago but that ethnic Macedonians still feared coming back.

The returns will show whether the two sides are ready to live side by side.

Despite occasional violence, Macedonia’s peace plan appears on track. NATO is on schedule in its mission to collect weapons that the rebels are willing to surrender.

In a move that should result in more stability, the government on Saturday proposed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization keep some troops in the country even after the end of the alliance’s weapons-culling mandate, authorities said.

But the peace process could still be derailed. Branko Crvenkovski, leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, warned Saturday that his party could pull out of the fragile government coalition if parliament approves a proposal to hold a referendum on whether to approve constitutional concessions to the ethnic Albanians.