Rebels Reportedly Will Turn In Last Arms

Reassured by plans for a future Western security presence, rebels in Macedonia have told NATO that they will turn in their remaining guns although parliament has yet to pass civil rights reforms, alliance sources said Tuesday.

The rebel gesture, made after the government reversed a decision and said it would accept a modest North Atlantic Treaty Organization force to foster peaceful re-integration of guerrilla areas, gave a shot in the arm to a flagging peace process.

But the drive for peace could still be derailed if parliament waters down reforms or subjects them to a referendum as Macedonian nationalist hard-liners demand, spurning a Sept. 28 deadline agreed to with minority ethnic Albanians for amending the constitution.

The delicately tuned military-political accord reached five weeks ago with Western mediation is aimed at defusing the fifth ethnic conflict in the region of the former Yugoslav federation since 1991 and stabilizing the entire Balkans over the longer term.

Parliament debated a referendum for 3 1/2 hours Tuesday before Speaker Stojan Andov adjourned the session amid a shouting match with backbenchers. It is to resume Thursday.

The legislature was to have begun today to consider 14 constitutional amendments required by the peace pact.

The insurgent National Liberation Army has handed in two-thirds of its declared arsenal to NATO troops since Aug. 27.

But the NLA put the final phase of disarmament on hold by agreement with NATO last week because of parliamentary delays.

However, NLA political leader Ali Ahmeti told NATO intermediaries Monday that his men would turn in the rest of their firepower unilaterally, a senior alliance official said.

“We have received a commitment from Ahmeti that the final set of weapons will be handed in regardless of parliamentary action, and that means we hope we can conclude the process by the expiry of our mandate on Sept. 26,” he said Monday.

“There is no such link with parliament any more. We hope for a public statement from him [Ahmeti] on this today or tomorrow. I think he wants to gain the moral high ground and show that he is a man of his word.”

Before Ahmeti’s move, NATO had grown concerned that it might not be able to retrieve the final 1,100 of 3,300 NLA weapons before its 30-day mandate runs out.