Efforts to cement a peace deal between Macedonia's majority Slav and minority Albanian parties has hit a new snag.
International diplomats said Slav negotiators have demanded that Albanian National Liberation Army rebels must disarm before a proposed peace deal goes to parliament for approval.
The hitch came after a positive day in which it was felt the last major hurdles to peace had been jumped and NATO announced it could quickly deploy troops in Macedonia to help in any cease-fire agreement.
A NATO spokesman said troops could be in Macedonia to take part in Operation Essential Harvest -- to collect rebel weapons -- soon after the signing of an unconditional and open-ended cease-fire.
The deployment would also require a commitment by ethnic Albanian rebels to surrender weapons. Rebels leaders have swiftly rejected the Slav call for disarament before parliamentary approval.
One commander operating in the Tetovo area said: "It would be impossible. They could disarm us and then refuse to pass the deal in parliament."
He said the politicians will have to make progress before the rebels are willing to put down their arms.
"It has been a long, long time and once we disarm we won't be able to rise again," he said.
Hopes had been running high of a firm peace deal after a major breakthrough in negotiations.
Western mediators believed a final peace deal was within reach after Albanian and Slav politicians agreed a plan to include Albanians in police patrols in majority Albanian areas.
That issue was considered the last major stumbling block, with the Macedonian parliament having 45 days to approve a signed peace deal.
A previous problem -- the status of the Albanian language -- had already been agreed.
But Monday's developments led one Western diplomat to say that if the leaders of the Macedonian government held fast to their new proposal it would result in a "complete breakdown" of talks.
On Monday, Albanian political officials said they had not been in contact with anyone all day.
Macedonian Slavs -- including Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski -- met diplomats for only about 15 minutes.
Ethnic Albanian rebels have been fighting government troops in the northern part of Macedonia for months. The rebels say their goal is to win greater civil rights for Macedonia's Albanian minority. |
