Macedonia to scrutinise peace deal

German troops head for Macedonia

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonian politicians are to begin debating the peace deal with ethnic Albanian rebels.

The agreement gives Albanians greater rights in return for rebel forces surrendering weapons -- but failure to approve the deal could see a return violence.

MPs begin debating the plan on Friday and there remains widespread scepticism that the rebels will not surrender their arms, raising fears that the peace deal will not get the necessary two-thirds approval in parliament.

Politicians have already made it clear they will not enact laws granting Albanians greater rights until the rebels fulfill their commitments.

And there remains disagreement between NATO and Macedonian politicians on how many arms the rebels will have to hand in.

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NATO says it intends to collect about 3,000 weapons but some Macedonian MPs estimate the rebels forces have more than 60,0000 weapons.

The parliamentary debate begins as NATO's Major General Gunnar Lange informed Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski that the first phase of Operation Essential Harvest -- the weapons collection mission -- had been completed.

Lange said he had handed over a letter to Trajkovski "informing him that...more than one-third (about 1,400) of the weapons ... that the so-called NLA (National Liberation Army) are voluntarily going to hand over now have been collected."

"I really hope that this will contribute to the parliament process," Lange said.

Trajkovski will present the report to Friday's assembly session which chairman Stojan Andov said would focus on the beginning of the process for making constitutional changes.

He said it should end with a decision that "the assembly decides to start a procedure for making changes to the constitution".

Assuming the peace deal is adopted by Macedonia's parliament, MPs will then discuss any suggested draft amendments.

This phase will start once Trajkovski informs the assembly chairman two-thirds of the weapons have been collected.

In a third phase, which will start after Trajkovski informs the assembly that all weapons have been collected, the deputies will start adopting the amendments.

Each amendment needs the support of at least 80 per cent of the deputies for it to be adopted.

Despite the success so far of the operation, both NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have hinted that the 30-day operation may have to be slightly extended.

"If the mission of collecting and destroying weapons takes a few more days, so be it," Robertson wrote in the Financial Times.

Straw, visiting British troops in Macedonia, on Thursday, said: "Nothing, particularly in the Balkans, is inevitable. If you are asking me whether that NATO decision may change, it could change.

"But it took a lot of discussion among the partners in NATO to agree the 30 days. My best bet is that that decision will stand, and at 30 days this operation will come to an end -- but I can't be certain."

NATO says the NLA will disband after the weapons collection mission -- an assertion disputed by Macedonians who fear the guerrillas will carry on fighting or rise up again at a later stage if the political situation is not to their liking.

The Macedonian government spokesman said this week Essential Harvest should be renamed "Museum Harvest" as the arms collected would be nothing more than useless relics.

The ethnic Albanian insurgency erupted six months ago. Rebels say they want more rights for the minority that is a third of Macedonia's 2 million population.