Macedonia resumes peace debate

Protesters outside Macedonia's parliament

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia's parliament has resumed talks on a peace deal with ethnic Albanians.

The Western-brokered accord includes making constitutional changes to recognise the Albanian language and needs the backing of parliament.

Talks were suspended on Saturday after a heated argument inside the chamber over refugees.

The parliament's speaker, Stojan Andov, adjourned the debate after demanding new conditions for the return of the estimated 125,000 Macedonian Slav refugees mainly from Kosovo.

But Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski gave Andov "assurances that the existing problems would be overcome," according to a statement.

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Andov reserved the right to suspend further debate on the accord.

A joint statement from European Union envoy Francois Leotard and U.S. Balkans adviser James Pardew urged Andov "to move the process forward immediately."

NATO had said any postponement in the peace process could damage its role of collecting weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels under the deal.

A NATO diplomat said on Sunday that if parliament was still "sidelined in five days' time, we will have a serious crisis."

The delay has already caused tension in the country, with three explosions damaging property in the capital Skopje early Sunday morning.

Two were apparent firebombings targeting ethnic Albanian buildings. No injuries were reported.

Nationalist Macedonian politicians had complained that ethnic Albanian rebels were blocking the repatriation of Slav refugees.

About 350 Macedonians who were trying to revisit homes behind rebel lines had been marooned overnight on the wrong side of barricades, before being let through.

Andov had refused to endorse the restart of the parliamentary session until the demand for all refugees still stranded in Kosovo be allowed home was met.

The Macedonian cabinet convened to see how to resolve the crisis and NATO, U.S. and European Union envoys who mediated the August 13 peace accord attended the meeting.

Absent from the meeting were nationalist politicians including the prime minister, interior minister and parliament speaker.

The parliamentary debate centres on whether to consider constitutional reforms granting new rights to Macedonia's ethnic Albanians in exchange for the surrender of weapons to NATO by rebel fighters.

The changes would include making Albanian an official language in areas where ethnic Albanians comprise more than 20 percent of the population and award a degree of self-rule to predominantly ethnic Albanian areas.

The peace accord also envisages proportional representation of minorities in the government and police forces, as well as in the Constitutional Court, which has the final say in legislative matters.

Before NATO can begin the second phase of weapons collection, 80 deputies in the 120-seat assembly must vote in favour of amending the constitution.

Trajkovski said the Western-brokered peace deal was hugely important, adding that the alternative is "division and ... mass ethnic and civil war."

The standoff followed a six-hour holdup of the debate on Friday when demonstrations took place outside the parliamentary building.

At the end of the debate several radical deputies from VMRO, the top Macedonian government party, rejected the constitutional changes.

Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, a senior VMRO member, called for a nationwide referendum on the reforms, AP said.

Macedonia's leading ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi told AP he would not support a referendum.

About a third of the 3,300 weapons have been handed in. NATO released figures on Saturday of the breakdown. They include 1,210 arms, including 69 anti-tank pieces, three surface-to-air missiles, 194 machine guns and 944 assault rifles.

Parliament is due to hold sessions each time a third of the weapons are given up, with a vote coming at the end of NATO's operation on September 26.

The Macedonians believe the rebels have thousands more weapons which they have not declared to NATO.