NATO hopes rise after peace vote

Macedonian politicians vote for peace accord

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- NATO is hoping to resume collecting arms from ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Macedonia after the parliament backed the overall framework of the peace process.

Meanwhile, on Friday top European Union officials are expected to try to build up momentum for political reform in the former Yugoslav republic.

Western diplomats, increasingly confident that the NATO mission will collect 3,300 weapons from the rebels by September 26, are considering a further international security presence to prevent a relapse into violence.

After a delay that threatened to derail NATO's disarmament programme, parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to authorise a procedure to rewrite key parts of the constitution to improve the civil rights of minority Albanians, who form about a third of the two million population.

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The reforms would decentralise power, allow greater official use of the Albanian language, recognise higher education in Albanian and give Albanians jobs in public service, especially the police, commensurate with their share of the population.

But journalist Juliette Terzieff told CNN the vote was considered the easiest of hurdles in the peace process.

The guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA) have pledged to hand in their weapons and disband in return for the reforms. They have handed in more than 1,200 arms so far but halted the disarmament while waiting for parliament's move.

"We are obviously extremely pleased that the decision (to launch reform) has been made with clear majority. We will now move as fast as possible into the second phase of weapons collection," NATO spokesman in Macedonia Mark Laity told Reuters.

NATO sources said they hoped guerrillas would resume disarming on Friday.

A rebel brigade commander known as Commander Qeka told Reuters: "We were waiting for the vote and finally it has been achieved. This makes us 80 percent sure that the war is about to end and we're willing to continue our cooperation."

Hours after the vote, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten arrived in Skopje to present strong financial arguments for Macedonian leaders to move along the road to peace.

They are due to meet government and political leaders on Friday and are expected to announce a fresh economic aid package.

Another aim for Solana might be to sound out President Boris Trajkovski and other leaders on what international security assistance Macedonia wants in the longer-term.

With Macedonian-Albanian animosity still smouldering on the ground, Western authorities worry that the country could relapse into bloodshed after NATO's finishes collecting weapons.

There appears to be growing international agreement that an international security component should be set up to avoid a vacuum after NATO's Task Force Harvest leaves, but it remains unclear what form or size it would be and under whose auspices.

American envoy James Pardew said on Thursday that Russia, which has smarted over its secondary role in Balkan peacekeeping missions since 1995, had approved the proposal of a new force and Moscow's participation would be welcome.

The European Union's Macedonia envoy, Francois Leotard, has called for a 1,500-strong EU contingent.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday that an international force was the only way to secure the return of tens of thousands of refugees.

The state MIA news agency said Macedonia's security council of top officials supported an initiative by President Trajkovski "to look into a possibility of establishing a U.N. monitoring mission at the borders with Kosovo and Albania."