Police threat to Macedonia peace

NATO collected rebel weapons while parliament delayed adopting reforms

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonian police units are to be deployed in rebel strongholds in the former Yugoslav republic, government officials have announced.

But international mediators are attempting to persuade the interior ministry to drop the plan that could threaten the country's fragile peace process.

Officers could be deployed in the rebel areas as early as Thursday -- before parliament has formally adopted its side of the peace agreement which includes granting amnesty to the ethnic Albanian rebels.

The peace deal demands that rebels surrender weapons to a NATO force and that the Macedonia's parliament adopts constitutional changes giving greater rights to the country's ethnic Albanians.

Rebels have handed in their weapons -- an operation called a resounding success by NATO -- but so far parliament has delayed adopting the reforms, which Western officials say must become law before government forces can retake control of the rebel strongholds.

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Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski told news agencies: "Thursday is D-Day for Macedonia, when Interior Ministry forces will return to occupied territories with light arms and (ethnically) mixed patrols.

"Macedonia cannot wait for some missionaries to say whether this condition or that condition is fulfilled. Macedonia is a sovereign country and we have our red line."

The announcement came as senior Western diplomats tried to ensure the government carried out its side of the peace deal.

A statement issued on behalf of European and U.S. diplomats on Wednesday said Macedonia had failed to honour a host of conditions for peacefully reintegrating rebel areas.

They said the government had dodged a "fully transparent planning process" involving international and ethnic Albanian community representatives.

It had not demobilised rogue police reservists or paramilitaries outside "proper command and control" and parliament had not adopted an amnesty or minority rights reforms.

The statement read: "We support the re-entry of Macedonian security forces to all (rebel) areas on an appropriate timeline and in an appropriate manner.

"But it has to happen in the spirit of the peace agreement. We urge the government not to implement any decisions not fulfilling the above-mentioned points. The international community will be unable to support or be associated with any such decisions."

The statement was issued on behalf of James Pardew, the U.S. State Department special envoy for southeastern Europe, NATO Ambassador James Speckhard, EU Special Representative Francois Leotard, and OSCE Special Envoy Max van der Stoel

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Chris Patten were due to visit Macedonia on Thursday to warn reconstruction aid could be withheld until the crucial constitutional reforms are enacted.

A senior former commander of the minority Albanian rebels known as Leka told Reuters news agency "war will resume" if police moved in before an amnesty was enacted.