From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: FYROM Threatened - For Opposing Terrorism [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- NATO-friendly terrorists, understand. But which aren't? Wednesday October 3 1:30 PM ET New War Risk as Macedonia Sets Return to Rebel Zone By Mark Heinrich SKOPJE, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonia's peace plan lurched toward crisis Wednesday when police declared they would re-enter areas where guerrillas have disarmed without an amnesty in place, and ex-rebels threatened to go back to war. Hard-line Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski's announcement that police would unilaterally reoccupy parts of guerrilla territory Thursday stunned Western patrons of the August peace accord, who urgently sought clarification. In a confusing twist, Macedonia's National Security Council said later that security forces would re-enter rebel areas in the next two days but ``with international coordination.?? Boskovski had said he expected his plan to be rubber-stamped by the Security Council, which is led by the president. ``The Macedonians are playing a dangerous game of ambiguity. It may be a general move to force the agenda. It?s serious, but between deciding and implementing such moves, there is still room for maneuver,?? an international official told Reuters. He said the NATO, European Union and OSCE envoys were rushing out a joint statement insisting police should not re-occupy rebel zones unilaterally. If Boskovski's move is carried out it could wreck a visit the same day by European Union leaders planning to warn local nationalists they risk losing foreign aid unless they stop delaying reforms due to minority Albanians under a peace accord. A NATO spokesman said no plan to reintegrate insurgent regions had been agreed yet with the government because the amnesty and constitutional changes to provide better rights to minority Albanians had not been enacted. Boskovski said that did not matter because his men would reappear first in villages where no disturbances were likely. MACEDONIA'S D-DAY ``Tomorrow is D-Day for Macedonia, when Interior Ministry forces will return to occupied territories with light arms and (ethnically) mixed patrols,?? he told a news conference. ``We will enter the villages near Skopje and Tetovo, wherever we don?t expect serious trouble,?? he said. Skopje is the capital and Tetovo is Macedonia?s largest ethnic Albanian-populated city, both on the fringes of cease-fire lines. ``Macedonia cannot wait for some missionaries to say whether this condition or that condition is fulfilled,?? he said. ``We are a sovereign country and we have our red line.?? His top police general said officers would arrest ``known offenders?? including former National Liberation Army commander Ali Ahmeti, if they came across them. A prominent former NLA brigade commander warned of renewed war if police sallied into the rebel north without an amnesty. ``If tomorrow police do come into this area, war will resume,?? said the officer, known only as Leka. ``I wonder how Boskovski can decide something like that, because in all the meetings we have had with NATO, European Union and OSCE representatives, it was agreed no army or police will step into these regions until the pardon is implemented,?? he told Reuters by mobile phone from the Tetovo Valley. The NLA voluntarily relinquished its declared weaponry to NATO last month and dissolved itself in a Western-engineered peace bargain obligating Skopje to grant an amnesty and reforms enhancing Albanian political, language and educational rights. REBELS HAVE GUNS TUCKED AWAY But former insurgents are believed to have hidden firepower in case the peace process collapsed. James Pardew, the U.S. co-mediator of the peace pact, told Reuters earlier that international officials were worried about ''the threat of a premature return of security forces to rebel areas, which would be destabilizing.'' European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Chris Patten planned a visit Thursday to warn Macedonian leaders there will be no aid until the peace accord they signed is enshrined in law. But a senior government official said Solana and Patten would be warned in turn that the pact, the product of scrambled Western diplomatic intervention to avert a full-blown civil war, could not survive parliamentary scrutiny as written. A treaty provision deleting references to ``Macedonian people?? in favor of unnamed ``citizens?? from the constitution?s preamble was unacceptable in a tiny country with historically predatory Balkan neighbors, the official told Reuters. Skopje also wanted to resolve the fate of 12 Macedonians reportedly kidnapped by rebels before issuing an amnesty. Patten was expected to warn Skopje that a donors' conference originally set for October 15 will be canceled unless reforms are ratified. But doubts have arisen whether that warning will prove to be meaningful leverage against Macedonian hard-liners. One NATO diplomat said nationalist party leaders who signed the peace deal reluctantly seemed to have become ``cocky?? since the NLA disarmed and might be sizing up the option of more war. Macedonia obtained about 30 T-72 battle tanks from Ukraine last month, stiffening the resolve of those who resented Western diplomatic intervention, which stifled a planned counter-offensive by the security forces. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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