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Macedonian Parties Sign Peace Agreement
SKOPJE, Aug 13 (News Agencies) - Macedonian and Muslim Albanian party leaders signed on Monday a Western-backed peace deal to try to end more than six months of fighting that threatened to ignite into a new Balkans war.
The leaders celebrated the success of the peace accord after signing the document in the presence of several international dignitaries.
"This is a major day for returning to a peaceful and normal life. I see a light in what has been a long black tunnel," NATO Secretary General George Robertson said after the accord was signed.
The agreement provides for NATO troops to be deployed in Macedonia to disarm Albanian fighters while the government will enact measures to address complaints by the large Muslim Albanian minority of being treated like second-class citizens.
It recognizes Albanian as a second official language in those areas predominantly inhabited by Albanians and lays out steps to boost the number of Albanians serving in the local police forces in those regions.
While Albanian fighters were not represented at the negotiating table, one of the commanders of the National Liberation Army (NLA) told AFP minutes before the accord was signed that he accepted the peace terms.
But he added that the fighters would decide in the next two weeks on whether to lay down their arms.
"The NLA accepts the peace accord," Commander Shpati told AFP by telephone.
Signature of the accord had been thrown into doubt over the past few days following intense fighting in the north of the country in a string of villages between Albanian fighters and government forces.
Clashes were reported overnight and question marks remained as to whether the politicians who signed the accord would be able to persuade fighters to put down their arms.
NATO maintains that it will deploy its troops to disarm Albanian fighters once a ceasefire has proved solid and the fighters agree to voluntarily surrender their weapons.
"Clearly there has to be a sustainable ceasefire, there has to be a clear indication from the insurgents that they mean business in terms of disarming completely and handing over all their weapons and all their ammunition," Robertson shortly after his arrival here for the signing ceremony.
NATO has earmarked some 3,500 mainly European troops to send into Macedonia after a ceasefire comes into effect.
The signing came a week after some of the fiercest fighting yet seen in the six-month struggle, and few in Skopje were betting on a rapid return to peace.
The peace accord was signed in a presence of Robertson, the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) chairman Mircea Geoana and Belgium Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency.
The NLA launched an uprising in February over what they say is a fight for minority rights for Muslim Albanians who make up to one third of the former Yugoslav republic's population of two million.
Earlier, Muhamed Halili, secretary general of the Party for Democratic Prosperity, said that only a NATO peacekeeping force could end the conflict in Macedonia and ensure the implementation of a peace plan.
"We are going to sign the accord, it represents a new phase of openness in the peace process. It opens the door for NATO to bring peace and stability to the Republic of Macedonia," said Halili, the French news agency AFP reported.
"We have reached a political deal, we are going to work hard to bring it into effect, but both Albanian and Macedonian parties have lost political credibility. Only NATO can bring stability," he said.
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