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Choose Peace Over War, Macedonian Leader Tells Deputies
SKOPJE, Aug 31 (News Agencies) - As the Macedonian parliament convened to debate a peace deal aimed at ending an Albanian uprising, President Boris Trajkovski called on its members to choose peace over war, saying the deal was "the best thing we have right now."
"The agreement is not perfect, but no agreement ever is. It is the best thing we have right now and it does have many positive points," he said of the peace deal signed on August 13th.
"The alternative is division at all levels: civil, inter-ethnic, political and generational," Trajkovski told deputies as they convened to debate ratifying the accord.
The session had earlier been delayed for several hours when some 200 nationalist protesters opposed to the peace deal stopped deputies entering the building.
Originally scheduled to start at 11:00 am (0900 GMT), it got underway just after 5:00 pm.
"The alternative to peace is war which will expose everyone to mass casualties, misery and a loss of perspective for many years to come," Trajkovski said.
On the National Liberation Army (NLA), the president said: "If there is more violence from these men and their leaders, then the whole world will know that they are fighting for territory" rather than for rights.
The NLA began an armed uprising in February, over civil rights for Macedonia's large Muslim Albanian minority.
Trajkovski also called on the West to recognize with funds the work Skopje has done for peace in the Balkans, such as accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees from Kosovo during the conflict in the neighboring Serb province.
"We expect the international community to recognize our contribution to stability and peace in the region... [not] the way it did so far with empty promises but in a more concrete way through an economic package of aid aimed at rehabilitating our economy," he said.
"After 10 years of weathering the storms of sanctions, embargoes, refugees and now threats from without, we've earned it."
The president also called the United Nations to reintroduce its Preventative Deployment Force, which he said was successful and kept the peace by patrolling the borders.
The organization recommended deploying UNPRDEP in November 1992 more than a year after Macedonia declared independence.
"We have made the difficult decisions and we have met you half way - now we expect the international community to do the same. Not only because it is expedient, but because it is right," Trajkovski said.
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