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Macedonian Lawmakers Approve Peace Deal
SKOPJE, Sept 6
(News Agencies) - Macedonian lawmakers approved a framework Western-backed peace plan Thursday in a vote that gave NATO troops the green light to resume immediately their operation to decommission National Liberation Army (NLA) arms.
The deputies voted 91 to 18 to launch a process to amend the constitution as part of an August 13th peace deal boosting the rights of the fragile Balkan state's Muslim Albanian minority.
U.S. and European politicians welcomed the vote, which came two days later than expected after a marathon debate. "That's a very important step in the right direction," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Skopje.
"We commend [the] Macedonian legislators for the positive vote for peace," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.
The accord, which aims to end a seven-month insurgency, grants an amnesty for NLA members, makes Albanian an official language in some areas, provides more jobs in the police and administration for Muslim Albanians and gives wider powers to local government.
Immediately after the vote, Western military sources said a new NATO arms-collection operation would begin early Friday, lasting at least four days in an, as yet, undisclosed location and carried out by British and Dutch troops.
NATO wants to collect 3,300 weapons from the NLA by September 26th. A first phase last week netted more than a third of that tally.
Under the resolution adopted in parliament, a commission has been tasked with drafting more than 30 amendments to Macedonia's fundamental law, which are to be brought before the assembly in 10 days' time.
The vote originally had been scheduled to take place Tuesday, and the delay in Parliament frustrated both Western diplomats, who backed the peace accord, and NATO, which has been on stand-by to begin collecting weapons again.
Under the accord, the constitution has to be changed by September 27th.
Meanwhile, Western governments continued to mull how to avoid a "security vacuum" after the 30-day NATO mission ends officially on September 26th.
In a statement, the Macedonian presidency called for the country's forces to return to their job of ensuring security throughout the country, along with monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union (EU).
The OSCE finally agreed Thursday to double its mission in Macedonia, after a week of delay due to Russian objections.
The U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, called for an urgent international mission to maintain security in Macedonia so that refugees and displaced people can return home.
UNHCR envoy Eric Morris said in a statement that an international presence was the only way to fill the security vacuum and prevent further violence.
"UNHCR cannot suggest in what form or size the security arrangement should look like, but this has to happen now - before NATO ends its mission - to ensure not only safety for civilians, but also to help create conditions for the safe return of refugees and displaced people," Morris said.
The UNHCR said more than 30,000 Muslim Albanian refugees have returned to the country from Kosovo, but that ethnic Macedonians do not feel it is safe to return.
More than 125,000 people fled since the fighting began in February.
The parliamentary vote had been delayed notably by nationalist parliament speaker Stojan Andov, who protested the refusal of Muslim Albanians to allow displaced Macedonians to return to their homes in the volatile northwest.
But in the public vote Thursday, Andov supported the agreement, which was signed by the leaders of Macedonia's four main political parties - two Muslim Albanian and two Slav.
A question mark had hung over how the 43 deputies in the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski would vote.
The two main Muslim Albanian parties were jubilant.
Zamir Dika, of the DPA, said the result means Macedonia now faces a brighter and more peaceful future, while Naser Ziberi, of the smaller PDP, said it gave hope for future stability.
"No one is a winner, no one is defeated and there are no traitors," Ziberi said.
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