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Macedonia Calls Truce with NLA, Peace Accord to be Signed
SKOPJE, Aug 12 (News Agencies) - The Macedonian government called a truce with Albanian activists on Sunday, as the country's political parties prepared to sign a peace accord aimed at ending the threat of civil war in the Balkan country.
Macedonian forces began a unilateral ceasefire at 7:30 pm (1730 GMT), and two hours later it appeared to be holding after a weekend of some of the fiercest fighting of the six-month conflict.
Western officials said that NATO negotiators were working behind the scenes to try and persuade the National Liberation Army (NLA) to respect the truce.
"In order to give peace a chance, the government has declared a unilateral ceasefire. Government forces will respect the ceasefire unless they come under attack," a high-ranking Macedonian official said.
Earlier on Sunday, security forces and activists exchanged fire around a string of villages north and west of Skopje, a day after new violence flared in Tetovo, the main Muslim Albanian town which has been the scene of many of the clashes between activists and government forces.
Macedonia called the truce after all four political parties in the government coalition said they would go ahead on Monday with the signature of a peace deal agreed last Wednesday.
The internationally brokered peace deal is aimed at heading off a crisis in Macedonia by bolstering the rights of the country's Muslim Albanian minority, who make up as much as one third of the country's population.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who helped broker the peace accord, was expected to arrive in Skopje around 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Monday to attend the signing ceremony.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson was also expected to attend.
The signing of the accord would pave the way for NATO to sweep into the country and disarm the activists.
Whether the peace holds, however, largely depends on the activists themselves. They were not represented at the peace talks that drew up the accord, and it is not clear whether they will agree to lay down their arms.
A NLA spokesman described the truce called by Skopje as a "farce".
"I think the Macedonian side will continue the battle," a NLA spokesman known as Captain Shpati told AFP by telephone.
"All the previous statements of the Macedonian side were telling us that they would continue military actions against us," said Shpati.
NATO has said it will only carry out the disarmament if the NLA voluntarily agree to lay down their arms.
In the United States, the White House on Sunday hailed as "a courageous step" the planned signing of the peace accord, and urged all parties to resist resorting to violence.
"We understand that a formal agreement may be signed on Monday. This is a courageous step that the parties have taken," said White House national security council spokesman Sean McCormack.
NATO said Sunday it had stepped up efforts to seal the border between Macedonia and the neighboring Serbian province of Kosovo, following new reports that Albanian fighters had slipped across it.
The move followed an appeal by Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski for the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) to "fulfill its mission and secure the border so as to stop rebel incursions into Macedonia."
"We have responded to the president's call and have stepped up efforts to seal the border," an alliance spokesman told AFP.
"NATO and KFOR are doing everything they can to stop the infiltrations and arms trafficking across the border," the spokesman said.
An intensification of violence over the past few days had left signature of the peace accord in doubt.
The accord provides for greater use of the Albanian language, more Albanians in the police force and provides guarantees that Macedonia will remain a single state.
The two Macedonian parties, the Macedonian SDSM and the VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, and the two Muslim Albanian parties, the PDP and the DPA, will sign the accord.
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