Parties close in on peace plan in Macedonia

Macedonia's politicians resumed talks yesterday to finalize a peace plan to defuse a five-month ethnic-Albanian rebellion, acutely aware that the risk of a new Balkan war is far from over.

Leaders of the two mainstream Macedonian Slav and two ethnic-Albanian parties, meeting for more than a week, made a breakthrough Sunday night by agreeing to give Albanians more jobs in the police force as part of a package of reforms.

Negotiators say a final deal could be completed within a few days, if all goes well.

NATO is ready for rapid deployment of up to 3,500 troops in Macedonia if a peace deal is concluded and the guerrillas agree to disarm - the next key step.

Major Barry Johnson, a NATO spokesman in the former Yugoslav republic, said the first troops could be deployed with as little as 48 hours notice and the force would be fully operational within two weeks - but conditions must be right, he said.

"There are still many steps that have to be accomplished," Johnson told a news conference in Skopje, declining to say how long it would take.

A Western source said that, in a best-case scenario, troop deployment could begin sometime next week, but stressed that would depend on negotiations on an amnesty for the guerrillas going smoothly.

Eleven guerrilla leaders face arrest warrants in Macedonia for terrorism, which could complicate the issue.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is cautious about celebrating the big step back from the brink of a wider conflict while hardliners on both sides are advocating more fighting.

"All of these efforts will be useless if the people of the country do not want to forget the past and move forward," he said. A shaky truce has been in effect in the former Yugoslav republic since July 26.

Macedonians have staged violent protests several times over the past few months against what they see as capitulation at gunpoint. Guerrillas have stealthily expanded their control over territory in the northwest, despite an agreement to pull back.

Other issues remaining include details of voting for constitutional changes, the wording of the preamble to the Constitution, and the status of an unrecognized ethnic-Albanian university.

Under Sunday's deal, ethnic Albanians would get 1,000 more police jobs within two years, moving to proportional representation by 2004. Control of the forces would stay under Skopje's control. Only 6 percent of police are now ethnic Albanians.