SKOPJE (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Macedonia's parliament is set on Monday to resume debating a peace plan Western powers see as vital to averting civil war in the former Yugoslav republic.The debate was suspended for two days by parliament's nationalist speaker Stojan Andov, who alleged ethnic Albanian fighters were harassing civilians and demanded guarantees all displaced Macedonians would quickly be able to return home.
Andov said on Sunday he had decided to reopen the debate after Albanians at the weekend ended a road-blocking protest against alleged police harassment. The protest had blocked a convoy of displaced Macedonians visiting their homes. (Read photo caption below)
Andov also came under heavy pressure to restart the debate, which began on Friday, from Western officials worried the delay would take the momentum out of the fragile process aimed at ending the ethnic Albanian uprising for equal rights.
Anxious to avoid the all-out war which engulfed other parts of the Balkans in the past decade, Western governments and organizations such as the European Union and NATO have been closely involved in efforts to bring peace to Macedonia.
Under the plan, the Albanian fighters have pledged to hand their weapons over to a special NATO task force in return for a reform package which will give ethnic Albanians more jobs in the police force, more official use of their language and other benefits.
``We're glad Andov has come to his senses. We stressed to him that you can't start and stop a peace process based on every little incident in the field. It's vital that disarmament and legislation proceed in tandem,'' a senior Western envoy said.
The Albanian fighters handed in more than 1,200 weapons from their declared arsenal of 3,300 in the first phase of disarmament last week. But commanders had made clear they would surrender nothing more until parliament pushed ahead with the reforms.
In a sign of continuing tensions, a Macedonian man was shot and killed by police after failing to stop at a checkpoint on the main road between Skopje and the western city of Tetovo on Sunday afternoon, the state news agency MIA reported.
PHOTO CAPTION:
An Albanian UCK fighter stands guard at the village of Dobroshe outside of the town of Tetovo September 2, 2001. Macedonia's peace process was at a standstill after the speaker of parliament refused to restart a debate on planned political reforms seen by the West as vital to averting all-out war. (Peter Andrews/Reuters)
- Sep 02 1:01 PM ET