SKOPJE, Macedonia (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Macedonia's Albanian fighters have agreed to hand in about 3,000 weapons to NATO troops, Western diplomats said Friday, clearing the way for the start of a mission aimed at rescuing the country from all-out civil war.As alliance troops flooded into Macedonia to begin collecting arms next week, NATO and ethnic Albanian fighters revealed they had worked out an arrangement on the number of weapons to be turned over. (Read photo caption below)The number was disclosed by diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States is providing logistical and medical support for the operation from its base in Kosovo but is not sending any forces to Macedonia.
The Macedonian government had claimed the insurgents have 85,000 weapons. Although that figure was considered inflated, the wide gap left open the possibility that hard-liners within the government would try to oppose the deal.
But as preparations on Friday continued, it became clear that the Macedonians had little choice, since NATO's mission is simply to collect the weapons that insurgents want to hand over voluntarily.
Macedonian leaders, seeking to save face after presenting the vastly higher figure, attributed much of the difference to methodology.
Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski said that what was important was for the collections to start and inspire a sense of good will.
NATO hopes to start the mission Monday and collect about a third of the arms by the end of next week.
The Albanian National Liberation Army initially claimed it had just 2,000 weapons, a figure dismissed as too low and ``not really credible'' by Maj. Gen. Gunnar Lange of Denmark, the NATO commander in Skopje, the Macedonian capital. Likewise, alliance officials had insisted that the 85,000 figure was the result of political posturing by Macedonian leaders.
The peace accord envisions a staggered process in which a cache of weapons is handed over in exchange for political steps by the government. Because the weapons are to be handed over in thirds, the number had to be determined in advance.
Ethnic Albanians, who believe the Macedonian-dominated government has consistently betrayed them, want the country's lawmakers to grant promised changes in the constitution and local government.
Fighting broke out along the Kosovo border in February, when ethnic Albanian insurgents fighting for greater rights for their minority seized a handful of villages.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A British paratrooper warrant officer carries his equipment upon arriving at the Skopje airport in Macedonia, Friday, Aug. 24, 2001. NATO continued deployment of troops for Operation Essential Harvest. (AP Photo/Srdjan Ilic)