RATAE, Macedonia, (Islamweb & News Agencies) -NATO's mission to collect arms from Albanian fighters in Macedonia has run smoothly so far, but fears are growing in the West that delays in adopting the peace accord and the emergence of paramilitary could undermine the agreement.
Ratae and two other villages near the volatile northwestern town of Tetovo are virtual islands in a sea of territory largely held by the Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA). The paramilitaries here are a law unto themselves.
Their uniforms offer little clue as to who controls them -- some wear bandanas, many carry long hunting knives on their belts, others are dressed simply in military garb -- but it is clear they control Ratae.
Recently deployed here, these units known officially as "police reserves" have been terrifying the ethnic Albanian residents of nearby villages and have begun to worry the Western backers of Macedonia's framework peace agreement.
"They're not from around here. They got here just after the Ohrid accord was signed (August 13) and they don't answer to anyone. We don't feel safe," says Muhamed Zilbeari, mayor of the Albanian village of Ozormiste a few kilometres (miles) from here.
A few hundred of these men patrol or mill around Ratae and the neighbouring villages of Zilce and Jegunovce. When questioned, they claim to be combat unit leaders or security coordinators or liaison chiefs, but it is hard to know who is really in charge.
"We are an elite force above the local police," says Zoran, a "reserve officer" from Bitola in southern Macedonia. "We are in charge of defending Macedonian villages against the terrorists (NLA) and we'll stay here until the end of the conflict," he says.
NLA fighters took control of a large swathe of territory in an arc across northwest and northern Macedonia after they began an insurgency in late February over what they say was greater ethnic Albanian rights.
The NLA has given up two-thirds of the 3,300 weapons NATO estimates its fighters have and has promised to give up the final third by September 26 in exchange for an amnesty and a new constitution.
But the confidence of the paramilitary groups has risen dramatically as the fighters disarm and there are fears these reservists will try to take revenge.
Attention has focused on Macedonia's hardline interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, who has been accused of arming civilians or of allowing criminals to be recruited by the paramilitaries -- accusations the authorities vigorously deny.
When asked who leads his group, Zoran replies: "They called us the Red Berets, then the Lions, but that caused problems... whatever they call us, we answer directly to the interior ministry. We are the military wing of the police force."
NATO chief George Robertson questioned Boskovski about the paramilitaries when he visited Skopje on Friday, and said he had received assurances that reserve police would start obeying central command and that some groups would disband. (Read photo caption below)
In Zilce, the local authorities claim that had already been done.
But security in northwest Macedonia is relative.
PHOTO CAPTION:
US soldiers from 3/502 Infantry check vehicles at one of the gates of the US Camp Able Sentry, 16 kms (10 miles) east of Macedonia's capital Skopje on Friday, Sept. 14, 2001. US troops increase the security measures, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC, on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
- Sep 14 5:45 PM ET