Macedonians not convinced NATO will bring peace

Macedonians disagreed today over the prospects of a peace deal even as the country’s leaders took steps to allow Nato troops to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.

Fighting has shaken Macedonia since February, when ethnic Albanian rebels took up arms to seek more rights for their community, which makes up one-third of the country’s population. Macedonians say the rebels want to seize a chunk of the country and call it their own.

‘‘There will be no peace with the Albanians, and Nato is in deep delusion if they believe they will disarm terrorists for real,’’ said Milco Gjorgjevski, 34, a salesman in the capital, Skopje.

A few hours earlier, President Boris Trajkovski asked parliament to start the process of amending the constitution to grant ethnic Albanians more rights - a condition of the peace plan signed by ethnic Albanian and Macedonian political leaders.

Soon after Trajkovski’s move, Nato authorised the deployment of the first of 3,500 British-led troops who are expected to collect and destroy arms and ammunition held by the rebels. The overall mission still requires final approval.

About 400 British troops will arrive in Macedonia this weekend, said Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva.

Major General Gunnar Lange of Denmark, a senior Nato representative in Skopje, said that once the full mission gets the go-ahead and a permanent ceasefire is established, the deployment of troops responsible for disarming the rebels will take 10 days.

‘‘We will have preliminary training and we will establish weapon collection points,’’ he said. ‘‘Within 30 days, we expect to complete the mission.’’

The peace deal gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police, parliament and educational system.

President Trajkovski offered amnesty to rebels who voluntarily surrender and did not commit war crimes the second major condition of the peace accord.

The amnesty law is an incentive for the rebels to disarm after battling government troops for six months.

Ethnic Albanians like Aslan Beqiri, 49, a shop owner, expressed hope Nato troops will safeguard their rights.

‘‘I hope for something good, shooting didn’t do anything good to anyone, particularly not to Albanians,’’ he said. ‘‘We suffered so much.’’