Macedonian police set to 'restore order' in rebel areas

Macedonia’s top security body is tentatively endorsing the interior minister’s plan to regain control over ethnic Albanian strongholds, despite warnings from Western officials that the move jeopardises the peace plan in the troubled Balkan country.

Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski announced that police units would move today into several villages in the mostly ethnic Albanian-populated northwest ‘‘to restore law and order’’ following months of ethnic Albanian insurgency.

President Boris Trajkovski convened the country’s Security Council, which is made up of senior military and political leaders. In a statement they recommended ‘‘that security forces enter the crisis region in the next several days.’’

Under the August 13 peace plan, Macedonians agreed to give ethnic Albanians broader rights in exchange for an end to their insurgency. The rebels have handed over almost 4,000 weapons to a Nato mission, but the Macedonian-dominated government has not carried out the promised reforms.

Western officials who brokered the deal have repeatedly warned that Macedonia’s parliament must adopt the reforms and also grant amnesty to the rebels before government forces retake control over the volatile, ethnic Albanian-populated northwest.

But the Macedonian Government has been under immense pressure to make it possible for thousands of Macedonian refugees to return home in the mostly ethnic Albanian-populated areas even at the risk of provoking new violence.

‘‘We don’t have time for someone else to solve our situation,’’ Boskoski said, adding that his police will enter only villages considered ‘‘low risk’’. Still, he conceded, ‘‘not everything may develop as we plan."

Ethnic Albanian rebel leaders declined immediate comment.

Meanwhile, US and European Union envoys held talks with the Macedonian leadership trying to secure respect for the original peace plan. But their meeting with Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski collapsed in acrimony, a source close to the prime minister said.

Two key EU officials, Javier Solana and Chris Patten, were expected to come to Macedonia today to warn that disrespect for the peace plan could deprive Macedonia of substantial foreign aid. Western powers have tentatively scheduled a donor conference for mid-October for the former Yugoslav republic.

An explosion yesterday destroyed a car near the main square in Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, killing the driver and injuring three people nearby. Police said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast.