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.