Macedonia's hardline interior minister said today police would re-enter areas where ethnic Albanian rebels have been disarmed tomorrow even though no amnesty has been enacted for them as promised under a peace accord.
NATO, whose troops are helping maintain a fragile calm, said it was surprised by the announcement. A spokesman said no plan for a phased return of security forces to former guerrilla territory had yet been agreed between international monitors and the government, as required by the August settlement.
"Tomorrow is D-Day for Macedonia when our security forces will return to occupied territories. The entry will be with (ethnically) mixed police units with light weaponry," Interior Minister Mr Ljube Boskovski told a news conference.
He said it was up to parliament to enact an amnesty for guerrillas.
"We are cooperative but there is a limit to that. The security situation remains very complicated but we have no time to wait for someone else to bring back our freedom."
Mr Boskovski said his police would enter villages near the capital Skopje and the northwestern, mainly ethnic Albanian city of Tetovo "wherever we don't expect serious trouble." Western peace sponsors had said there would be trouble unless state security forces waited until an amnesty was passed.