so weapons Nato are proposing to collect and the eighty five The pesce deal that is supposed to gire greater rights to thousand weapons the Macedonian government claims are held by the NLA. tion in Macedonia is hanging by While the Macedonian gora very fine thread. At the time of writing the Macedonian emment is no doubt exaggeratWing the NILAs arms, the reality rwa brecoyciioto open discussions on the "frame- is that many weapons will remain in NLA hands. The only work agreement. The debate question is whether those arms was supposed to begin on August 31 bue was delayed wil reman in maceoons or, ds appears to be happening, be after several hundred protesters surrounded the par. moved temporanly over the lament building and turned border into Kosova.
Although the NILA claims it is Mrs away Other events over the last willing to cooperate with week suggest that even if the NATO, and has enormous ilusions that NATO will offer deal is approved by Parlament them protection, tensions have ceasefire holding are very slim. already developed.
Nato troops have begun col- On Auzust 47 NLA guertiias lecting weapons from Albanian engaged in a fire-fight with US guerrillas of the National troops on the KosovaLiberation Army. However Macedonia border. The previthere is a massive discrepancy ous asy Us soldiers rd arrested 32 guerrillas as they between the three thousand or tried to enter Kosova from 600 Albanians have been detained after crossine the border. The decision of the NLA to Kosova is hardly surprising. On the same day as the clash berween the NLA and US troops, Macedonian interior minister Ljube Boskovski announced that once Nato has partially disarmed the NLA, forces will launch new attacks on the wasan goertia Boskovski claimed '1 beleve Nato, by this symbolic collection of weapons, will open the way for us to dlean up the terHe appears totally unaware that such words are in stark contrast with official Macedonian claims that Nato's Operation Harvest is a purely cosmetic operation and that Nato is protecting the NLA However, Boskovski reflects the widespread hostility to the peace deal among the majority Slav population, as evidenced not just by the blockade of Parliament but by the kiling of a British soldier by Macedonian youths. It is by no means certain that even if Parliamene does eventually ratify the peace deal this wil be accepted by most Macedonian parties. Opposition is particularty strong in the party of prime minister, Ljubco Georgievsk).
There is clearty strong anti-Nato feelings among wide sections of Macedonian Slavs while many Albanians, despite the recent clashes, still have strong ilusions in Nato. Does this mean, therefore, that socialists should automatically side with the anti-Nato Slavs against the pro-Nato Albanians? Such an Slabodan Milosecic, is still refusing to cooperate with the war crimes court in the Hague. attitude is simplistic.
Hostility to Nato among the majority Slav population is nor based on anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist views. Rather it is based on hostility to a perceived support for the creation of a Greater Albania by Nato.
Such views are, of course. nonsense. Nato is clearty committed to maintaining the unity of the Macedonia state and to weakening the abilicy of the Albanian minority to take up aib drael The lange number of arests over the last few months are evidence of that. And even if Operation Essential Harvest does only result in collecting a few thousand weapons, by Meamwhile the architect of the Balkan crisis, former Serbian leader forcing the NLA to transfer arms and soldiers to Kosova it ws ola aviuy to mount an offensive if Nato does withdraw after the supposed 30 day limic.
Despite the pro-Nato illusions of many Albanians we support their right to self. determination, including the right to unite all Albanians in a single state - even though we Events have already showm nas prana are ocyining to recognise that they cannot rely on Nato. New clashes berween Albanian guerrillas and Nato forces are licely, fur• ther weakening Albanian illu. SOTS