SKOPJE (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Macedonia's delicate peace deal faces its biggest test to date on Thursday when police begin returning in earnest to the lawless heartland of demobilized ethnic Albanian fighters.
The plan emerged from weeks of negotiations between Western peace overseers and the government. It was given the green light after civil rights reforms and an amnesty due to militant minority Albanians under the August accord were approved.
``Some of the Albanians are nervous. It's naive to think there won't be any problems,'' said a diplomat in the joint NATO European Union and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE peace mission.
Officials hoped any violence would be isolated. They cited fresh pardons of jailed Albanian to show wary comrades that police need not be resisted, and a cabinet reshuffle which has curbed nationalists thirsting for a military showdown.
``The return of police is a critical step in consolidating the peace process. It means reversing military developments on the ground,'' said Edward Joseph, senior analyst in Macedonia for the International Crisis Group think tank.
Under scrutiny from OSCE monitors and NATO liaison teams, ethnically mixed Macedonian police began patrolling five ''pilot'' villages designated low risk six weeks ago. The project has unfolded virtually without incident.
But risks will rise as police fan out over a broader area on Thursday, starting with 15 villages classified as ``low risk'' and expanding to all 120 over a planned 50-day period in the highland north where the insurgency erupted in February.