The head of NATO warned Macedonia today that any further delays in ratifying civil rights reforms and pardoning Albanian guerrillas who disbanded under a three-month-old peace plan could re-ignite ethnic fighting.
Efforts to implement the Western-engineered plan, devised to defuse an uprising by rebels from the large ethnic Albanian minority, have been obstructed by nationalist point-scoring, diversionary tactics and disinformation.
However, parliament's hardline speaker announced last week that all disputes had been resolved and a vote to ratify 15 constitutional reforms would be held on November 12th.
NATO Secretary General Mr George Robertson arrived for talks hoping to capitalise on the new momentum, but said Macedonia could not afford to lose more time if peace was to be secured.
"The (peace) agreement is now six weeks overdue for ratification in parliament. That means there are sizeable, real risks of a return to violence," he told reporters before entering talks with Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders.
"Inevitably there is going to be a rise in violence if the parliamentary process is not concluded (promptly)."