Rebels in Macedonia surrendered heavy weapons yesterday on the second day of NATO's arms collection mission while refugees returned to homes near the conflict zone believing they were safe.
But it remained unclear whether the alliance would gather one-third of 3,300 arms it has pledged to collect by Friday, when parliament meets to debate ratifying an accord reached with ethnic Albanian leaders on August 13th.
The NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, is expected in Skopje today to meet the president and deputies, many of whom have criticised the mission and disagree with the arms tally the alliance has set. Representatives of the rebel National Liberation Army (NLA) surrendered three surface-to-air missiles to British troops yesterday on Monday in an operation witnessed by journalists taken to the site by NATO.
The operation, which took place deep in NLA territory in Brodec, some 20 km from the north-west town of Tetovo, began at 8 a.m. (6 a.m. Irish time) and was due to end at 4 p.m. but was extended as a long line of rebels showed up to give up their arms.
Apart from the anti-aircraft missiles, journalists counted about 100 assault rifles, some light mortars and rocket-propelled grenades being handed in.
On Monday, the NLA handed in about 400 weapons, including 300 assault rifles and almost 100 machineguns, leading NATO officials to declare the first day of Operation Essential Harvest a success. But Macedonia's media assailed the results, with the daily Dvevnik describing the weapons as "museum pieces, mostly of Chinese or Russian origin".
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency warned that increasing numbers of refugees are returning home to Macedonia from the neighbouring Yugoslav province of Kosovo, even though it is not safe to do so yet. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, will visit Macedonia tomorrow to see NATO's weapons gathering operation, a mission he defends to the hilt despite the killing of a British paratrooper there this week.