From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Scotsman September 3, 2001 One source close to the Ministry of Defence said: "Let's get serious, nobody expects this weapons collections mission to work. The rebels won't be handing in their good kit. This mission was a way of getting in. Once you're on the ground it's much easier to justify staying." British troops to remain in Macedonia Chris Stephen Eastern Europe Correspondent BRITAIN plans to keep a permanent force in Macedonia long after a promised 30-day weapons-collection mission is over, The Scotsman has learned. When a NATO force including British paratroopers pulls out after gathering arms from Albanian guerrillas, a new, smaller force will replace them. The troops will ride "shotgun" to unarmed monitors operating not under NATO, but the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Operation Essential Harvest has been portrayed as month-long, in-and-out operation to remove the weapons that have driven Macedonia's escalating crisis, before the country spirals into war. But fears of "mission creep", where troops once in would surely stay, have hovered from the start. One source close to the Ministry of Defence said: "Let's get serious, nobody expects this weapons collection mission to work. The rebels won't be handing in their good kit. This mission was a way of getting in. Once you're on the ground it's much easier to justify staying." The news comes amid every sign that the Macedonian crisis could take months or years, not weeks, to resolve. The Macedonian parliament reopens today with a debate on legislation to offer new rights to the country's Albanian minority. It was halted amid demonstrations outside on Friday. While NATO said the National Liberation Army had already surrendered a third of the promised 3,300 weapons, Macedonian hardliners in parliament tabled motions demanding more guarantees - including freeing at least eight prisoners and allowing 70,000 refugees to return home quickly. Amid warnings of war, debate ground to a halt. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
