Macedonia aid summit cancelled

NATO collected rebel weapons while parliament delayed adopting reforms

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A donor conference for Macedonia has been cancelled amid a row over delays in implementing the country's peace agreement.

European Union external relations commissioner Chris Patten said he could not allow the aid summit to go ahead while Macedonia's parliament was failing to honour its side of the peace deal.

The peace agreement, thrashed out between ethnic Albanian rebels and the government, demands the rebels surrender their weapons in return for constitutional changes granting the Albanian population greater rights.

Rebels have handed in their weapons -- an operation called a resounding success by NATO -- but so far parliament has delayed adopting the reforms.

Patten told Reuters news agency: "It's absolutely inconceivable the donors conference can take place on October 15

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"In these circumstances I could not possibly get donors to the table and prepared to write large cheques in order to support a political agreement that still hasn't been endorsed and implemented.

"I think we'll have to regroup and look at the situation later in the year or next year."

Patten and EU foreign policy chief were in Macedonia on Thursday attempting to press Macedonia's politicians into speeding up the civil rights reforms.

Plans to deploy police units into rebel strongholds, announced by the Macedonia Interior Ministry on Wednesday, were postponed ostensibly because the road into the first village targeted was mined, Reuters reported.

But the agency also quoted a Western diplomat saying police turned back because international monitors refused to accompany them.

International mediators have repeatedly argued against deploying police into rebel areas until the reforms, which include an amnesty for rebels, have been implemented.

A statement issued on behalf of European and U.S. diplomats on Wednesday said Macedonia had failed to honour a host of conditions for peacefully reintegrating rebel areas.

They said the government had dodged a "fully transparent planning process" involving international and ethnic Albanian community representatives.

It had not demobilised rogue police reservists or paramilitaries outside "proper command and control" and parliament had not adopted an amnesty or minority rights reforms.

The statement read: "We support the re-entry of Macedonian security forces to all (rebel) areas on an appropriate timeline and in an appropriate manner.

"But it has to happen in the spirit of the peace agreement. We urge the government not to implement any decisions not fulfilling the above-mentioned points. The international community will be unable to support or be associated with any such decisions."