Macedonia arms cache fuels unease

The arms were found following the NATO collection of rebel arms

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Rocket launchers and anti-tank mines are among a cache of arms found by police in Macedonia.

The find, in rebel-held territory, adds uncertainty to a peace process that has already ground to a halt.

Army and police officials uncovered buried weapons on Wednesday in the village of Tanuse, near the Albanian border, about 50 miles southwest of the capital, Skopje.

Police spokesman Vasko Sutarov said the cache included rocket launchers, more than a dozen anti-tank mines, several machine-guns and Kalashnikov rifles, about 60 hand grenades and a "substantial quantity" of explosives.

The find also calls into question the success of NATO's recent Operation Essential Harvest which was supposed to collect rebel-held arms.

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While the operation yielded over 4,000 weapons, the Macedonian Government maintained that many more weapons were unaccounted for.

NATO spokesman Major Timothy Dunne said despite the cache find the alliance was "happy that there are fewer weapons that can kill people now in Macedonia."

He declined to comment on any political implications of Macedonian troops venturing into rebel-held land.

According to the peace deal, Macedonia was to pass increased rights for the ethnic Albanian minority in return for the weapons' surrender.

Earlier this week, Macedonia granted amnesty to disarmed ethnic-Albanian rebels as part of the peace accord.

But there are concerns that the amnesty may contain loopholes that risk increasing distrust in the troubled peace process.

"The amnesty was supposed to be a major step forward to reconciliation. But when you take a closer look, it sows doubt and confusion, like a lot of the behaviour here with respect to the peace plan," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters.

"The international community here has its hands full trying to carry the whole country -- bobbing and weaving, kicking and screaming -- to the other side of the abyss."

The general pardon was supposed to encourage guerrillas to reintegrate peacefully in Macedonian society by releasing them from fear of arrest or persecution for fighting the state.

"This supposed amnesty does not make us feel safe. It seems to have the opposite aim," a prominent former NLA brigade commander known only as Leka told Reuters.