Macedonia's precarious peace process edged into round two today as NATO resumed disarming guerrillas after parliament grudgingly embarked on constitutional reforms sought by rebellious ethnic Albanians.
More than 600 ethnic Albanian insurgents began surrendering hardware - ranging from AK-47 assault rifles to anti-tank rocket launchers and a stolen Macedonian army armoured personnel carrier - to British paratroopers.
NATO's Operation Essential Harvest gathered in the first third of the declared NLA arsenal in just three days last week but halted when parliament's preliminary debate on reforms was dragged out, then frozen by hardline nationalists.
Western diplomatic intervention pushed the hardliners to drop deal-breaking demands, such as immediate return of 70,000 Macedonian refugees to their homes, and legislators finally voted 91-19 yesterday to authorise the drafting of reforms.
But the big majority was deceptive. Many deputies charged that the peace accord was tantamount to capitulation to Albanian terrorism and said they voted yes only under duress from Western envoys and party leaders who reluctantly signed it.