Macedonian rebel leader tipped to win cabinet job

A year on from the conflict that brought Macedonia to the verge of civil war, the ethnic Albanian guerrilla leader behind the fighting is expecting to join the country's next government.

Ali Ahmeti, who was the commander of the National Liberation Army until September last year, is tipped to win a big enough block of votes in the parliamentary elections this Sunday for him to take a place in a coalition cabinet.

Western observers regard his participation in the election as head of the Democratic Union for Integration as a sign that the former Yugoslav republic has made progress since the gunmen under his command handed over their weapons to Nato troops.

"We guarantee that we will have peace and stability in this place for a long time," Mr Ahmeti said to a crowd of more than 7,000 ethnic Albanians in the northern town of Gostivar.

"I am not a chauvinist, I am not a nationalist. We are convinced that the [western brokered] Ohrid peace agreement can be realised."

His transition from guerrilla commander to politician appeared to be complete this month when his electoral campaign got under way.

Posters of him wearing a dark suit beside the slogan "Forward together with you" adorn shop windows and street signs throughout the region of last year's conflict.

Despite his promise of peace and security, Macedonia remains volatile. A surge in violence, mostly around the city of Tetovo, has accompanied the election campaign.

On Thursday men dressed in black shot dead an ethnic Albanian policemen. In the past three weeks seven people have been kidnapped and at least three ethnic Albanians shot dead.

The international ceasefire monitors say there is no clear evidence linking the incidents to any political group, but members of the present coalition's biggest party, VMRO-DPMNE (the Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organisation), have tried to blame Mr Ahmeti's party and his former guerrillas .

The interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, has repeatedly promised to arrest Mr Ahmeti for crimes allegedly committed during last year's fighting. Addressing a rally in Skopje on Thursday, he vowed to carry out his threat after the elections.

Diplomats from Nato, the EU and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) persuaded Mr Ahmeti's party to call off a final rally due to be held in Skopje's main square yesterday. Clashes between its supporters and local people were feared.

Western mediators have had to guide the peace process since the four main parties signed the accords at Lake Ohrid.