Plan to Retake Contested Areas Is Met With Alarm

Macedonian security forces plan to retake areas held by ethnic Albanian militants, the country’s interior minister said--ignoring international officials’ warnings that such a move could derail the peace process.

Government forces will move today into two contested areas near Tetovo and Skopje, said Ljube Boskovski, Macedonia’s hard-line interior minister and police chief.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Western officials were very concerned. “A premature return of Macedonian security forces to the sensitive areas could reverse the peace process,” he said.