EU begins first military mission to keep Macedonian peace

TETOVO, Macedonia -- Clasping her daughter's hand, Mahmudije Iljazi rushes to close up shop and get home before darkness falls -- and the murders and bombings resume in this mountain town.

Macedonia's ethnic war formally ended nearly two years ago, but the Balkan nation that split from the old Yugoslavia remains unstable from violence and other lawlessness.

"There are too many weapons in the hands of everybody," Iljazi, a 44-year-old ethnic Albanian, shouts angrily as iron gates clank down at other shops in Tetovo, the country's second biggest city. "Every night we barricade ourselves at home. It feels worse than war."

Today her safety becomes the European Union's problem as the 15-nation bloc mounts its first military operation by taking over peacekeeping duties from NATO.

Success could lend credibility to the vision of an independent European military force operating where NATO or the United States don't want to get involved. The EU eventually plans to form a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force.

Like the NATO troops it is replacing, the EU force of 320 soldiers and 80 civilians will operate in small units spread across a land still scarred emotionally from the war.

The country's own police forces, which are dominated by ethnic Macedonians, are reluctant to step up patrols in ethnic Albanian areas for fear of inflaming tensions, a senior Macedonian official said.

There are a few multiethnic police units, but not enough, he said. "Their presence in those regions is symbolic," said the official, who agreed to discuss the situation only if not quoted by name.

War erupted in Macedonia early in 2001, when ethnic Albanian militants took up arms to demand more power for their community, which makes up roughly a third of Macedonia's 2 million people.

The fighting ended with a peace deal under which parliament amended the constitution to give ethnic Albanians more rights.

But the troubles haven't ended. While most rebels surrendered their weapons to NATO-led peacekeepers, several splinter groups have surfaced expressing dissatisfaction with the peace accord .

That worries people like Iljazi.

"All we had is months of promises that things will get better," she said. "The situation is not good. And I am scared."