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Macedonia launches campaign for civilians to hand in illegal weapons

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  • Macedonia launches campaign for civilians to hand in illegal weapons

    Macedonia launches campaign for civilians to hand in illegal weapons

    SKOPJE (AFP) Nov 01, 2003
    Macedonian authorities on Saturday launched a 45-day amnesty for people to hand in illegal weapons without prosecution.
    The amnesty will give people owning illegal arms until December 15 to hand in weapons without the usual heavy punishment meted out for such an offence, authorities said.

    The collected weapons will be destroyed 90 days after the end of the operation, supervised by the European Union's 400-strong peacekeeping force deployed in Macedonia called Concordia.

    Between 100,000 to 500,000 illegal weapons are estimated to be circulating in Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic of some two million people, according to the interior ministry and international non-governmental organisations.

    Macedonia has seen an uneasy peace since a seven-month uprising in 2001 when ethnic Albanian guerrillas took up arms against the government to demand better civil and political rights.

    "The international community wants to help establish a climate that encourages citizens to hand over (illegal) weapons," said Alexis Bruhnce, the EU's special representative to Macedonia.

    The main opposition Democratic Party of Albanians of Arben Xhaferi has refused to cooperate with the campaign, judging it "premature."

    http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031101143852.c3cohw10.html
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."
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