THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Macedonia, where NATO's mission to recover weapons from Ethnic Albanian rebels is in full gear. So far NATO troops have collected hundreds of weapons. Operation Essential Harvest is expected to last 30 days. Critics argue that is not enough time to stabilize the troubled nation, but NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson says that's not NATO's immediate goal, and the collection of weapons is just the first step in the long road to peace, and not the ultimate solution to the crisis.
Macedonia's Kanal 5 has more on the disarmament operation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): The collecting of more than 400 pieces of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) weapons started the operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia. The first point where (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Albanian terrorists anonymously surrendered their weapons was in the Komano (ph) region in the village of Hogin (ph).
Well guarded by 200 soldiers of NATO, the operation was monitored by international observers and three Macedonian members of parliament as well as from the commanders of the so-called NLA.
According to the assessments of NATO during the 30-day mission, 3,600 pieces of weapons will be collected, which Albanian terrorists will surrender by their own free will.
MAJOR ALEKSANDAR DIN, NATO: The location of weapons collection sites is a matter for liaison, and the actual location itself will change. We will continue our weapons collection program; and then on Wednesday and Thursday we will concentrate on the Krivilach (ph) area to see what is happening to the weapons when they get there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: According to Major Dik, NATO for three days plans to collect one-third of the arms. And if the things will develop at this pace it is possible that the Operation Harvest will end sooner than the predicted 30 days.
In the disarmament operation of the terrorists, 4,500 to 5,000 soldiers will participate, instead of the previously announced 3,500 soldiers. The reason for this, as NATO Spokesman Barry Johnson said, is that several nations decided to increase the number of their troops in order to protect their own soldiers. The number of logistic troops, as Spokesman Johnson said, has also increased in order to secure the troops fully.
Macedonian authorities are aware of the fact that this actions will depend primarily from (sic) the goodwill of the Albanian terrorists to surrender their weapons.
BLAGOJA MARKOVSKI, MACEDONIAN ARMY: We don't have the illusion that Albanian terrorists have 3,000 or 5,000 pieces of weapons, and that they will fully surrender their arms, so how could the Operation Essential Harvest -- we have plans for taking measures and activities for further disarmament, which will be regulated by local measures.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Macedonian authorities think that the NATO operation would be successful if afterwards Macedonian security forces would have full control of the occupied areas, temporarily expelled Macedonians would go back to their homes, and measures for mutual confidence would have to create conditions for normalizing this region.
(on camera): For the CNN WORLD REPORT, Madgalena Skevanjka (ph), Channel 5, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
|
![[CNN.com]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/newsnet/cnnlogo.gray.gif){kind=small}
TOP STORIES![[SI.com]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/si.logo.gif){kind=logo}
SPORTS
All Scoreboards
![[CNN Money]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/fn.logo.newsnet.gif){kind=logo}
(