Greece destroys NLA weaponry
The first load of weapons and ammunition surrendered by ethnic Albanian rebels in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was destroyed yesterday at the Halyvourgiki steelworks in Elefsina, outside Athens. The 2,135 weapons and about 163,000 bullets collected in the NATO’s Operation Essential Harvest as part of a peace accord reached last month, were destroyed in the presence of military officers from FYROM, Britain and Greece. Prime Minister Costas Simitis met yesterday with the secretary-general of his PASOK party, Costas Skandalidis, and they agreed that the party congress to be held early next month will focus on the new state of affairs following the terrorist attacks. The congress was initially called by Simitis in a bid to marshal support within the party after his government was forced to retract proposals for social security reform that had met with widespread opposition, in PASOK as well.
