By Jovana Gec - Associated Press Writer

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - As presidential elections approach, Macedonia's outgoing president fears nationalism and ethnic intolerance sweeping the Balkans may endanger the future of the nation he led peacefully to independence eight years ago.

Voters in this landlocked nation of 2 million people will choose a new president Sunday to succeed Kiro Gligorov, 83, who led Macedonia to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

In doing so, this ethnically mixed country of Slavs, Albanians, Gypsies and others became the only former Yugoslav republic to leave the Belgrade-led federation without bloodshed.

Macedonia's long-term future, however, is far from assured. Many Macedonians fear that the recent bloodshed in Kosovo and the continuing political turmoil in Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic, may engulf their country once Gligorov has left office.

In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Gligorov said he had been ``naive'' in believing that Macedonia could become a model of ethnic tolerance in an ethnically intolerant region.

``I have, maybe naively, believed that a peaceful policy, without participation in any war, and creation of an independent Macedonia, can change something,'' Gligorov said. ``But I was proven wrong.''

He fears that extremists in the neighboring countries still harbor ambitions of territorial expansion at Macedonia's expense.

``All our neighbors still live in their dreams of some `greater states,' to say the least,'' Gligorov said. ``They all dream of their ideas of a Greater Bulgaria, Greater Serbia, Greater Albania or Greater Croatia.''

Gligorov said the tumult of the past decade - including ethnic-based, secessionist wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo - raise serious questions about the future of all Balkan countries, including his own.

``No one in the Balkans can be absolutely sure about the future, because four wars happened here in only a few years,'' he said. ``All nations are still rallied behind their national leaders, and nothing has changed.''

Macedonia is perhaps the most vulnerable country in the Balkans. All its neighbors - Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania - have historical claims on its territory that have been set aside in the interest of regional peace, but not entirely forgotten.

Greece even objected to the name ``Macedonia'' and imposed a four-year trade embargo that was lifted only after the government here agreed to call the country officially the ``Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.''

Gligorov was seriously injured in a car-bombing in October 1995, in which he lost an eye. No one was ever charged in the terrorist attack.

During his tenure in office, some major issues have been resolved and relations with Macedonia's neighbors have improved. Others remain unresolved, however, including the northern border with Yugoslavia's republic Serbia.

Relations with Bulgaria have not been completely normalized because the Bulgarians refused to recognize Macedonia's language, saying it is simply a dialect of Bulgarian.

In addition, the ethnic Albanian rebellion in Kosovo has raised fears of a similar conflict in Macedonia, where its restive ethnic Albanian minority has been demanding more rights, such as Albanian-language universities and a special legal status.

With Gligorov leaving public life, many Macedonians fear for the country's future. Although the presidency is mostly a ceremonial and figurehead post, Gligorov's authority has been immense.

None of the six presidential candidates, including two ethnic Albanians, are believed to have near the same following and stature.

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