Nato prepares Macedonia mission

The situation is Macedonia is still unstable

Nato is preparing a mission to Macedonia to help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.

However, Nato has said that it will only act once government and ethnic Albanian politicians agree on a peace plan.

"Without such an agreement, we will certainly not go into Macedonia," said a Nato official.

Talks in Skopje were reportedly deadlocked on Wednesday, as leaders failed to find agreement on the extent of constitutional changes.

The Nato mission would comprise about 2,500 troops and work for 30 days to collect arms from rebels.

The plan would not require any mandate from the UN Security Council.

The UK, France, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway are all possible troop contributors, Nato sources said, with the United States providing logistical support.

The force could be ready to move within 10 days.

Capitulation

Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski has resigned from the cross-party security body overseeing the country's peace plan.

Clashes erupted in February

He said the body was too ready to give in to what he called unreasonable Albanian demands and block a crackdown on rebels.

He said the Macedonians were being pushed too far, especially over a possible constitutional change giving equal status to the Albanians who make up some 30% of the population.

He also said he was leaving the Co-ordination Body for Crisis Management because the main ethnic Albanian parties on it favoured bringing in an outside mediator.

A BBC correspondent says the minister is a known hard-liner and his resignation is the first highly visible crack in the negotiations.

Progress

Mr Boskovski's announcement came on the fifth day of talks aimed at finalising details of a peace plan.

The US State Department said earlier that there had been progress in the talks, which have been going on for nearly a week.

US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said: "Political leaders representing both the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have put on the table very serious and concrete proposals.

"This demonstrates that there is a process, that it is moving constructively forward and we encourage them to achieve results on a variety of political reforms," he added.

Trajkovski plan

The cross-party body was set up as part of President Boris Trajkovski's package of proposals to restore peace in the country and is charged with overseeing military aspects of the peace plan.

The Trajkovski plan, backed by Nato and the European Union, allows for a partial amnesty for Macedonian-born guerrillas and their disarmament by Nato troops.

The rebels are demanding wide-range concessions, including a constitutional change to name them as an equal community with the Slav majority.