Nato troops land in Macedonia

A small French contingent arrived on Friday evening

Foreign troops have begun arriving in Macedonia as part of a Nato operation to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels.

A 41-strong British army command unit from the 16th Air Assault Brigade touched down at Skopje airport at 2005 GMT - a further 360 British troops are due to arrive during the next two days.

The first units of Czech paratroops and around 15 French troops arrived earlier.

We are not here on a disarmament mission, we are not here on a peacekeeping mission

British troops commander

Britain is leading a 400-strong vanguard whose job it will be to assess whether a shaky ceasefire is holding, and whether Nato should deploy its main contingent of 3,500 soldiers.

The commander of the British troops, Brigadier Barney White-Spunner, repeated that the mission was not to disarm the rebels.

"We can only do our job with the full commitment and support of everybody in Macedonia," he said. "We are not here on a disarmament mission. We are not here on a peacekeeping mission."

The Macedonian Government welcomed the arrival of Nato troops, saying the alliance should use the opportunity to prove to the world that it was acting in the interests of peace and stability.

But as fresh bloodshed on the ground cast doubt on the mission's chances of success, Nato's ruling council has put off until next week a final decision on deployment of the full force.

The handing over of rebel weapons is a key part of the agreement between Macedonian leaders and ethnic Albanian politicians designed to end a six-month guerrilla insurgency that has raised fears of another Balkan war.

Common goal

In Friday's violence, a 70-year-old man reportedly died in clashes, hours after a Macedonian policeman had been killed by rebel gunfire in the town of Tetovo.

The British troops will concentrate on the logistics of weapon collection

Macedonian Government spokesman Antonio Milososki said Nato would help Macedonia overcome its crisis, but added that the troops' presence should not be interpreted as a step towards Macedonia's partition.

"Nato has to send a clear signal to those who want to create a little Kosovo that this will not be permitted," he said.

The alliance has been stressing that the full operation will only be launched if the ceasefire holds.

Advance party

Over the weekend, the newly-arrived troops will be joined by more than 350 other British personnel, who will work on establishing the force's headquarters in Skopje.

Click here to see a map of the region.

Despite misgivings in some Nato countries, most now appear willing to take part in the full mission provided there is a durable ceasefire between government forces and the rebels.

The troops are entering a volatile region, with reports of ceasefire violations on both sides.

Weighing risks

Nato ambassadors in Brussels have been weighing up the risks of moving quickly into an unstable country against the dangers of a further deterioration in the situation while they wait.

If the advance guard decide that conditions are not appropriate, the Nato mission will be abandoned and the rest of the troops will not be sent.

However, BBC correspondents say that momentum is building and it will be hard to change course now.

The plan is that the rebels will collect their own weapons and deposit them at pre-arranged collection sites.

Nato troops will then move in, seal the area, pick up the guns for destruction in a third country and leave.

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