Nato warns Skopje over deployments

The commander of Nato forces in Europe, General Joseph Ralston, has warned the Macedonian Government not to start unilaterally deploying its troops to former rebel-held areas.

General Ralston made his comments during talks with the Macedonian Defence Minister, Vlado Bockovski, in the capital Skopje.

Last week Macedonia began retaking some of the areas that have been occupied by the ethnic-Albanian rebels.

The operation was halted after international pressure and warnings of renewed clashes with the rebels, but correspondents say the government has been keen to continue to deploy the troops.

Nato has begun pulling out the mission that oversaw the handover of rebel weapons, but a smaller force remains.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service