Q&A: NATO troops for Macedonia?

Trajkovski drafted a peace proposal

LONDON, England -- NATO says it is prepared to send peacekeeping troops to Macedonia if a peace deal can be agreed.

Q: In what circumstances would NATO deploy a peacekeeping force in Macedonia?

A: NATO said the plan is a contingency and that troops would be sent to Macedonia "only in the event of an agreement between the government and the various parties."

NATO General Secretary George Robertson sent a letter to President Boris Trajkovski in which he underlined that there must be a durable ceasefire before a NATO force can be sent in.

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Q: What would be the size of the NATO force?

A: The planned force would be "brigade size" and diplomatic sources said that meant probably between 2,000 and 3,000 troops.

Alliance Supreme Commander General Joseph Ralston said planning for the mission was proceeding swiftly under the leadership of his deputy, British General Rupert Smith.

"It would be a substantial force to carry out the mission. We have not scrimped in any way to carry out the mission," he said.

Q: What would be the role of the NATO peacekeepers?

A: NATO troops would not serve as a formal peacekeeping mission such as those in Kosovo and Bosnia. It would be used purely to assist in the collection of weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels.

NATO has ordered its military planners to come up a plan for a military force to collect weapons if there is a peace agreement between the two sides.

Robertson said in his letter to Trajkovski: "The mandate of a possible NATO operation would be confined to the collection of weapons and the forces would deploy for a limited duration," it said.

"Under no circumstances will we allow the mission of this force to be expanded or altered."

Q: What steps are being taken to bring about a peace settlement?

A: NATO special envoy Peter Feith was in the capital Skopje and the European Union's Foreign Affairs chief Javier Solana decided to make a flying visit after Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said the week-long talks were "totally deadlocked."

Solana, who has been in Macedonia several times in recent months, is returning to put the talks back on track. He returned to Macedonia on Thursday, one day earlier than planned in an effort to break a deadlock.

The EU has taken the leading role in mediating a settlement in Macedonia to prevent the ethnic conflict from exploding into full-scale civil war. The EU hopes the two sides can reach a peace agreement by Monday.

Q: Who would most welcome the NATO forces?

A: Suspicions exist among diplomats that ethnic Albanian politicians may be seeking to draw in NATO to police a partition of the fragile country.

Their aim could be to persuade NATO, which ordered preparations for a limited operation in Macedonia once a peace deal is done, to intervene to separate the two sides, knowing that it is desperate to prevent another all-out Balkan war.

A diplomatic source told Reuters. "If they think we are going to help them create a federal Macedonia they should think again."

Q: Which NATO nations would provide the forces?

A: NATO is declining to say which countries would participate, but more than half of NATO's 19 members are reported to have offered troops so far for the Macedonia mission.

Britain has offered to take the lead in assembling the force, with the participation of troops from France, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, and the Czech Republic.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Congress on Wednesday that about 700 U.S. troops already in Macedonia to give support to 6,000 U.S. peacekeeping troops in Kosovo might be used an any operation to disarm rebels.