Troops prepare for Macedonia task

A Macedonian army solider flashes the 3-finger Orthodox salute while their vehicle patrols the outskirts of Skopje.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO is finalising plans for the deployment of troops to Macedonia to spearhead the process of disarming ethnic Albanian rebels.

A vanguard of 400 troops from Britain's 16th Air Assault Brigade is set to head for the former Yugoslav republic by the end of this week to pave the way for a NATO force of 3,500 to underscore a peace deal as part of Operation Essential Harvest.

A truce between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian rebels appeared to be holding on Thursday. A cessation of fighting is a key condition of NATO's operation in the region.

Macedonian army spokesman Blagoja Markovski told Reuters on Thursday: "It's relatively quiet. The situation is more relaxed than the previous period."

NATO spokesman Major Barry Johnson told the agency: "The cease-fire seems to be improving. There were some incidents last night but no significant reports."

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Fighting flared between government forces and the rebels earlier this year, with the government saying the ethnic Albanian militants were "terrorists" seeking to break-up the country. The rebels said they were fighting for increased rights for ethnic Albanians in Macedonia.

An advance party of around 40 British troops is expected to head for Macedonia on Friday, with more following over the weekend.

British officials said its troops were going to help implement the peace deal forged between political leaders on all sides and would not get involved in any fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces.

British armed forces minister Adam Ingram said: "We are there for weapon collection, not to work a green line between the two sides, not to peace-make or to peace-keep and not to pursue one group against another. If it does go pear-shaped, then this force will have to terminate."

Ingram told CNN the advance force would be establishing a headquarters and setting up communications links.

"What they will be doing is assessing the situation on the ground to advise the decision-makers in NATO as to the desirability of the further deployment of NATO troops for weapons collection.

"If the agreement doesn't hold -- and that's a matter between the parties -- their advice to NATO would be 'don't send troops at the present time.' If that was the decision, no further troops would be deployed if there was no prospect of weapons collection."

NATO agreed to the deployment of the British troops under the "silence" procedure -- none of the 19 member governments objected to the plan.

The North Atlantic Council, the military alliance's ruling body, met after rebels pledged on Tuesday in Skopje to hand in their weapons to a British-led force of 3,500 troops.

Macedonian army soldiers patrol a village northeast of Skopje

But NATO chiefs had said a full deployment could not go ahead until the cease-fire agreed at political settlement talks on Monday was being maintained.

Another meeting will be held later this week or possibly on Monday to discuss full deployment of the 30-day mission. Full deployment would include troops from 11 European nations and the United States.

The government in the former Yugoslav republic gave the necessary formal go-ahead for full deployment on Wednesday, and said it was expecting the first troops at the weekend.

But the head of a planned NATO mission to collect weapons said a cease-fire was too ragged to allow deployment yet.

Major General Gunnar Lange told a news conference on Wednesday that some of the conditions for deployment had been met following Monday's peace accord and that plans for deployment of the 3,500-strong force were advancing quickly.

Once NATO forces are in Macedonia, they are meant to stay for just 30 days and then leave. Lange said that, if an extension seemed necessary, it would be up to NATO governments to decide.

NATO officials in Brussels also said rebels officially declared how many weapons they intend to turn in. They were working with the Macedonian government to get them to accept that figure, estimated at 2,000 weapons.

A rebel commander told CNN on Tuesday that rebels would give up their arms in three stages over the 30-day period, with a verification process to satisfy the security concerns of both sides.

The commitment signed by the rebels to lay down their arms is pending a grant of amnesty from the government.

President Boris Trajkovski helped pave the way to the rebel disarmament pledge by promising NATO mediators he would grant an amnesty, except for crimes that could be prosecuted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal. But an amnesty still has to be voted through the Macedonian-dominated parliament.