NATO warning on Macedonia mission

There are varying estimates on how many weapons the rebels have

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A warning over the task facing NATO troops in Macedonia has been issued by the officer heading the operation to gather weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels.

Major-General Gunnar Lange said the rebels could easily rearm after the alliance winds up its mission, dubbed "Operation Essential Harvest."

NATO chiefs gave the go ahead on Wednesday for a full force of 3,500 troops to be deployed for a 30-day mission to disarm the rebels.

Around 135 French Foreign Legion troops from the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, arrived in Skopje hours after the announcement on Wednesday.

IN-DEPTH Macedonia: Hurdles to peace   •  Balkan hotspots   •  Interactive map   •  Macedonia's military   •  News search   •  Audio/video archive   •  In-Depth: Yugoslavia   •  In-Depth: Kosovo   MORE STORIES Mixed reaction to NATO force   Timeline: NATO interventions in the Balkans     AUDIO CNN's Walter Rodgers: A symbolic surrender of weapons 1220K / 155 sec. WAV sound NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson: "Decision is not the end of the road." 832K / 77 secs WAV sound   Operation Essential Harvest - A 30-day NATO plan to set up 15 arms collection points in western and northern Macedonia. - The number of weapons held by the rebel National Liberation Army varies from anything between 2,500 guns to 8,000. - The UK will provide the biggest component of the 3,500-strong force. - A 400-strong advance guard, drawn mainly from the British 16th Air Assault Brigade, is already in Macedonia. - Eleven other countries, including France, Germany and the Czech Republic, are expected to be involved.

Around 400 troops are already in Macedonia as an advance party of the full force.

Britain, which will be contributing 1,800 soldiers to the mission, said up to 700 paratroopers were due to fly out on Thursday.

About 500 French troops left bases in southern France on Wednesday, while Greece said its first contingent of 120 soldiers would leave home bases on Thursday, with 200 more to follow by the weekend, Reuters reported.

Other troops will come from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Turkey. No U.S. troops will play a direct role in the mission, but will provide logistic support.

Lange said NATO's force in neighbouring Kosovo had intercepted large stockpiles of weapons intended for the rebels in Macedonia over the last two months.

The border between Macedonia and Kosovo is the main supply route for the National Liberation Army (NLA) of ethnic Albanian rebels who have been fighting Macedonian forces.

The rebels say they are fighting for greater rights for Macedonia's ethnic Albanian population. The government says they are "terrorists" bent on breaking up the country.

Lange said the force had intercepted 672 rifles, 60 support weapons, 1,060 anti-tank mines, 1,499 grenades and mines, 113 rocket missiles and 550 people, Reuters reported.

"We know we are in a region where they (the rebels) can rearm, where they can buy new weapons," he said.

The Macedonian interior ministry said on Wednesday the rebels had more than 60,000 weapons. Rebel commanders have told Reuters the NLA has about 2,300, while the agency says NATO estimates the rebels have 3,000 weapons.

Daniel Speckhard, NATO's acting assistant secretary-general for political affairs, told Reuters: "We expect many, many ... problems on the path of this difficult plan undertaken. You can expect to see in the future further incidents of violence."

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said the collection period could start next week though some nations still need parliamentary approval before troops can be sent to Macedonia.

Robertson refused to speculate on how many weapons NATO hoped to gather from the rebels, saying: "The total (number of weapons) has to be realistic in quantity and in quality to have a degree of credibility," he said.

Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski welcomed NATO's decision to send in the task force.

"This is the crucial point of the overall plan to end our crisis," Reuters quoted him as saying. "Many things must be done to return refugees to their homes, restructure our economy and end crime. This day is a step forward in that direction."

Robertson said the decision to deploy the force came after four pre-conditions were met -- a political agreement signed by the main parliamentary leaders, an agreement with Macedonia over the conditions for the task force, an "explicit agreement" by the ethnic Albanian groups to disarm and an "enduring" cease-fire.

NATO has identified several locations where collection units will be situated.

One battalion will be northwest of Skopje and others will be at Petrovec Airport, Kumanovo and Krivolak.

Locations will probably change frequently and most of the weapons will be transported to a central point before being taken to Greece and destroyed