West rejects force in Macedonia

Trajkovski has asked for help in disarming the rebels

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- - The United States and the European Union have reiterated the need for a political, not military, solution to the worsening civil strife in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

A joint statement agreed by President George W. Bush and EU leaders at a summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Thursday, said: "Together, we are endeavouring to prevent extremism from undermining the democratic process and stress the need for political, not military, solutions."

While noting that NATO had responded quickly and firmly to threats to peace in the region, the statement sought to play down any suggestion of Western military intervention against ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting the elected Macedonian government.

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President Boris Trajkovski asked NATO officially on Thursday for help to disarm the guerrillas.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in Skopje he would see what the alliance could do, but it was not contemplating changing its mandate.

Speaking on Wednesday, Robertson told CNN's Insight programme: "(NATO) has no mandate to operate inside Macedonia as it stands at the present moment, but if there is a ceasefire and there is disarmament and decommissioning then NATO will be able to do what it did in Kosovo on the border with southern Serbia only a few weeks ago.

"That is, to supervise the disarmament process, which I hope is going to take place in Macedonia.

"The key thing just now is that the situation is grave but there are still promising signs."

Also speaking on Wednesday, Bush added, "The idea of committing troops within Macedonia was one that most nations were troubled over. They want to see if we can achieve a political settlement first."

He added: "We agree we must face down extremists in Macedonia and elsewhere who seek to use violence to redraw borders or subvert the democratic process."

However, he said most nations still believe a political, not a military solution, can end the fighting there.

"Most people still believe that there is a political solution available before troops are committed," Bush said.

An internationally backed peace plan unveiled by Trajkovski last week covers incentives for the rebels to give up their four-month insurgency and contains proposals for disarmament.

Robertson said there were no plans for NATO-led Kosovo peacekeepers to be deployed in Macedonia.

"We haven't started thinking about alterations to mandates," he said.

The alliance played down speculation Wednesday that it was considering military intervention, but diplomats say it could play a role in the disarmament process, as it has in neighboring Kosovo.

"President Trajkovski has asked us officially if we will help with that process," Robertson told a news conference after talks with Macedonian political leaders.

"I will be taking that request back to NATO headquarters to see what we can do."

Robertson and EU Security Chief Javier Solana met with Trajkovski as well as other political leaders.

Thousands of people have fled the region

Trajkovski, who presides over a national unity government, is due go into a summit on Thursday afternoon with four parties, including ethnic Albanian parties, on a plan to end the conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels.

Trajkovski said he told Robertson NATO troops will be needed if the disarmament phase of his peace plan was going to work, and he said he expects them to be involved.

Robertson said the Macedonian government had promised him it would use restraint during talks on the Trajkovski peace plan, and he urged the rebels to show similar restraint.

The Macedonian government must convince the rebels, said Robertson, that their aims can be achieved through peaceful political means.

The rebels have been demanding that the government provide Macedonia's ethnic Albanian community -- which makes up 30 percent of the population -- with greater civil rights.

Robertson said the rebels should lay down arms their arms. He also called for them to pull back from the Skopje suburb of Aracinovo.

Trajovski's peace plan calls for consolidating police and security forces in a way that politically and militarily isolates the rebels.

A 48-hour amnesty period would be declared so that rebels could come forward and turn in their arms. Those who had not been involved in crimes, according to the plan, would be accepted back into society.

Rebels who did not turn in their arms would be disarmed.

Trajovski said that even if what he called a "good agreement" is reached in talks with the political parties in his government, he did not believe the rebels would disarm unless NATO was involved.

Solana invited Trajkovski to report to the European Union on June 25 on the progress of his efforts.