Germany approves Macedonia mission

German troops arrive in Skkopje

BERLIN, Germany -- Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder has won approval to send German troops to join NATO in Macedonia.

The German parliament, recalled from its summer recess for the special session on Macedonia, voted 497-130 in favour of sending up to 500 troops to the former Yugoslav republic.

Schroeder said: "We as Germans are interested in stability prevailing in this region of Europe. This is really about helping Macedonia, a country that still has democratic structures, so that it can maintain and develop them."

The German troops will join a multi-national task force charged with collecting weapons from ethnic Albanians rebels as part of a cease-fire deal with the Macedonian government.

Germany's opposition had warned NATO against letting its soldiers become bogged down in Macedonia as parliament debated sending troops there.

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NATO "risks becoming a hostage in a process teeming with pitfalls" and must ensure it is "not drawn, without strength or concept, into a civil war," ex-Defence Minister Volker Ruehe told the Bundestag in Berlin.

In Macedonia on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said he believed the 30-deadline for the Operation Essential Harvest weapons collection would be sufficient.

The vote was a formality after the main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, withdrew its opposition to the move.

The first German troops are expected to travel to the former Yugoslav republic on Wednesday evening. About 200 German soldiers are to be transferred from neighbouring Kosovo, with the rest flying out from domestic bases.

Ruehe, a leading Christian Democrat, urged all lawmakers after the vote to rally behind the soldiers.

"Starting this evening, our soldiers will know that all Bundestag deputies, regardless of how they may have voted, stand behind them," Ruehe declared.

The CDU ended weeks of resistance to sending soldiers to Macedonia after the government promised more money to protect the troops, effectively guaranteeing a parliamentary majority for the vote.

Christian Democratic leaders said they were satisfied after Schroeder promised an additional $13 million for the German contingent to improve protection for its soldiers, including armour upgrades for military vehicles used in the mission.

A British soldier died on Monday when a concrete block was dropped onto his unprotected Land Rover.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer opened Wednesday's session by urging broad support to a mission he accepted was dangerous. "What is it stake are peace and stability in the Balkans and solidarity with our most important partners in European Union and NATO," he said. "Germany cannot escape this responsibility."

Schroeder's Cabinet cleared plans last week to provide up to 500 of the 3,500 NATO troops to take part in the 30-day Essential Harvest, which began on Monday.