EU considers Macedonia future

NATO's mission is limited to 30 days

GENVAL, Belgium -- Germany has put forward a plan to replace NATO troops in Macedonia with a security force when NATO withdraws later this month.

The new, smaller force would be led by NATO but contain non-NATO nations, European foreign ministers meeting in Belgium have been told.

NATO troops, collecting rebel ethnic Albanian weapons as part of a peace deal, are due to pull out on September 26 but there are fears the departure would create a security vacuum.

The EU has pledged to stand by Macedonia after NATO withdraws and has voiced support for a longer-term international force despite reservations from Macedonia.

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Foreign ministers from the 15-nation EU agree a follow-on mission is necessary in Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic of two million inhabitants, about one-third of whom are ethnic Albanians.

"We cannot purely and simply leave," French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told reporters.

The NATO mission Operation Essential Harvest is part of a deal to end an ethnic Albanian uprising in Macedonia -- the only country to have split from federal Yugoslavia without bloodshed.

In return for the weapons surrender Macedonia's political leaders have agreed to constitutional changes giving the Albanian language greater recognition and guaranteeing more public service jobs for the Albanian population.

Germany's Fischer wants a NATO-led force

But NATO troops are due to finish collecting weapons on September 26 and the alliance has said it will neither extend nor replace the force.

The German idea, presented by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, is for a smaller force than the current 4,500 now in Macedonia, but a robust one.

Its mission, also like the current one, must be limited in time.

The successor force, German says, would be include non-NATO members such as Russia and Ukraine, have a U.N. Security Council mandate and only enter Macedonia at the government's invitation.

But President Trajkovski, quoted by The Associated Press news agency, said: "We don't need NATO to stay on as guarantor for peace. Macedonian security troops will be the only true guarantee for peace and loyal ethnic Albanians must understand this."