NATO stresses Macedonia commitment

NATO chief Lord Robertson held talks with Macedonian leaders

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia remains high on NATO's agenda despite the attacks on the U.S., the alliance's chief has insisted.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson visited Macedonia on Friday to press for support for a Western-brokered peace plan.

He told The Associated Press he has spoken by telephone with U.S. President George W. Bush about the situation in the Balkan country.

"Despite the obvious preoccupations that he shares with the American people, he still had time to talk to me about the peace process in Macedonia and how this is important," Robertson said.

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He has urged Macedonia's political leaders to take the opportunity presented by the peace deal.

The plan would see ethnic Albanian rebels handing over their weapons in exchange for constitutional changes that would give the country's ethnic Albanian minority more rights.

About one third of Macedonia's two million population are ethnic Albanians.

"Never before has a country had such a chance to grab an opportunity, and I hope the people of this country will make sure that they do," said Robertson said after meeting Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and other top officials.

"I am confident that the legislation will be passed, because without it clearly there will be a serious crisis," he said.

There is a threat to the plan because a minor Macedonian party wants a referendum on the constitutional changes.

Robertson said the proposal "seems simply to have been floated as an idea to derail that (peace) process, not to reinforce it."

"The displaced people will not get home in peace and safety until that parliamentary process has finished," he said. "So if parliamentarians make long speeches, they will be talking people out of their homes."