NATO force of 1,000 for Macedonia

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A new 1,000-strong NATO force to help provide security in still-tense Macedonia has been approved and will be deployed with "the speed of light" the alliance says.

An activation order for the new mission "Operation Amber Fox" was issued overnight at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The operation will be German-led. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet on Thursday approved deploying about 700 soldiers to Macedonia, and parliament was to vote on the issue later in the day.

"Amber Fox" will be made up of the 700 arriving German soldiers plus 300 already in the country and will protect international peace monitors.

It was not immediately clear when it would formally begin, but spokesman Mark Laity told the Associated Press: "the operation is being organised with the speed of light."

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He spoke as 125 Spanish members of Operation Essential Harvest and other units of the NATO force that officially shut down Wednesday left the country after collecting more than 3,800 rifles, mortars, howitzers and a tank weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels.

More than 20 armoured personnel carriers transporting the troops rumbled southeast, down the main highway leading from Skopje, the capital, toward the border with Greece.

A group of British paratroopers was due to leave by air later in the day, along with Canadian units who had served in the 4,500-member mission.

Britain had the highest contingent in the country with 1,860 of the 4,500 troops. The U.N. Security Council unanimously ratified efforts to establish a follow-up mission.

A council resolution also called on Macedonia and ethnic Albanian insurgents to strictly observe a July 5 cease-fire, fully implement the peace deal they signed in August and reject "the use of violence in pursuit of political aims."

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson described the new mission as "an offer of assistance in response to President Boris Trajkovski's request to NATO to contribute to the protection of the international monitors who will oversee implementation of the peace plan in Macedonia."

Robertson said that without the success of Operation Essential Harvest "peace would not be within reach" in the Balkan country.

He urged the Macedonian parliament to speed up the legislative changes that formed their part the brokered deal.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up about one-third of Macedonia's two million population, have fought for better recognition of its language and an increased presence in parliament and the police force.

Robertson said: "The world is watching and the politicians know they have an obligation that they must fulfil. NATO has delivered -- it is now up to the parliamentarians to deliver again."