SKOPJE (Reuters) - NATO troops are set to take in more weapons on Sunday from ethnic Albanian fighters in Macedonia, which received new assurances of international help to avoid another plunge into violence after they leave.(Read photo caption below)
European Union ministers said on Saturday that their countries were willing to stay in the tiny Balkan state after NATO's 4,500 troops pull out at the end of the ``Essential Harvest'' weapons roundup on September 26.
``One way or another, Europe must stand by Macedonia. We must not suddenly change our stance,'' French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told reporters in the Belgian town of Genval on Saturday.
The size, rules of engagement and form of any force-- whether NATO, EU or U.N. -- were still being intensely debated.
NATO, unwilling to launch another indefinite peacekeeping mission in the Balkans after Bosnia and Kosovo, says its force will leave when the mission ends.
Vedrine said NATO command of a military force to protect foreign peace observers made most sense, since the EU was not yet ready to take charge of such missions.
``If the new European security and defense arrangements were organized enough for this mission, it would be a good idea. But because it isn't quite ready yet, I think it is more sensible, easier and more practical to act in a NATO framework,'' he said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called for a NATO-led force with a United Nations mandate.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said: ``Our troops could stay for two or three months longer.''
TURMOIL
EU diplomats said the Macedonian government was reluctant to extend NATO's role and would prefer a U.N. force, but European governments did not want to serve under a U.N. command and wanted to keep the United States engaged.
Russia has backed the idea of an international force.
After seven months of ethnic Albanian insurgency during which government troops lost control of swaths of the north and west, there was little joy among Macedonians on Saturday, the 10th anniversary of independence from Yugoslavia and no celebrations were held.
NATO had gathered a third of the National Liberation Army's (NLA's) declared arsenal, but stopped when parliament's preliminary debate on reforms to give more rights to ethnic Albanians was dragged out, then frozen, by ultra-nationalists.
Western diplomats pushed hard-liners to drop deal-wrecking demands and legislators finally voted on Thursday to authorize drafting of reforms.
The changes are meant to decentralize power, allow more official use of the Albanian language, and give Albanians jobs in public services, especially the police force, commensurate with their one-third share of the population.
The fragile peace process edged into round two on Friday. Hundreds more Albanians disarmed after parliament grudgingly embarked on the constitutional reforms.
NATO officials said they were satisfied with the haul and that a new round would be held on Sunday.
THREE STAGES
NATO says the second phase of weapons collections is to be completed by September 13, in time for second round of parliamentary action under the 45-day timetable for implementation of the peace plan.
Albanian fighters would then relinquish the final third of an agreed 3,300 weapons to set the stage for a ratification vote in parliament, within three days of NATO's September 26 deadline for completing disarmament.
Nationalists, who dominate parliament, have warned they will try to block or water down pro-Albanian amendments they believe will lead to the ethnic partition of Macedonia.
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin confirmed on Saturday their desire to maintain an international force in the former Yugoslav republic after each met with EU Macedonia envoy Francois Leotard.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A British NATO helicopter lands before being loaded with weapons collected from members of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army in the northern Macedonian village of Radusa, near the border with Kosovo Friday, Sept. 7, 2001. NATO resumed the collection of Albanian weapons Friday as the peace process entered a new phase, following through on promises to grant the ethnic Albanian minority more rights. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus/Pool)