GENVAL, Belgium (Islamweb & News Agencies) - European Union foreign ministers agreed Sunday to back a new multinational force to replace the current NATO disarmament mission in Macedonia, saying it is needed to prevent a resumption of fighting that could lead to another Balkan war.A German plan endorsed by the ministers at an informal session in Genval, Belgium calls for a force led by NATO but smaller and including non-NATO nations.
NATO has so far resisted staying in Macedonia past Sept. 26, but since 11 EU members are also members of NATO, Sunday's decision could signal a change in the alliance's position.
Some of the 15 EU ministers were adamant that any new force in Macedonia must have a U.N. Security Council mandate. Britain opposed that idea, and others said there simply isn't enough time to push a mandate through the United Nations.
Macedonia has been cool to further international military intervention in its struggle against the Albanian fighters. The fighters say their struggle has been to seek greater rights for minority ethnic Albanians. But many Macedonians, including government officials, fear they might try to carve out territory for themselves and unite it with neighboring Kosovo.
Javier Solana, the EU's chief of foreign and security policy, was to contact Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski to inform him of the European Union's conclusion.
The 19-nation NATO alliance deployed 4,500 troops to Macedonia last month to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian fighters.
In return for the surrender of about 3,300 weapons by the end of September, the government agreed to give ethnic Albanians more rights, including more representation in the police, civil service and supreme court. The changes would also make Albanian an official language in some areas, and allow some self-rule in predominantly ethnic Albanian regions.
On Sunday, troops collected arms near the village of Brodec, a former Albanian stronghold and the site of an Albanian training base. They were to begin burning more than 1,200 of the weapons on Monday. (Read photo caption below)
The NATO mission ends Sept. 26, and NATO has said the mission will neither be extended nor replaced.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, the supreme allied commander in Europe, said Sunday that decisions ``are yet to be made'' about the type of force that would succeed NATO.
The EU foreign ministers said they worried the security situation could disintegrate without more international help.
While the French and some others might favor using the EU's own rapid-reaction force for the mission, it was generally agreed the European force is not developed enough. The EU is planning to have a 60,000-man rapid reaction corps by 2003, with initial elements ready by the end of this year.
The German idea is for a smaller force than the current 4,500 now in Macedonia. Its mission, like the current one, must be for a limited time.
The military presence should under no circumstances constitute an artificial line between the two ethnic groups, the German plan said.
The force would be made up of NATO troops and open to non-NATO members, including the Scandinavians, Russia and the Ukraine.
Neutral Finland said it would only take part in an operation that has a mandate from the U.N. Security Council or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The three principal challenges facing Macedonia at present, according to the Germans, are a security vacuum after the end of the NATO mission, what the Germans call a ``silent coalition of extremists on both sides opposed to reconciliation,'' and prevention of an ethnic division of the country.
A new military mission would complement further EU economic aid, 14.7 million in the short term for infrastructure projects and 227.5 million in midterm and long-term aid.
PHOTO CAPTION:
An ethnic Albanian fighter (C) carries boxes of ammunition as he walks next to French soldiers, members of NATO's Task Force Harvest (TFH), at the weapons collection point at the village of Brodec, some 40 kms west from the capital Skopje, September 9, 2001. The European Union moved toward broad agreement that an international force will be needed to protect civilian observers in Macedonia after NATO's 4,500-member brigade pulls out later this month. (Pool/Reuters)