SKOPJE, Macedonia (Isalmweb & News Agencies) - NATO experts arrive in Macedonia on Tuesday to try to shore up a cease-fire between government forces and ethnic Albanian fighters and so bolster a new plan to prevent a Balkan war.Leaders of the four main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties signed a peace deal on Monday aiming to end the six-month armed revolt by improving the rights of the one-third ethnic Albanian minority. (Read photo caption below)
But clashes between Albanians and the Slav-dominated army have continued despite a NATO-brokered cease-fire declared on Sunday at the end of a week in which about 30 people died, the heaviest weekly toll since the conflict began in February.
At about the time the peace plan was signed, Albanain fighters and the Slav-dominated security forces clashed at Beloviste near the flashpoint town of Tetovo. Earlier, the Slav-dominated army accused the Albanians of assaults from villages to the northeast of the capital.
About 15 military NATO experts intend to fly to Skopje to review the truce and try to find ways of making it stick.
A lasting cease-fire and an agreement by the Albanian fighters to disarm are the main conditions for deployment of 3,500 NATO troops to collect Albanian weapons, along with the signature of Monday's political peace deal.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, in Skopje to attend the low-key signing ceremony on Monday, said the experts would join NATO teams in Macedonia seeking to get the Albanians and Slav-dominated armed forces to withdraw to the lines of a July 5 cease-fire.
He said there were hopes of brokering a sustainable cease-fire ``in the next few days.''
Robertson returned to Brussels late on Monday and briefed alliance ambassadors into the early hours of Tuesday.
NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said Robertson's goal in calling the late-night meeting was to inform delegations as quickly as possible on the latest developments so that the alliance would be able to take a decision to send troops to Macedonia as soon as possible.
He declined to estimate when NATO forces could go to Macedonia but said a decision to send troops ``could take place earlier than we thought.''
NATO plans to send its forces on a mission limited to 30 days.NO AMNESTY YET
Macedonia, which accuses the Albanian fighters of trying to tear the country apart, has yet to offer an amnesty to the fighters.
Robertson has said that an amnesty for all Albanian fighters in Macedonia, except those who would face charges at the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague, was vital.
And the fighters, who say they support the peace deal even though they were not at the negotiating table, have made no pledges to disarm.
But Macedonians' passions are running high after the killings of 19 members of the security forces since August 8 and many Macedonian hard-liners view Monday's agreement as caving in to the Albanians.
The deal includes reforms to grant ethnic Albanians greater rights to use their language in Macedonia, more jobs in the Slav-dominated police force and better access to education. Parliament is meant to ratify the plan in 45 days.
``We have agreed that the disarmament process will go on side by side with the process of parliamentary ratification of the agreement,'' Robertson said.
Diplomats say that Macedonia is still far from pulling back from the brink of war. ``In a small country like this, a clash between the Slav-dominated forces and ethnic Albanian civilians could be the spark for a much bigger conflict,'' one diplomat said.
Western leaders welcomed the deal but said it would be meaningless unless it were quickly carried out. Robertson said it meant there was ``light at the end of a very dark tunnel.''
President Bush said: ``It's a good sign but now they need to lay down their arms so we can implement the deal.''
At the United Nations in New York, the 15-member Security Council welcomed the agreement and called on ethnic Albanian leaders to condemn ongoing violence.
In a separate statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the use of violence to undermine the agreement or to seek political gains ``would be absolutely unacceptable.''
PHOTO CAPTION:
Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgevski (R) shakes hands with Arben Xhaferi, the leader of Albanian Democratic Party after a signing ceremony of the NATO-brokered peace agreement in Skopje, Macedonia on August 13, 2001. (Pool via Reuters)