Macedonia's ceasefire will not be stable enough to deploy a NATO weapons-collection force if violations like those that killed three people this week persist, the commander of a NATO vanguard unit said today.
"What we have to convince ourselves of is that people are committed to the ceasefire", British Brigadier Barney White-Spunner told reporters as elements of his 400-member liaison and reconnaissance team were arriving in Skopje.
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Czech troops preparing
for duty in Macedonia. Photograph: Reuters |
After the news conference, ethnic Albanians reported sniping by Macedonian troops in the front-line northwestern city of Tetovo. They said an 18-year-old guerrilla died in the morning from wounds suffered in gunbattles early on Friday.
Brigadier White-Spunner said his liaison units would discuss measures to defuse tensions with combatants in the coming days.
"We will certainly want to see these fulfilled before (we give) the military advice to (NATO ambassadors) that it is safe to proceed (with full deployment), he said.
He declined to say what the measures were. But he said NATO reconnaissance and liaison units would be combing front lines in Macedonia's north and maintaining constant contact with security forces and guerrillas to iron out problems.
NATO's 19 member state ambassadors yesterday put off deciding whether to send a 3,500-strong force to gather up guerrilla arms, opting to wait for detailed reports from Brigadier White-Spunner's vanguard and NATO's supreme commander, US General Joseph Ralston, who will visit Macedonia on Monday.
An elderly ethnic Albanian man and a Macedonian policeman were shot dead during fierce skirmishing in the Tetovo area late on Thursday and early yesterday. Front lines were reported quiet the rest of Friday and overnight.