An advance party of British troops and 130 Czech soldiers flew to Macedonia last night to prepare for the delicate task of overseeing the collection of thousands of weapons currently in the hands of ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
The 40 British soldiers, mainly signals and communications experts, will be joined by 350 more from the Colchester-based 16 Assault Brigade, who will be encamped near the capital, Skopje, under the command of Brigadier Barney White-Spunner.
Brig White-Spunner's first job is to assess whether it is safe for a NATO force of more than 3,500 soldiers to organise the collection and destruction of weapons - a key element of a precarious peace deal signed by ethnic Albanian leaders and the Macedonian government last Monday.
A brigade spokesman, Major Alex Dick, said the soldiers would not be involved in any kind of peacekeeping. "We're not here to enforce any peace, we're not here to physically take any weapons." Today, two C17 Globemasters - huge American-made aircraft - will airlift helicopters and military equipment.
A Czech contingent of 130 soldiers was the first NATO unit to land yesterday, though SAS troops are believed to have been on the ground in Macedonia for some time on reconnaissance missions.
Alliance ambassadors have decided to send NATO's supreme commander, General Joseph Ralston, to Macedonia on Monday to assess the situation for himself. He will then return to Brussels where it will be decided whether to go ahead with the mission.
Despite the risks involved, British officials yesterday indicated that NATO governments would give the green light, probably on Wednesday, to send in the large NATO taskforce.
NATO officials say the alliance faced a dilemma. By delaying too long in sending in troops, they risk the collapse of the Western-brokered peace deal. But by arriving too quickly, NATO troops risk getting caught in crossfire.
Some countries, including Germany, have expressed misgivings about the planned operation. A parliamentary vote is required before German troops can be deployed abroad, and a number of the Social Democrats and Green MPs in the coalition government are opposed to the mission.
Britain, determined to have both a clear exit strategy for its troops and to avoid "mission creep", insists the operation will have a strict time limit of 30 days.
However, alliance sources in Macedonia said NATO troops would have a role in deciding when the Macedonian military could re-enter areas held by the ethnic Albanian rebels.
NATO's mission to collect arms under the peace accord would not become an "occupation force", they said, but it must try to ensure human rights are upheld afterwards, partly by rigorous international monitoring.
"We recognise that there will be a very sensitive period setting in upon completion of the arms collection," said one official. "There could be a grey zone of a few days at the end, but what we don't want to see is Macedonian security forces rolling up the road as we are pulling out."