GENVAL - European Union foreign ministers have agreed that European troops should stay in Macedonia after Nato's mission finishes later this month, to protect civilian observers and prevent a new "security vacuum", despite reservations in Skopje.
With Western soldiers due to end their deployment in Macedonia on September 26, EU ministers
said that a successor should be based on the existing, largely European, Nato force with new elements such as Russian and Ukrainian troops.
Western diplomats trod cautiously, aware that the Macedonian government has said it does not want a new Nato mission.
The alliance, too, says that its "Operation Essential Harvest", to disarm Albanian guerrillas, will end as promised after 30 days.
What is clear from the meeting, though, that the government in Skopje will come under mounting pressure to accept a new, slimmer force, with a different mandate but almost certainly under Nato command.
Louis Michel, Foreign Minister of Belgium, which holds the EU presidency, said: "To avoid a security vacuum when Nato withdraws the most realistic option appears to be to deploy forces on the basis of what already exists – Nato plus [contributions from other nations such as Russia]".
Russian involvement would reassure the Macedonian Government, which needs to appease domestic opinion over Nato's perceived sympathy for the ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
For their part, EU ministers see the work of well-protected observers as vital to ensure that Macedonian hardliners do not resume attacks on ethnic Albanians once Nato leaves.
Chris Patten, European commissioner for external affairs, made clear that the presence of about a hundred observers from the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe – and the EU's multimillion-dollar reconstruction programme – depended on the Macedonians agreeing to an international force.
"We cannot send people into a situation where their lives are at risk," Mr Patten said.
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