Macedonia has agreed to allow a "relatively small" NATO- led force to remain in the country to protect international monitors once an alliance mission leaves later this month, diplomats and officials said yesterday.
A senior Macedonian official confirmed plans to propose such a force, putting its size at 150 to 200 troops. One Western diplomat, however, said up to 1,000 armed soldiers would be deployed.
"But both sides are talking about a relatively small presence, less than four figures," the diplomat said.
"If this is what President (Boris) Trajkovski wants, we can probably sort it out."
The exact details of an accord, which marks a turnaround in the Skopje government's position, have yet to be finalised, said the diplomat on Friday.
More than 4,500 NATO troops are currently in Macedonia on a 30-day mission to collect arms surrendered by rebel Albanians as part of a peace deal to end a seven-month ethnic insurgency. Western governments fear a "security vacuum" when NATO begins leaving on September 26th, after which more unarmed monitors from the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be deployed.
EU foreign ministers earlier this month proposed a force of troops from NATO and non-NATO member-states, such as Russia and Ukraine, under a UN mandate.
An OSCE official in Skopje said yesterday that the organisation was not concerned by how big any eventual force would be as long as it assured security and that the decision was reached in co-operation with the government.
"It doesn't matter, whatever the outcome, as long as it presents a good security environment, in terms of medical evacuations in emergencies," the official said.
"We are concerned about the whole security environment, not just for us, but everyone working in sensitive areas."