President orders troop withdrawal

SKOPJE, AUG. 20. The Macedonian President, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, has ordered the army to carry out a withdrawal of troops as a contribution towards de- escalation in advance of a planned NATO mission to the country, the Defence Ministry said today.

The Ministry in Skopje said warplanes and helicopters would accordingly not be used in crisis areas and the army was to withdraw heavy weapons from combat positions.

The measures were intended to open the way for NATO to deploy a planned 3,500-strong force to collect weapons from Albanian Uck rebels.

Firefight reported

Meanwhile, a firefight broke out near Macedonia's second-largest city, straining a tenuous cease-fire in the troubled country ahead of the visit by a senior NATO general who will help assess whether it is safe to deploy alliance troops to collect rebel weapons.

A police official speaking on condition of anonymity said ethnic Albanian rebels opened infantry and mortar fire on Macedonian government positions near the village of Poroj, on the outskirts of the city of Tetovo.

``Our forces came under fire, so the orders to return fire were given,'' he said, describing the situation as ``rather serious''. An ethnic Albanian rebel commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, said fighting was ``very intensive'', but he declined to offer details. There was no immediate information on any casualties.

The latest cease-fire violation came as NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, Gen. Joseph Ralston, prepared for a brief trip to the Macedonian capital, Skopje, to meet the Macedonian government and military officials.

Gen. Ralston was to discuss cooperation between the country's security forces and a British-led NATO mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest. The troops are to collect weapons to be voluntarily handed in by the rebels, known as the National Liberation Army.

- DPA, AP

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Section  : International
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