Nato leaders back plan to end fighting in Macedonia

President George Bush, European Union leaders and Nato gave broad backing yesterday for a Macedonian government peace plan to end the fighting with ethnic Albanians ­ but in effect ruled out sending peace-keepers directly into the Balkan republic, as the rebels have demanded.

Speaking in Skopje, the Nato secretary general, Lord Rob-ertson of Port Ellen, broadly endorsed President Boris Rajkovski's proposals calling for a ceasefire, a partial amnesty for the Albanian guerrillas and the promise of greater political representation. But direct Nato military intervention, he made clear, was not on the agenda.

Earlier, the American-EU summit in Sweden sent a similar message, calling for a political solution to the crisis and a dialogue between the two sides. The Rajkovski plan is currently no more than a blueprint. But Xavier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, also in Skopje, said the Macedonian authorities must take the first steps by 25 June, the date of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Nato's stance will disappoint the ethnic Albanians, who want a general ceasefire, integration of their troops into the Slav-dominated Macedonian army and a political agreement guaranteed by America, the EU and Nato. The NLA rebel army is calling for "intervention of Nato forces in the whole territory of Macedonia, as a guarantee for a lasting peace".

Instead, the rebels are likely to be offered the same kind of amnesty that was extended in southern Serbia last month to the Albanian insurgents, who had to hand their weapons to Nato peace-keepers.

There seems no question of units of K-For, the Nato peacekeeping force in Kosovo, being sent south into Macedonia, despite the risk of a full-scale civil war that could destabilise the south Balkan region.

Britain, meanwhile, is offering to send training teams to help the ramshackle Macedonian army. But officials at the Ministry of Defence stressed these units would not become active in the fighting. Britain's involvement would be similar to its role in Sierra Leone, but on a smaller scale.

Albanian rebels published their demands for ending their four-month insurgency for the first time yesterday, calling for political reforms, amnesty and the deployment of Nato troops.

In a communiqué signed by the political leader of the National Liberation Army (NLA), Ali Ahmeti, the group demanded political concessions to the one-third Albanian minority. The NLA said Nato military intervention was essential to end the rebellion.

A shaky joint truce entered a fourth day yesterday, but was punctuated by overnight exchanges of mortar bombs and machine-gun fire on the outskirts of Tetovo, the biggest ethnic Albanian town.