Lost in the shuffle of a NATO defense ministers meeting here was the fate of Macedonia, where a 30-day allied mission to collect ethnic Albanian rebel arms ran out on Wednesday.
The ministers, whose main aim here was to learn what the US needs and expects of NATO to back its retaliation against September 11 terrorist attacks, were also to debate a sequel to Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia.
NATO ambassadors held a brief meeting on Macedonia before the ministerial, but details remained to be ironed out with the Skopje government, according to a NATO diplomat.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson, opening the ministerial meeting, said only that Macedonia would be discussed later in the day.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has asked the alliance to put together a "light force" of some 700 troops to protect civilian observers being sent in by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Sources say the new operation, called "Red Fox," will be placed under German command.
Diplomatic sources in New York said the UN Security Council was to vote on a new NATO operation in Macedonia on Wednesday -- BRUSSELS (AFP)
