Macedonia ceasefire holding after post-deadline clashes

Despite clashes after the midnight ceasefire deadline, both the Macedonian Army and ethnic Albanians appeared today to respect a deal to stop fighting.

They are preparing to give the political dialogue a chance to end the four-month-old rebel insurgency.

The Macedonian Army and Nato both reported fighting around Tetovo last night ended about two hours after the deadline.

‘‘The ceasefire is holding. That is indeed a fact now,’’ said Nato spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Altmannsperger. ‘‘We are happy of course.’’

The deal, brokered by Nato and European Union officials, was meant to clear the way for disarming the rebels and was expected to ease tensions that have hampered a political agreement on ethnic Albanian demands for better protection of their rights.

‘‘It is a major step forward,’’ Nikola Dimitrov, national security adviser to President Boris Trajkovski, said.

A British battle group of 1,000 soldiers is due to lead a Nato force into Macedonia within a few days to oversee the disarming of the ethnic Albanian rebels.

Nato’s role ‘‘has to be in what we call a benign and consensual environment,’’ said Nato spokesman Paul Barnard in Skopje. ‘‘We are not here to enforce the disarmament.’’

The Nato operation is expected to be completed in four to six weeks assuming the ceasefire is respected.