(21 Jun 2001)
1. Mid shot car arriving with Robertson
2. Mid shot Robertson and Rumsfeld walking into Defence building
3. Mid shot Robertson and Rumsfeld walking to podium
4. Mid shot cutaway of security guard and observer
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Rumsfeld, U-S Defence Secretary:
"The United States has not made a commitment to include troops in the activities that are currently being discussed - they have not reached that stage, as you may know. What's the technical phrase? Yes, generation sessions have not been held and the United States currently has what fluctuates between 5-hundred and 7-hundred U-S military in Macedonia doing a range of things - some supporting the Kosovo activities, some involved with air missions."
6. Mid shot cutaway of Rumsfeld aids looking on
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lord Robertson, NATO Secretary General:
"There are no circumstances, no circumstances, where NATO troops are going to go to Macedonia to police any demarcation line, any internal demarcation line that might exist there or any partition of Macedonia at all. This seems to have surfaced as an idea inside the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia but I made it clear in a letter to the President that under no circumstances will NATO be involved in demarcation or partition policing."
8. Mid shot cutaway of security and photographer
9. Mid shot Rumsfeld and Robertson walking away from podium
10. Mid shot Rumsfeld escorting Robertson to limousine
11. Mid shot Rumsfeld and aid walking back into Defence building
STORYLINE:
NATO offered on Wednesday to send troops to Macedonia to disarm rebels once a peace deal is reached, in the hope of averting another Balkan war.
NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, in Washington to meet with U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld,
confirmed that the alliance is thinking of deploying 3-thousand or more soldiers to supervise disarming National Liberation Army fighters if there is a peace agreement.
Robertson declined to say whether the U-S military has agreed to participate, but said other NATO member countries have volunteered.
Donald Rumsfeld told the waiting media that the U-S was still discussing the possibility of deployment.
Robertson stopped short of backing a proposal from the former Yugoslav republic that NATO troops could be used to reinforce a partition or demarcation line.
The NATO announcement came as Macedonian President, Boris Trajkovski, said talks on a peace plan he had drafted had broken down.
He accused the minority ethnic Albanian politicians of being in league with armed extremists who have seized several villages in northern Macedonia.
About one-third of the Balkan country's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian.
Ethnic Albanian negotiators want to "block the talks completely," he said, "with an expectation that the international community will intervene and support their unreal political demands."
Trajkovski did not elaborate on the objectionable demands, and ethnic Albanian politicians reacted with surprise.
The deadlock came moments after NATO had added to the growing international pressure for a deal by offering to send up to 3,000 troops to help disarm rebels who surrender voluntarily.
NATO officials in Brussels, Belgium, stressed the move would come only after a political agreement is reached.
NATO special envoy Peter Feith was reportedly due in Skopje on Thursday to try to help salvage the talks.
European Union security chief Javier Solana is scheduled to arrive Friday.
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