The European Union will today deploy peacekeeping troops in Macedonia in what is seen as a test for future missions in the Balkans and beyond.
The 350-member strong European Force (EUFOR) arrives in Skopje to take over from NATO peacekeepers.
The NATO force was deployed in the Balkan country in 2001 after a peace deal ended fighting between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels that had raged for seven months.
The European troops, coming from 27 different countries and under the command of a French general, will be stationed in Macedonia for a renewable six-month period.
The aim of the operation, codenamed "Concordia", is to keep the fragile balance of peace in the former Yugoslav country, where up to 150 people were killed in the 2001 conflict.
The Macedonia mission is part of a wider EU strategy, which already includes plans for a possible succession of NATO's 12,000-strong Stabilization Force in Bosnia.
EUFOR will inherit a peacekeeping situation in Macedonia far calmer than the one NATO soldiers faced when they first arrived nearly two years ago and were tasked with disarming ethnic Albanian rebels from the National Liberation Army.
The rebels laid down their weapons following a deal agreed upon by the country's main Albanian and Macedonian political parties, in which Macedonians pledged to increase Albanian representation in the country's institutions.
AFP