The Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, Bodo Hombach, welcomed the Framework Agreement signed today in Skopje among the parties under the auspices of President Trajkovski as the "conciliatory political signal we all waited for, so that the work to heal the wounds of the conflict can start. Now the litmus test is full implementation." He appealed to all sides to adhere to the accord and called upon the Albanian militants of the UCK to lay down their arms.

Mr Hombach said he is convinced that in case the necessary conditions are met NATO could speedily deploy a force to FYR Macedonia in order to collect the arms of the militants.

Mr Hombach paid tribute to the tireless efforts of EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Xavier Solana, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson as well as EU and US negotiators on the ground, Francois Leotard and James Pardew, as a well orchestrated approach in international crisis diplomacy and lauded the Macedonian Government under President Trajkovski for the restraint shown during the very difficult moments of the past few months.

Mr Hombach reminded all parties that today the work begins to build the peace. He called for additional funding for the FYR Macedonia by an international donors' conference once the political conditions set out in the Framework agreement are met and in view of the upcoming Regional Conference in Bucharest on 25-26 October. He also suggested that the International Community bridges the time to these conferences with measures of active support to the benefit of all ethnic groups in the FYR Macedonia. Not being a crisis intervention mechanism, the Stability Pact will continue to put its mid and long-term preventive instruments at the disposal of the Macedonian authorities, especially in the field of interethnic dialogue.