Peace accord's key points

Amends constitution to make country civic society of all ethnic groups, not just Macedonians Makes Albanian second official language in some areas More ethnic Albanians in police and other institutions Allows degree of self-rule in Albanian -dominated areas Census to be held to establish country's exact ethnic mix ahead of elections

Nato has said it will send a further 3,500 troops on a 30-day operation once it is confident a shaky ceasefire between the rebels and government forces has taken hold.

General Ralston held talks with Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and other government ministers and met Nato officials already in Macedonia.

He will take his findings back to Nato's 19-member North Atlantic Council.

"Then it will be up to the nations of Nato as to what to decide," General Ralston said at the end of his visit.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Skopje says it is assumed there that the disarmament mission will go ahead, despite sporadic violations of a ceasefire.

Clashes

Hours before General Ralston arrived, rebels clashed with government troops near the village of Poroj, near the northern town of Tetovo, although observers say the level of clashes has lessened in recent days.

General Joseph Ralston: Up to Nato nations

Nato ambassadors in Brussels have been weighing up the risks of moving quickly into an unstable country against the dangers of a further deterioration in the situation while they wait.

If the advance guard decide that conditions are not appropriate, the Nato mission will be abandoned and the rest of the troops will not be sent.

Correspondents say nobody expects the rebels to surrender all their guns, but they will need to give up several thousand weapons for it to be a meaningful gesture.

The plan is that the rebels will collect their own weapons and deposit them at pre-arranged collection sites.

Nato troops will then move in, seal the area, pick up the guns for destruction in a third country and leave.

Disarming the rebels

Teams from the 400-strong British-led advance guard on Monday went into the rebel-held village of Nikustak, about 16 km (10 miles) north-east of the Macedonian capital Skopje, where they made contact with local rebel leaders.

Macedonian villagers are mistrustful of Nato's involvement

They discussed details of how the disarmament mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest, would work.

An ethnic Albanian rebel leader, known as Commander Adashi, told the troops:

"I believe there will be no problems. We will co-operate and guarantee your security on our side. But I can't say for the other side."

The Macedonian army said on Monday it was ready to withdraw its troops from the areas where rebel weapons would be collected.