EU foreign ministers formally agreed to deploy the 400-strong "EU transition force" in the former Yugoslav republic at the end of the month, they said.

The force will take over from NATO peacekeepers who were first deployed in 2001, after a peace deal ended fighting between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The European Union had originally hoped to launch the Macedonia mission last year, but the handover was delayed twice as it struggled to reach an agreement with NATO, mainly because of differences between Greece and Turkey.

A political accord was finally struck in December. Last Friday another agreement, on exchange of confidential information between the EU and NATO, was signed.

The Macedonia force, comprising 320 soldiers and 80 civilian support staff, marks a rare achievement for the EU's "common foreign and security policy", which has been left in tatters by the Iraq crisis.

NATO Secretary General George Robertson said Monday that the Western military alliance would maintain senior civilian and military representatives in Skopje beyond the handover.

WAR.WIRE