Bulgaria has not yet been asked to send soldiers to join the NATO forces heading to Macedonia, Foreign Minister Solomon Passi said on Tuesday.

NATO forces are expected to be sent to Skopje to finalize a plan for disarming the ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army (NLA). NATO is preparing to deploy 3,500 soldiers to Macedonia on a 30-day mission called Essential Harvest to collect and destroy the weapons.

NATO's goals in sending forces to Macedonia are political agreement, a cease-fire, and the demilitarization of the NLA.

A political agreement was signed in Macedonia's capital of Skopje on Monday. The Bulgarian government greeted the draft agreement as a successful step towards solving the crisis in Macedonia.

However, since the signing of the agreement the violence in Macedonia has continued. The newly formed Albanian National Army refused to accept the agreement claiming it betrayed Albanian interests.

The group claimed responsibility for the murder of 10 Macedonian soldiers last Wednesday.

Before the agreement was signed, the U.S. envoy to the Balkans, James Pardew, came to Bulgaria to familiarize the country's political leaders with the draft document. The U.S. values Bulgaria's stabilizing role in the region and its stance on the conflict in Macedonia, he said, and would therefore seek its support for the implementation of the agreement.

The political agreement was meant to solidify an earlier agreement that the Macedonian and Albanian sides initialed last Wednesday.

It was a compromise for the political forces in Macedonia, but it was the best way to achieve lasting peace in the country and to guarantee its territorial integrity, Pardew said last Friday, during his one-day visit to Bulgaria. Pardew said the peace agreement would guarantee the sovereignty, territorial unity and united position of the Macedonian state and, in this way, it would benefit both the Albanians and the Macedonians.

After his meeting with Pardew, Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov said that it was time to mobilize all international resources, especially those from countries bordering Macedonia and those of international organizations, to avoid an escalation of the tensions.

Stoyanov added that Bulgaria's national interests were identical to those of the Macedonian citizens and the expectations of the international community.

Macedonian Ambassador in Sofia Ljubisa Georgievski requested a meeting with Passi immediately after Passi's meeting with Pardew last Friday. "Macedonia expects from Bulgaria a full-scale contribution to a settlement of the crisis in Macedonia," said Georgievski after the meeting.

The Macedonian Ambassador expressed his conviction that the Bulgarian authorities would remain committed to their declared position that any breach of peace in the neighbouring country would be equal to a breach of peace in Bulgaria as well.

"Macedonia does not seek military assistance from Bulgaria, as dealing with the present situation excludes a military solution," said Georgievski. He added that with the entry of NATO troops into Macedonia, the situation there would grow calmer.

Bulgaria would continue its active co-operation with the international community's efforts to reinstate peace and stability in Macedonia, said the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry last Wednesday. In a statement issued following the murder of 10 Macedonian soldiers, the Ministry expressed strong concern over the escalation of tensions in Macedonia, and condemned the terrorist acts of the extremists.