THE Third World War will start in July in the Balkans, last seven months and end in victory for a US-led Nato, according to a new analysis of sixteenth century French seer Nostradamus.

''He is clear it will start before the end of the century during the period of Cancer which is between June 22 and July 23, and in a triangle bordered by Greece, Italy and Turkey, which is the Balkans,'' said Willie Breytenbach, professor of political science at the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town.

''I have to emphasise I am a sceptic,'' he said. ''But what I found was so chilling that I put pen to paper.''

Breytenbach found references to the conflict in 18 of the 950 quatrains written by Michel de Notre Dame in 1555, which have been found to refer to the fire of London, Louis Pasteur and Adolf Hitler among others.

''In one quatrain he mentions the Slav people. He also mentions war in the mountains which, taken with what we know and the talk of land forces, all gelled,'' he said.

One of the quatrains also mentions a ''tyrant'' whose name begins with ''M'', which could refer to Milosevic.

Another notes that the Serbs will ''change their prince'', which Breytenbach took to be a reference to the possible overthrow of the Serb leader.

In another verse there is a reference to three years and seven months of peace before the war. ''I suddenly noticed that the Dayton peace accord was signed on November 21, 1995. Adding three years and seven months to that brings us to the end of June 1999,'' Breytenbach said.

Nostradamus made several references to Greece being involved in the conflict and that there would be bloodshed in Turkey. There is also mention of Italy's involvement.

There are references to the Alus, which Breytenbach took to refer to the Nato allies in which the US is the dominant force, and the Mabus which he said could refer to Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Serbia.

''He, Nostradamus, is quite clear the war will last seven months and the ultimate victor will have been born on American soil,'' Breytenbach said.