Macedonia seeks diplomatic answer

The EU wants to find a solution to the recent fighting

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia is to start talks with ethnic Albanians in an effort to bridge its bitter ethnic divide and resolve the violence.

Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski will chair talks between all of Macedonia's political leaders on ways to ease the grievances of the ethnic Albanian minority.

The main ethnic Albanian leader, a key partner in Macedonia's fragile coalition government, has warned he will quit if demands are not met within a month -- leaving the men with guns to fight for Albanian rights.

Slav politicians led by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski are wary of a nationalist backlash from their own constituency if they concede too much.

Ethnic Albanian politicians are seeking greater rights for their community, including constitutional change.

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The European Union is backing efforts by politicians in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to work towards ethnic reconciliation.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is also to hold talks with Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders on Monday.

Solana will discuss a proposal to support the country's stabilisation following weeks of fighting between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

The latest clashes broke out before dawn on Saturday and continued for about five hours although no casualties had been confirmed.

Macedonian military spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said the clash with rebels had taken place near the village of Gracane, about six miles north of the capital, Skopje.

He said about 12 rebels has slipped across the border from Kosovo and began sniping at a Macedonian army watchtower at Caska, near the Blace border crossing.

The army responded with mortar and small arms fire, he said.

NATO troops in Kosovo detained 30 suspected rebels caught trying to cross the border into the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The insurgency has put Georgievski's coalition government under heavy strain, and there is intense international pressure for quick agreement on steps towards ethnic reconciliation.

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Government of Macedonia
NATO
U.N. in Kosovo
European Union

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