Macedonia nears coalition deal

Macedonian soldiers observe ethnic Albanian rebels at the village of Matejce

SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- The party representing Macedonia's ethnic Albanians says it has agreed in principle to join a coalition the government hopes will end violence in the region.

The Party for Democratic Prosperity had been holding out from joining the national unity government.

But representatives who were meeting in Skopje on Friday said they hoped to announce an agreement by the end of the day.

For more than 10 days, ethnic Albanian rebels have been in a standoff with government forces, who have been trying to flush them from a dozen villages.

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The Red Cross has entered the villages during dawn-to-dusk ceasefires, evacuating 69 people -- some pregnant and others ill -- but thousands of others remain.

CNN's Chris Burns said that even if a coalition is formed, it could be a fragile one. The PDP has said it could leave the coalition should fighting resume.

Minority ethnic Albanians, who make up a third of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's two million people, argue they are treated as second-class citizens. They have demanded the Balkan country's constitution be rewritten to give them more rights.

Fighting flares

On Thursday, Macedonia ruled out the idea of a lasting ceasefire, which the PDP had demanded as a precondition of its participation in the coalition. The government told the party Friday would be its last chance to sign up.

"There is a chance we will join the government," a PDP official said before going into a meeting of party leaders in the northwestern city of Tetovo.

Fighting in Macedonia near the border with Kosovo has flared recently after a lull since a February uprising subsided.

NATO has provided military advice to Macedonia while its peacekeeping troops in Kosovo attempt to seal the border to infiltrators.

Meanwhile, ethnic Albanian rebel leaders accused Macedonian forces on Thursday of systematically destroying remote villages to drive Albanians out.

"That's what they're aiming for. They're using the scorched earth tactics the Russians used in Afghanistan," said Commander Sokoli of the National Liberation Army.

"In Slupcane there, they're shelling the houses, not our positions. We're in front of the village and above it but not in it. But that's doesn't matter to them," he said.

The NLA insists a solution is possible. "This can all be solved by a ball-point pen and an agreement to sign," said one rebel.

"Sooner or later we will be sitting at the negotiating table, you'll see. Until then, we won't be moving."

About 8,000 Albanians have fled north to Kosovo in the past week to escape artillery, tank and rocket fire, or the fear of it.

About 10,000 left mountain villages above Tetovo six weeks ago for the same reason. According to Sokoli, that area is another empty quarter on the Kosovo border, except for troops.

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