Macedonian peace talks continue

Smoke rises after an exchange of fire outside the village of Aracinovo

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A fifth day of negotiations in Macedonia appears to have done little to ease the ethnic divide threatening the country's stability.

Zehir Bekteshi, a spokesman of the key Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity, had hinted earlier in the day that a compromise with Macedonian Slavs was possible during Tuesday's talks.

"Concrete issues are on the table, and both sides are keen on delivering some results," Bekteshi told The Associated Press.

But Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski was not so upbeat, quoted by Reuters as saying: "Unfortunately the talks are going in two different directions."

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Politicians on all sides are studying a peace proposal drafted by Trajkovski which calls for a ceasefire in hostilities between armed ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces in the north of the country, an amnesty for rebels who disarm voluntarily, and inclusion of minority ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions.

The removal of references to ethnicity or religion from the constitution and adding Albanian as a state language are also on the table.

European Union leaders have backed Trajkovski's proposal with the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mircea Geoana visiting the capital Skopje on Monday to press for a deal.

"This is the decisive week ... we are strongly encouraging all political leaders ... to make full use of the plan proposed by President (Boris) Trajkovski," Geoana said.

Ethnic Albanians make up between a quarter and a third of the population in the majority Slav country with tensions rising after four months of clashes in the northern hills bordering the Serbian province of Kosovo.

On Tuesday Macedonia's Interior Minister Ljuben Boskoski resigned from the government's Crisis Management Body, which is coordinating joint military and police actions saying it was too ready to accept unreasonable ethnic Albanian demands and block a crackdown on rebels.

"I cannot accept the government's policy of capitulation imposed by the other three major parties in the coalition," he said.

Rebels in the northern hills say they are fighting for greater rights for ethnic Albanians but the government accuses them of seeking to grab land and split the state.

The self-styled rebel National Liberation Army (NLA) has called a truce until June 27.

But on Tuesday, AP reported ethnic Albanian rebels firing a number of mortar bombs at a police checkpoint near Lopate, a village near the northern city of Kumanovo, military spokesman Blagoja Markovski said.

Militants also opened sniper and machine-gun fire on government positions near the rebel stronghold of Aracinovo, near Skopje.