EU bid to reinstate Macedonia truce

Smoke rises on the outskirts of Aracinovo

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- The failed ceasefire between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces can be reinstated, European Union envoy Javier Solana has said.

With an army assault continuing on the rebel held village of Aracinovo -- and hundreds of refugees heading for the border -- Solana said he believed it was possible to secure a truce.

"I really think that a ceasefire is a realistic possibility," Reuters quoted the EU's foreign affairs chief as saying before a meeting with President Boris Trajkovski on Saturday.

"If everybody has goodwill that is the priority and that is what I am going to tell the president."

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Despite a blunt message from NATO to stop the "madness," Macedonia launched a second day of attacks on the village of Aracinovo.

Helicopter gunships and tanks rained down fire on the village, which is near the capital Skopje.

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The bombardment began on Friday, ending a fragile 11-day ceasefire.

Trajkovski said the offensive was intended to protect "vital centres of the capital and communications" used by NATO and the NATO-led peace force in Kosovo.

Solana has set a Monday deadline for progress towards an accord, but journalist Juliette Terzieff told CNN that it widely seen as unlikely to be met.

She also said that rebel leaders have told her that the assault on Aracinovo has not forced them from their positions in the village.

The fighting has prompted hundreds of refugees to flee into the neighbouring Serbian province of Kosovo and southern Serbia, the United Nations refugee agency said.

Over 55,000 have already crossed the border since fighting intensified earlier in the year.

In his second visit to the Macedonian capital in three days, Solana has already held meetings with the leaders of Macedonia's two main ethnic Albanian parties, whom some Slav politicians blame for stalling peace talks with excessive demands for constitutional change.

Trajkovski is pressing ethnic Albanian political leaders to accept his peace plan, which calls for amnesty for most rebels who disarm voluntarily and greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions.

The most contentious issue has been changes to the constitution.

While the European Union has endorsed Trajkovski's plan, and NATO has promised troops to help supervise rebel disarmament if the two sides can reach an agreement, ethnic Albanian parties want more far-reaching changes.

Trajkovski's plans calls for the removal of references to ethnicity or religion and adding Albanian as a second state language.