EU: Trajkovski in control

Protest broke out over the government's handling of a cease-fire with ethnic Albanian rebels

LUXEMBOURG -- Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski remains in control in the country after a night of tensions in the capital Skopje, the European Union said on Tuesday.

"We have received assurances that the president and government are in full control of the military and the police," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said on behalf of the 15-nation bloc. Sweden holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"An address to the people is planned later today by Trajkovski and the government," she added.

An EU-led bid to bring in a cease-fire with ethnic Albanian rebels sparked fierce protests in the capital Skopje and heavy fighting elsewhere.

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"Developments today show how serious the situation is but it is still obvious there is no military solution... We hope everybody will realise the only way forward is to refrain from violence and to have legitimate dialogue through the political representatives," Lindh said.

UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw has called off a trip to Macedonia after the protests in Skopje. Straw had been due to visit the crisis-hit country this week.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters: "The foreign secretary has decided that it would not be appropriate in the light of events to go ahead with the visit."

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its "growing concern" over political tension in Macedonia following the riots.

"The situation in Macedonia causes growing anxiety. The tension in that country is not abating," Alexander Yakovenko, the chief spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a written statement.

Yakovenko attributed the tension to the "destructive activity of terrorists," a reference to Albanian separatists whom Russia maintains NATO has failed to disarm.

"This is causing growing protest in Macedonian society, signs of which were large-scale demonstrations in front of the country's parliament," Yakovenko said in the statement.