Macedonia fighting as peace sought

Pardew and Leotard met with Trajkovski on Tuesday

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Sporadic fighting in Macedonian villages has continued as U.S. and European envoys seek a peaceful end to the crisis.

Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski described the situation as "extremely dangerous, with the tendency to deteriorate further."

"It has come to a phase where solutions can only be reached through a political dialogue," he told Associated Press.

But Buckovski said the rebels were "growing more radical" and might scuttle peace talks.

Government troops clashed with ethnic Albanian rebels on the slopes of Mount Sara near the border with Kosovo, Army spokesman Col. Blagoja Markovski told Associated Press.

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Markovski said the rebels fired machine guns at troops in the villages of Slupcane, just outside the northern city of Kumanovo, and in nearby Opaje.

There were also clashes near the rebel-held village of Nikustak, where the army said the rebels were "massing, regrouping and taking up new positions."

At noon on Tuesday, a police checkpoint in the village of Radusa, 15 miles west of the capital, Skopje, was attacked with rebel mortar fire, police said.

Macedonian troops responded with fierce artillery and tank fire.

U.S. special adviser James Pardew and his European Union counterpart, Francois Leotard, met President Boris Trajkovski on Tuesday ahead of a new round of talks between Trajkovski and leaders of Macedonia's main Slav and Albanian political parties.

Trajkovski met both sides on Monday for the first time since riots a week ago nearly plunged the country into civil war.

Leotard said he and Pardew share the "same approach about overcoming the crisis" and had a "very good discussion" with Trajkovski.

"We have the beginning of a political process here," Leotard said.

He said in the next few days party leaders planned meetings to discuss a new draft constitution that would expand the governmental role of ethnic Albanians, who make up about a third of Macedonia's two million people, and grant greater rights for local communities.

The rebels launched their rebellion in February, demanding constitutional changes to guarantee ethnic Albanians equal status with the Slavic majority.

The government says that eventually would lead to a partition of the country.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency said the flow of refugees from Macedonia had slowed dramatically -- at least for the time being -- and that some who fled have returned in recent days.

Over the weekend 500 people crossed the border into Kosovo, and by Monday the number of crossings was down to 56, said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

About 3,500 refugees returned to Macedonia over the weekend, he said, citing "renewed peace talks and reports that reservists were disarming in Skopje."