Macedonia ceasefire announced

The father of the soldier killed on Tuesday mourns

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- The Macedonian government has announced a ceasefire with ethnic Albanian rebels in the latest attempt to end four months of fighting.

The NATO-brokered ceasefire is scheduled to begin shortly after midnight on Thursday.

The government said in a statement: "A half-hour ago we have reached an agreement for a ceasefire signed between the Macedonian government and NATO, as we know NATO signed a similar agreement with the NLA yesterday night.

"The ceasefire will be in effect from today July 5, midnight."

VIDEO CNN's Nick Robertson reports on President Trajkovski's struggle to maintain control in Macedonia (June 26) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

CNN's Juliette Terzieff, reporting from the Macedonian capital, Skopje, said although there had been many ceasefires in the past, this latest announcement followed a decision by politicians to restart talks.

"Rebel commanders are saying they are willing to hold the ceasefire as long as necessary on the condition that the politicians keep talking and that the Macedonian forces hold their fire," she said.

AUDIO Juliette Terzieff on why this ceasfire is different 1.02 MB / 97seconds AIFF or WAV sound

"The Macedonians are saying they have no intention of attacking the rebels as long as the rebels hold their position.

"So there is a bit of optimism and hope at this point that this ceasefire will hold out long enough for the politicians to try and make some agreement."

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President Boris Trajkovski said on Wednesday Macedonian leaders had agreed to base their search for a peace deal on proposals made by a French constitutional expert.

Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders had been discussing ways to improve minority rights to undercut the four-month-old rebellion, but talks had stalled.

The government said the rebels were "terrorists" intent on breaking up the country. The rebels said they were fighting for more rights for ethnic Albanians.

U.S. special envoy to Macedonia James Pardew and his EU counterpart Francois Leotard began talks with Macedonian politicians earlier this week to try to forge a peace agreement fearing the conflict would slide into civil war.

Politicians from Macedonia's divided ethnic groups resumed stalled peace talks on Tuesday.

Violence continued amid the peace talks. A soldier was killed on Tuesday when ethnic Albanian rebels ambushed a patrol near the capital, Skopje, bringing the number of soldiers killed in the insurgency to 34, an army spokesman told the Associated Press.

Fighting continued on Wednesday with shelling of rebel positions in the mountains above the mainly Albanian town of Tetovo, where the guerrilla National Liberation Army (NLA) seized new territory at the weekend. The NLA returned gunfire.

Sporadic exchanges were also heard from the direction of Radusa, a village attacked by army helicopter gunships for the past three days.