Macedonia envoys' peace plan

Macedonian soldiers on the road before the cease-fire.

SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- International envoys have handed the framework of an ethnic reconciliation plan to Macedonia's president.

European Union envoy Francois Leotard emphasised that the plan was just the beginning of an attempt to reach a negotiated settlement.

Leotard and U.S. envoy James Pardew held a flurry of meetings with politicians on Saturday on all sides of the conflict as a NATO-brokered cease-fire held for a second day.

The framework, based on a draft constitution written by a French legal expert, was also handed to party leaders in the mixed Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian government.

AUDIO Juliette Terzieff on cracks in Macedonia's fragile truce 890K / 82 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    IN-DEPTH Macedonia: Hurdles to peace   •  Balkan hotspots   •  Interactive map   •  Macedonia's military   •  News search   •  Audio/video archive   •  In-Depth: Yugoslavia   •  In-Depth: Kosovo   PROFILE Francois Leotard

"It is the basis for further negotiations. Now, we need to have ... comments and amendments to this document," Leotard said.

He added that Macedonian parties were expected to discuss it Monday. Pardew called the draft a "comprehensive framework."

Details were not released, but a Macedonian involved in the process said the document includes constitutional changes that would strengthen local government and expand the official use of the Albanian language.

One of the most contentious issues -- how to give the Macedonian Albanian minority more influence over legislation -- will be addressed later, he added.

Albanian parties now hold 25 seats in Macedonia's 120-seat legislature, meaning that any legislation can be passed without a single ethnic Albanian vote.

Earlier in the week, leaders of Macedonia's major Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian parties agreed to launch talks on reforming the constitution.

It was the latest effort to jump-start efforts to end the four-month-old rebel insurgency under a peace plan devised by President Boris Trajkovski.

Macedonian Slav leaders had opposed any constitutional changes, claiming they would lead to the breakup of the country.

They claim the rebels want to carve out a new country linking part of Macedonia with neighbouring Albania and mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo.

The ethnic Albanian rebels say they are fighting for more recognition and inclusion in government and society for ethnic Albanians, who make up between one quarter and one-third of the population in the Balkan nation of 2 million.

Trajkovski's peace plan calls for giving Albanians proportional representation in public institutions, would allow the Albanian language to be used more broadly in public affairs and would provide the possibility of amnesty for rebels who have not committed any crime.

The handover of the international draft came amid cautious optimism that a NATO-mediated cease-fire was generally holding in its second day, but tensions remained high.

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador Michael Einik was mobbed by villagers venting their frustration over being expelled from their homes after rebels captured six villages earlier in the week.

More than 30 Slavs driven from their homes by the fighting mobbed Einik following his meetings with the mayor of Tetovo, a mostly ethnic Albanian city, and with representatives of the homeowners.

Bodyguards whisked the ambassador into his vehicle, but the crowd swarmed and pounded on the car, according to Forte Plus radio in Tetovo.

NATO and Macedonian officials said the cease-fire held Friday, with only sporadic gunfire.

Saturday also appeared mostly calm, but Army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said troops exchanged fire overnight with rebels he said were trying to cross into Macedonia from Kosovo.