Warrants add to Macedonia tension

Some ethnic Albanians are returning to their homes as the talks go on

OHRID, Macedonia -- Courts in Macedonia have been asked to issue arrest warrants for 11 ethnic Albanian rebel leaders as marathon peace talks go on in the country.

The move prompted an angry response from ethnic Albanian politicians at the talks -- now expected to head into a fourth day on Tuesday -- in Ohrid.

The rebels under warrant are not taking part in the negotiations, but Aziz Pollozhani, deputy head of the ethnic Albanian PDP party, told Reuters: "There is a tendency by certain segments in the Macedonian government to undermine the talks."

There are signs of tension between the Macedonian Interior Ministry, which is headed by hard-line Macedonian nationalist Ljube Boskovski and which is behind the warrants, came amid fresh signs of tensions between him and other Macedonian leaders, Reuters said.

The defence ministry was criticised by Boskovski over alleged army inaction against the rebels and responded by saying it could respect the cease-fire reached in May, accusing Boskovski of trying to split the armed forces.

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"At a moment when all Macedonia's forces should be focused on preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, the last thing we need is a split in the Macedonian security forces," a ministry statement said.

Reuters also reported that Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh is considering stopping arms exports to Macedonia in a bid to help the peace talks.

The negotiations, which first began in May, have been marred by outbreaks of violence between Macedonian forces and the rebels.

The government says the rebels are terrorists who want to break up the country, while the rebels say they are fighting for increased rights for ethnic Albanians, who account for about a third of the Balkan country's two million people.

Authorities said on Monday that six ethnic Albanian civilians had disappeared in the Tetovo area. EU monitors said they were looking into the case.

A soldier from the rebel National Liberation Army, who did not want to be named, told Reuters: "The NLA never fights civilians, but if the Macedonian forces continue like this, for six of our civilians we will take 60 of theirs."

The talks are bogged down over the use of the Albanian language and the ethnic make-up of police. The two points are among a series in a draft peace plan prepared by European Union envoy Francois Leotard and his U.S. counterpart, James Pardew.

Abduljadi Vejseli of the ethnic Albanian PDP party told state television a Macedonian counter-proposal was totally unacceptable. The station also quoted a Macedonian source as saying the talks were gridlocked and the Albanians had been offensive. According to the draft proposal, Albanian would become an official language in areas where the ethnic minority accounts for 20 percent of the population or more.

Earlier, Francois Leotard, the European Union envoy at the talks, was quoted as saying the negotiations were "extraordinarily difficult," but a will to succeed could override problems.

On Monday, Albanian police told Reuters they had seized a van carrying four surface-to-surface missiles destined for Macedonia, where ethnic Albanian guerrillas are fighting.

Durres Police Chief Arben Ruci said the van arrived in the Albanian port of Durres on Saturday by ferry from neighbouring Italy. The driver, a Macedonian Albanian, was arrested, he said.