Macedonia talks focus on police

Macedonian peace talks resume after a break for the country's national day

OHRID, Macedonia -- Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict between the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian rebels are due to resume.

Well into the fourth week of negotiations, the rival sides are expected to debate on Saturday one of the most contentious parts of the peace plan: the composition and control of the police forces in ethnic-Albanian communities.

Macedonians are resisting ethnic Albanian demands that the police be decentralised and the minority be allowed to elect local police chiefs in areas where they dominate, according to The Associated Press.

A tentative agreement on the use of the Albanian language was agreed at the talks in Ohrid on Wednesday, removing one of the key sticking points in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Macedonia's government and ethnic Albanian rebels have accused each other of further violating an already shaky cease-fire.

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Rebels were accused on Friday by the Defence Ministry of "serious assaults" around the northwestern city of Tetovo, while rebels said Macedonian forces had shelled a nearby village.

"The terrorists directly attacked the positions of the security forces with sniper fire, automatic guns, heavy machine guns and shoulder-held rocket launchers," said the ministry, quoted by Reuters.

But a rebel commander, code named Leka, in turn accused the security forces of shelling around the village of Neprosteno near Tetovo.

"The cease-fire doesn't apply to the Macedonian police forces," he told Reuters.

There were no reports of injuries in either of the attacks.

Western-mediated talks resumed in the southwestern lakeside town of Ohrid around noon local time (1000 GMT) on Friday after a one-day break for a national holiday, with envoys hoping to seal a deal at the weekend.

On Thursday Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski insisted there could be no lasting peace until all the ethnic Albanian rebels had disarmed.

Georgievski said military action should be used to recapture rebel-held territory, saying a peace deal could not be signed while the rebels remained a threat.

But he also expressed hope of reaching a deal.

In a speech in southern Yugoslavia on the Macedonian national day holiday on Thursday Georgievski said: "We must take back our occupied territories because we can't close our eyes to the fact that we are talking under the threat of guns."

The rebels say they are fighting for increased rights for ethnic Albanians, while the government says they are "terrorists" intent on breaking up the country.

The ethnic Albanian leaders want the status of their language to be enhanced, but some on the government side fear it would be a step that could contribute to the break-up of the country.

If a peace deal is reached, about 3,000 NATO troops would be deployed to help disarm the rebels.

A Western diplomat told Reuters that Wednesday's tentative deal would give Albanians the status of official language in certain areas and under certain circumstances.