Macedonian authorities, ethnic Albanian party leaders and Western envoys began peace talks in this southern lakeside town Saturday aimed at quelling a five-month ethnic Albanian rebellion in the north.
President Boris Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski and the leaders of the two main ethnic Albanian parties, Arben Xhaferi and Imer Imeri, were participating in the meeting, which also included EU and US envoys Francois Leotard and James Pardew.
The parties are trying to stitch together an agreement that will meet some ethnic Albanian demands for a greater say in regions they dominate without weakening the sovereignty of the multi-ethnic republic.
The main point of contention is an ethnic Albanian demand that Albanian become an official language of the country alongside Macedonian, something the government has previously rejected out of fear it would help create a de facto ethnic Albanian state in the north.
A source close to the talks told AFP he thought it unlikely that a settlement would be concluded Saturday, implying that the talks may continue over the weekend.
The ethnic Albanian rebels in the north, some of them veterans of the conflict in neighbouring Kosovo, have been clashing with security forces in the north since February without either side gaining the upper hand.
A ragged ceasefire started July 5 was reinstated Wednesday after several serious breaches, with the rebels promising NATO they would pull back from positions they had grabbed since the truce in return of restraint by the Macedonian army and police.
Western efforts to bring both sides back to the negotiating table gathered urgency this week after anti-Western and anti-Albanian riots in the capital Skopje suggested the country was sliding towards all-out civil war.
NATO secretary general George Robertson and EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana made another crisis-management trip to Macedonia on Thursday to meet Trajkovski and other officials.
Solana expressed optimism after the meeting, saying the ceasefire and search for a political solution were "back on track.” -- OHRID, Macedonia (AFP)
