Macedonian peace talks deadlocked

Trajkovski drafted a peace proposal

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Peace talks between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian politicians have broken down because of radical Albanian demands, the Macedonian president has said.

Boris Trajkovski said on Wednesday: "Unfortunately the talks are totally blocked, mostly because of the radical change of the positions of PDP and DPA (two main ethnic Albanian parties)."

The announcement came shortly after NATO agreed to send troops to Macedonia to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels if a peace deal was reached.

Officials emphasised that NATO was prepared to move only after an agreement among the Macedonian parties themselves.

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The peace talks resumed on Saturday evening after two ethnic Albanian parties agreed on a common platform pushing for greater rights for ethnic Albanians.

The ethnic Albanian programme addresses issues such as language and equality and sets out proposed changes in Macedonia's constitution. Party leaders say these issues represent the concerns of rebel groups that have taken up arms against the government.

Rebels in the northern hills say they are fighting for greater rights for ethnic Albanians but the government accuses them of seeking to grab land and split the state. The rebel groups were not represented in the talks.

Politicians on all sides were studying a peace proposal drafted by Trajkovski which calls for a cease-fire in hostilities between armed ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces in the north of the country, an amnesty for rebels who disarm voluntarily, and inclusion of minority ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions.

The removal of references to ethnicity or religion from the constitution and adding Albanian as a state language were also on the table.

Ethnic Albanians make up between a quarter and a third of the population in the majority Slav country.

The 15-nation European Union has taken the lead in trying to mediate an end to the conflict and has backed Trajkovski's proposal.

EU's foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana said on Wednesday diplomacy was at a critical point in Western efforts to prevent full-scale civil war.

"We must continue to do the utmost to avoid war in Macedonia. This is a crucial week ... We hope we will be able to resolve these constitutional difficulties," Solana told the foreign affairs committee on Wednesday.

CNN's Juliette Terzieff said Solana is expected to travel to the region on Thursday.

The European Union has set a June 25 deadline to come up with a viable plan to end the violence.