Travel ban for Macedonian rebels

Macedonian soldiers have clashed with ethnic Albanian rebels since February

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Ethnic Albanian rebels fighting in Macedonia are to be banned from travelling to European Union member states.

EU foreign ministers agreed to impose a visa ban on Monday but added the restrictions would not be enforced while peace talks continued

Diplomats said a blacklist for the ban included 38 names of rebel commanders and "those involved in logistics" inside Macedonia and in neighbouring Kosovo.

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, said: "This sends a strong signal to the extremists. It shows that respect for the ceasefire and for the political dialogue are essential."

The U.S. has also drawn up a similar list banning some known rebels from entering its territory. It has also tried to clamp down on U.S. citizens with Albanian roots from financing the five-month insurgency in Macedonia.

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EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the decision to defer the EU visa ban reflected the delicate state of the negotiations.

"We want to give a bit of time (for the negotiations) and to implement (the ban) at a moment we consider right," he told Reuters news agency.

Talks between the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian parties have been continuing but there are conflicting reports on how they are progressing. Some say negotiations have stalled and others that there has been movement forward.

Ethnic Albanians make up between one-third and one-quarter of the country's population and their political leaders want improved civil rights.

The peace deal would sanction the use of Albanian as an official language and provide for state-funded higher education in Albanian, the Associated Press reported.

It would introduce quotas for proportional representation in the army courts and other bodies and give ethnic Albanians a degree of self-rule by granting local governments broader authority.

While the rebels are not represented at the talks, they are expected to honour any agreement reached by the ethnic Albanian political leaders.

A political deal could trigger the deployment of about 3,000 NATO troops in a British-led operation to oversee the disarmament of the rebels.