Breakthrough at Macedonia talks

Leotard and Pardew are hopeful of a final peace deal being reached quickly

OHRID, Macedonia (CNN) -- A peace agreement for Macedonia has moved closer after a tentative deal on the use of the Albanian language was reached on Wednesday.

The language issue has been one of the key sticking points in negotiations to end months of fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and the Macedonian government.

The two sides are scheduled to gather again on Friday "with the aim of quickly reaching a final agreement on the remaining issues," an aide to U.S. envoy James Pardew told CNN.

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 which could contribute to the break-up of the country.

Among those remaining issues is the inclusion of Albanians in police patrols.

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A break in the talks is taking place to allow Macedonian leaders attend commemorations on Thursday of the creation of a Macedonian republic in Yugoslavia in 1945 by communist leader Josep Broz Tito.

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

"We have obtained today an agreement from the four political parties on the question of language," the European Union envoy, Francois Leotard, told Reuters.

"But this accord ... hinges on the outcome of the political discussions, notably on the issue of the police," he told reporters.

However, Macedonia's interior minister has insisted the only way to resolve Macedonia's crisis was to defeat ethnic Albanian rebels militarily, Reuters said.

The agency quoted televised remarks by Ljube Boskovski in which he said: "We should convince even the last optimist that the only optimistic option is to defeat the terrorists to achieve peace and we have enough force to cope with the terrorists."

But Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski told an internal ministry magazine called Defense that the crisis could not be settled by force alone.

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

"Macedonian remains the primary language used everywhere but Albanians now have the status of official language for their language," he was quoted as saying.

"In areas where they make up 20 percent or more of the population, interaction with their government will be in Albanian."

Relatives of reserve policeman Djoko Lazarovski mourn his death

Vlado Popovski, a Macedonian constitutional expert, said Albanians would be able to speak their language during plenary sessions of parliament but not in government.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Macedonian police officer was killed in a gun attack by suspected ethnic Albanian rebels.

The Associated Press quoted state radio as saying the officer was killed on the outskirts of the mostly ethnic Albanian-populated northwestern city of Tetovo.

Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint, killing the officer, the report said. It brings the death toll on the government side to 41 since clashes began in February.

At the weekend Macedonian reserve police officer Djoko Lazarovski died after being seriously wounded in clashes with ethnic Albanian insurgents in the village of Lesok, near Tetovo.

Also on Wednesday, a rebel statement claimed five senior officers of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army were killed on Sunday, said AP.

The five were reportedly killed near the town of Gostivar in western Macedonia, where no recent clashes were reported.

Among those said to have been killed was Tahir Sinani, a former regional leader of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army.

The circumstances of their death remained unclear, and the Gostivar incident had not been previously reported in the state media.

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.