|
Ceasefire in Macedonia 'violated'
OHRID, Macedonia -- Macedonia's government and ethnic Albanian rebels have accused each other of further violating an already shaky ceasefire as political parties resumed peace talks. Rebels were accused 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, codenamed Leka, in turn accused the security forces of shelling around the village of Neprosteno near Tetovo. "The ceasefire 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. At issue was a reform and power-sharing plan involving Macedonia's police force -- part of a package of reforms to avert a new Balkan war. 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. A tentative agreement on the use of the Albanian language was agreed at the talks in Ohrid on Wednesday. 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." Also on Thursday, a 25-year-old policeman was shot and wounded in the chest by rebels near the northwestern town of Tetovo. Doctors said his wound was not life-threatening. In addition a Macedonian policeman shot dead two days ago was buried in a ceremony in Tetovo, with explosions heard from nearby mountains during the service. There were no reports of injuries. The deal agreed on Wednesday at the peace talks removed one of the key sticking points in negotiations to end months of fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and the Macedonian government. 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 which could contribute to the break-up of the country. If a peace deal is reached, some 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. "Macedonian remains the primary language used everywhere but Albanians now have the status of official language for their language," he said. "In areas where they make up 20 percent or more of the population, interaction with their government will be in Albanian." |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Back to the top |
© 2003 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. |