SKOPJE, Macedonia (Islamweb & Agencies) - Western mediators gave Macedonia's feuding ethnic groups new proposals Thursday for a political settlement to their conflict and said it was up to them to reach agreement.
The negotiations between representatives of majority Macedonians, who dominate the government, and ethnic Albanian politicians who represent the country's large and restive minority, began Monday under the auspices of the United States and the European Union. (Read photo caption below).
Francois Leotard, the envoy of the European Union, said that the proposals submitted Thursday mean that ``all documents ... are now on the table. It is up to the leaders to engage in a process of intensive negotiations if they want to reach a political settlement.''
Ethnic Albanians, who make up more than a quarter of Macedonia's population of 2 million, are demanding broader rights, better political representation at all levels of society and government and the official use of the Albanian language.
The Macedonian majority has rejected those demands, viewing them as a strategy to carve out an ethnic Albanian mini-state and unite it with Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian-dominated province in neighboring Serbia.
Overnight, government forces clashed overnight with ethnic Albanian fighters crossing into Macedonia from neighboring Kosovo, the Slav-dominated army said Thursday. One soldier was critically wounded. Defense Ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski said there had been several other, smaller incidents.
The flare-ups came exactly a week after a NATO-mediated truce took effect last Thursday in an effort to create an atmosphere of calm for peace talks under way in Skopje.
If a peace settlement is reached, 3,000 NATO forces will be deployed to oversee the disarmament of the Albanian fighters. NATO, however, has emphasized it will get involved only if a deal is reached and the insurgents are willing to give up their guns.
PHOTO CAPTION:
European Union peace envoy Francois Leotard (L) and U.S. special envoy James Pardew (R) speak to journalists in front of the Parliament building in Skopje, July 7, 2001, after their meeting with Macedonian officials. Intense haggling over political reforms to end an ethnic Albanian guerrilla revolt in Macedonia resumed on July 9, 2001, as U.S. and European envoys sought to muster support for their new peace proposal. (Dimitar Dilkoff/Reuters)
- Jul 09 9:01 AM ET