SKOPJE, (Islamweb & Agencies) -An uneasy calm returned to Macedonia Friday as both ethnic Albanian fighters and the Slav-dominated Macedonian forces appeared to be respecting a NATO-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending a five-month uprising.
The ceasefire came into effect at midnight (2200 GMT) Thursday, but firing raged well beyond the deadline, the army said.
Both sides in the conflict, which has threatened to degenerate into another Balkans war, blamed each other for provoking the exchanges of mortar and artillery fire.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has offered an amnesty for rank-and-file Albanian fighters who agree to hand over their weapons to a NATO disarmament force, which alliance officials say is ready to deploy the minute a political deal on reforms is signed and a durable ceasefire in place.
Later Friday, Trajkovski met with Macedonian ethnic minority leaders accompanied by the EU and US special envoys to the region. (Read photo caption).
The EU's Francois Leotard and US envoy James Pardew, who were sent to the region to kickstart peace initiatives, joined the meeting with representatives from 13 parties not represented in the country's parliament who want a say in expected constitutional reforms.
The party leaders, from Serb, Gypsy and Turkish minorities say they are concerned about being sidelined in talks between the country's Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders.
Leotard and Pardew said that they wouldn't take sides in the debate but that they favoured the concept of citizens' democracy.
"It is not acceptable to hold talks with one minority alone. We want to be involved in the process," the head of Macedonia's Turkish Democratic Party said, referring to talks with ethnic Albanian leaders.
The progress of constitutional reforms -- a central demand of the ethnic Albanians -- is seen as key to whether or not the ceasefire holds and political dialogue can hammer out a lasting peace settlement.
The ceasefire was brokered by NATO's regional troubleshooter, Dutchman Pieter Feith, between the rebels' political chief Ali Ahmeti and the authorities in Skopje to open the way for a NATO deployment.
An operation codenamed Essential Harvest would see NATO deploying 3,000 troops from 15 countries on a one-month mission to supervise a rebel weapons hand over.
PHOTO CAPTION:
European Union peace envoy Francois Leotard (C) and U.S. special envoy James Pardew (R) give a joint statement on the crisis in Macedonia in front of the Alexander Palace hotel in Skopje July 5, 2001. The Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian fighters said on Thursday they had signed separate cease-fire agreements brokered by NATO. (Dimitar Dilkoff/Reuters)