Language deal eases tension in Macedonia

OHRID - Macedonia's political parties have made a breakthrough on the thorniest issue in talks to end a five-month ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency - use of the Albanian language.

"We have obtained today an agreement from the four political parties on the question of language," said European Union peace envoy Francois Leotard after talks between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders in the south of the country.

"But this accord ... hinges on the outcome of the political discussions, notably on the issue of the police [over which the Albanians want greater control]," he said.

The language deal makes Albanian the official language in certain areas. Albanians make up about a third of Macedonia's two million population.

It was the first piece of positive news in the talks, which Leotard has been mediating with United States envoy James Pardew.

But just as it came out, Macedonia's hawkish Interior Minister cast a shadow by saying the only way to resolve Macedonia's crisis was to defeat ethnic Albanian rebels militarily.

"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," said Ljube Boskovski.

His comment followed the reported death of a policeman in an overnight guerrilla attack.

In Brussels, Nato said its policy-making council was skipping its summer holiday to stay on alert in case a peace deal opened the way for Western military deployment to gather the rebels' weapons.

The Nato plan calls for 3000 troops to deploy for a month to gather weapons from the rebels and then leave, but many defence experts regard the timetable as unrealistic.

Under the language deal, Albanian will be used under some circumstances where ethnic Albanians make up 20 per cent or more of the population.

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

Control of the police forces was still to be worked out in the talks due to resume today.

"The atmosphere is good and you feel a sense of responsibility from all the participants," Leotard said.

"This is very important for the future of Macedonia."

It was the only republic to break away from the Yugoslav federation in the early 1990s without a shot being fired.

The relatively good relations between Macedonians and Albanians had raised hopes that a deal could avert civil war.

But a Western source admitted that there were many hurdles to overcome even if an agreement was signed.

- REUTERS

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