European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will tomorrow visit peace talks aimed at ending an ethnic Albanian guerrilla revolt in Macedonia, officials said, playing down suggestions a breakthrough was near.
Mr Solana has visited Macedonia several times over the past few months to try to push forward negotiations on improving ethnic Albanian rights which it is hoped will persuade the rebels to disarm.
His spokeswoman Ms Cristina Gallach refused to be drawn on whether the visit meant Macedonian and ethnic Albanian politicians, who have been negotiating for more than a week with help from Western envoys, were close to a final agreement.
"I'd like to be very cautious. This is a signal of support for the talks", she said by telephone.
The message is that the EU would like to have a final deal as soon as possible. Giving specific time lines might not be the most appropriate thing at the moment. The key thing is to be supportive and helpful. A senior Macedonian official said Mr Solana's arrival signalled neither an imminent breakthrough nor a logjam in the talks.
"I don't expect that we'll see any signing tomorrow", the official told reporters. "It's neither that there is major progress, nor that the talks are stuck. Things are moving slowly along," he added. US envoy Mr James Pardew earlier described yesterday's talks, held at a heavily-guarded presidential residence overlooking lake Ohrid in southwestern Macedonia, as very difficult .
But today an Albanian negotiator, Mr Aziz Pollozhani who is deputy president of the smaller of the two Albanian parties at the talks, and a Macedonian source who declined to be named, both appeared more optimistic.
"We are still talking about the police issue, nothing concrete so far, but we can consider this as positive", Mr Pollozhani said.
