Macedonian peace talks broke down yesterday, undercutting NATO plans to send in troops to help disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas and sparking fears of renewed fighting in the fragile Balkans state.
President Boris Trajkovski blamed the collapse of the talks, which were aimed at achieving political reforms, on ethnic Albanian leaders who he said were trying to split the country along ethnic lines.
Mr Trajkovski said the discussions "can only continue if the [Albanian] DPA and PDP unreservedly, clearly and publicly state their wish to return to the position of sanctioning a civil society", rather than one based on ethnic communities.
The breakdown came as NATO said it would only send in peacekeepers to help in a voluntary disarmament of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas if the fragile coalition of two Macedonian and two ethnic Albanian parties came to an agreement on political reforms.
Mr Trajkovski said the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) were playing for time in the hope of international intervention to support "their unrealistic aims".
He said the Albanian parties had changed their position "dramatically" since talks began last Friday and were insisting on the federalisation of the multi-ethnic Balkan state.
The Macedonian Slav parties absolutely refuse any concept of a "bi-national" federation, fearing it would open the door to secession by Albanian-dominated areas in the north and west of the country.
Mr Trajkovski accused the Albanian parties of "trying to prolong the talks, or better said, to fully block them".
Mr Trajkovski stressed he would not countenance any threat to the territorial integrity of his country, and "would not accept any kind of concept of changing the unitary character of the state".