Macedonia resumed its assault on a village held by ethnic Albanian guerrillas today despite a blunt NATO warning to stop and the arrival of a top Western envoy hoping to revive peace talks.
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Mr Javier Solana
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Ignoring NATO pleas to stop the fighting, helicopter gunships swooped in on Aracinovo for a second day, tanks fired and rockets slammed into a village the Macedonians have vowed to recapture in a risky bid to seize the upper hand.
Warplanes roared over downtown Skopje this morning as European Union foreign affairs chief Mr Javier Solana arrived on his latest mission to coax both sides of the ethnic divide into a deal.
"I'd like to talk to the president and the government to see if the ceasefire can be recuperated, military actions stopped and the political process renewed," he said at the airport.
Foreign diplomats, anxious to broker a deal before the four-month-old conflict spirals into civil war, met Albanian leaders last night in a bid to salvage peace talks which have effectively stopped, though informal negotiations continue.
The Albanian parties are refusing to resume formal dialogue unless the attack is called off and international officials start to mediate in the talks.
The guerrillas responded to the offensive with an attack on a police checkpoint in the village of Vorce, wounding five members of the security forces, officials said. Gunmen fired at a train in the same area, but no one was hurt.
More than a dozen Macedonian security personnel have been injured since yesterday. Rebel casualty figures remain unknown.