Macedonia's divided political leaders resumed talks today aimed at ending a five-month ethnic Albanian insurgency as the government and rebels accused each other of increased violations of a shaky truce.
After a one-day break, leaders of the two main Macedonian Slav and two Albanian political parties met in a lakeside villa in the southwestern town of Ohrid to focus on Albanian demands for a greater role in the police force.
Mr Francois Leotard, the envoy for the European Union brokering the tightly guarded negotiations since Saturday with American Mr James Pardew, declined comment on prospects for a deal to avert a new Balkan war when the talks resumed around noon (11 a.m. Irish time).
The Ohrid talks, which have no timetable or deadlines, made a breakthrough on Wednesday by agreeing to give the Albanian language a limited official status alongside Macedonian.
But in the capital Skopje, the Defence Ministry accused rebels of provocations and serious assaults around the city of Tetovo in northwestern Macedonia last night.
"On four occasions in the Tetovo area (late yesterday), the terrorists directly attacked thepositions of the security forces with sniper fire, automatic guns, heavy machines guns and shoulder-held rocket launchers", it said.
A rebel commander, codenamed Leka, retorted that Macedonian forces had shelled a village in the flashpoint region."The ceasefire doesn't apply to the Macedonian police forces", he told reporters.
The alleged violations added to the strain on a ragged ceasefire agreed under NATO and European Union pressure last week.