NATO urged the Macedonian government today not to use force against gunmen occupying a village on the border with Kosovo - saying this could damage fragile relations between ethnic Albanians and Slavs.
"This must be solved by political means because solving it by other means may solve the short-term problem but it can create larger problems for the inter-ethnic relations in your country," Mr Daniel Speckhard, deputy assistant to NATO Secretary General Mr George Robertson, said after talks between the NATO delegation and top Macedonian officials.
It was the first comment from the NATO team sent by Mr Robertson after appeals by Macedonian officials for help in dealing with violence they say could destabilise the Balkan state and Europe.
Macedonia's government said yesterday it was ready to launch a military operation against what it says are ethnic Albanian guerrillas occupying the border village of Tanusevci - some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north of Skopje - but would prefer an internationally backed peaceful solution.
Macedonia, one-third of whose population are ethnic Albanians, borders Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia and is seen as vulnerable to any spillover of the recent violence in and around Kosovo.