[ALBSA-Info] Solana says EU will urge restraint in Macedonia

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Solana says EU will urge restraint in Macedonia

By Christine Hauser

  
JERUSALEM, March 26 (Reuters) - European Union security chief Javier Solana 
said he will press Macedonia's government on Monday to act with restraint and 
pursue talks with ethnic Albanian leaders following its army assault on 
rebels. 

Solana, speaking after a visit to Jerusalem, was due in the Macedonian 
capital Skopje later on Monday for talks with the Balkan country's 
government, which said it had driven the Albanian guerrillas back to Kosovo 
during an assault on Sunday. 

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson was also due to attend the talks with 
Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski to evaluate the situation, which NATO 
allies fear could spin out of control because of the country's delicate 
ethnic balance. 

Asked what the EU message would be, Solana told Reuters in a telephone 
interview: "We are for their territorial integrity, we are for the 
sovereignty of the country. We do not accept anything that can be obtained 
politically through violence." 

But he urged that if violence had to be used, that it should be used in a 
"reasonable manner." 

Solana spoke after the end of a visit in which he met Israeli Prime Minister 
Ariel Sharon in Israel and then Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the 
West Bank city of Ramallah late on Sunday. 

Solana said the discussions had touched on how Europe could help put the 
Middle East peace process back on track. 

He was also due to meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Jordan on Monday 
to discuss the Balkans and the Middle East. 

At least 349 Palestinians, 66 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed 
in a six-month uprising against Israeli occupation. 

STRUCTURE OF POWER 

The Macedonian government says the insurgency is fomented by ethnic Albanian 
extremists from the neighbouring U.N.-governed province of Kosovo seeking to 
create a greater Albania. 

Solana said the European Union would strengthen its engagement in the 
conflict by working for improvements for the one-third Albanian minority. The 
minority is struggling for equal rights in the ethnically mixed Macedonian 
republic. 

He said the EU wanted to create a framework which would allow all 
communities, including the ethnic Albanians, to participate in the structure 
of power. 

"I think that a sensitive dialogue has to start with the Albanian leaders 
(who) I have met, and they have been very positive," Solana said. 

Solana said he and Robertson would discuss how the border area could be 
controlled. 

Asked if he feared the conflict could resurge, resulting in high numbers of 
casualties, Solana said: "I don't see that is going to happen. In any case, 
that is not the aim of anybody."