[ALBSA-Info] US Praises New Macedonia

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

US Praises New Macedonia

By MELISSA EDDY
  
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration praised Macedonian and ethnic 
Albanian parties Friday for forming a broad coalition government, calling it 
a ``major step forward'' in the effort to stop the fighting in Macedonia. 

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher welcomed the newly formed 
coalition, and urged it to begin work immediately on addressing differences 
between the Slav majority and ethnic Albanian minority that threaten to 
destabilize the Balkan nation. 

``Obviously, this is a major step forward that the United States welcomes,'' 
Boucher said. 

``We think the broadened coalition offers an appropriate vehicle for 
advancing interethnic reforms. We would urge the coalition parties to 
accelerate progress on that important agenda,'' Boucher said. 

The national unity government gives ethnic Albanians stronger representation 
in Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's government. It also represents a key 
development in Macedonia's efforts to contain an ethnic Albanian insurgency 
that began in February, raged into late March, and flared again two weeks ago 
after rebels ambushed and killed eight government soldiers. 

Boucher condemned the continued violence, which many fear could send 
Macedonia sliding into civil war, and called on the rebels to ``immediately 
cease their acts of violence and withdraw from the occupied villages.'' 

The unity government emerged Friday after several days of negotiations. Talks 
were nearly derailed when one key ethnic Albanian party demanded the 
government halt attacks on the militants before talks could begin. They 
acquiesced Friday after the army held its fire for most of the day. 

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met with political leaders when he 
visited Macedonia last month, sent letters Thursday night to all of the 
parties ``encouraging them to take this step,'' Boucher said. 

He said Powell has also been in touch with European Union officials, who 
exerted their own pressure on the parties, fearing that Macedonia - the only 
former Yugoslav republic to secede without bloodshed - would be drawn into 
yet another Balkan war. 

Since the beginning of the conflict, the Bush administration has expressed 
support for the Macedonian government's fight against the insurgents and 
promised to boost aid. 

Ethnic Albanians make up as much as one third of Macedonia's 2 million 
people, but complain of discrimination and second-class status.