A senior rebel commander called Sokoli told Reuters on Thursday that six civilians from one family had been killed when their basement shelter took a direct hit from a large calibre shell. Diplomats and politicians confirmed on Thursday that a deal had been agreed earlier in the week by senior officials of ethnic Albanian parties in government and NLA commanders. It would offer rebels an amnesty if they stop fighting and a veto over political decisions about ethnic Albanian rights. Talks abandoned Leaders of Slavic parties in the coalition have expressed outrage at what they called secret negotiations but, defying domestic and international condemnation, the leaders of Macedonia's two main ethnic Albanian parties have rejected demands to renounce the pact. The leader of the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity, Imer Imeri, suggested that the talks had at least tacit government approval, according to the Associated Press.
Peace is very near.
But Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski warned that he and the Slav parties could not continue to work with them unless they tore up the agreement. And prime minister Ljubco Georgievski accused the parties of openly merging with the rebels. The furore has forced a senior envoy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Robert Frowick, to leave the country with diplomats and government officials saying he had helped mediate the deal. Burns said the dispute threatened to split the government and divide the Balkan's nation even further. Armed conflict broke out in February with the rebels saying they want more rights for ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, where they make up as much as a third of the two million population.