The national unity government was formed less than two weeks ago, drawing ethnic Albanian parties together with those of the majority Slavs, and had vowed to exclude the National Liberation Army from the political process. But on Thursday, diplomats and politicians confirmed a deal had been agreed earlier in the week by senior officials of ethnic Albanian parties in government and NLA commanders. The agreement would offer rebels an amnesty if they stop fighting and a veto over political decisions about ethnic Albanian rights. But, defying domestic as well as international condemnation, the leaders of Macedonia's two main ethnic Albanian parties 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. On Thursday, the Macedonian army launched a major offensive against the rebels in the area bordering the Serbian province of Kosovo and escorted over 100 ethnic Albanian villagers from Vakcince. They were making their way across fields and maybe there was some fire.