Macedonian peace talks interrupted by new demands

A new demand by the Macedonian Government for ethnic Albanian rebels to disarm completely prior to final approval of a deal has temporarily stalled peace negotiations.

But President Boris Trajkovski said the talks would resume on Tuesday.

A day after majority Macedonians and the restive ethnic Albanians achieved a breakthrough by agreeing on how to overhaul and jointly run the country's police force, the Macedonians suddenly changed their tune.

According to a Macedonian negotiator, the new demand was made by VMRO, the governing party of hard-line Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who now wants to change the implementation of the Western-designed peace plan.

After the signing of the accord, the plan envisages disarmament of the rebels parallel to ratification of the deal by Macedonia's parliament.

However, Mr Georgievski and others apparently want much faster disarmament of the rebels, to be carried out by 3,500 specially deployed Nato troops.

For several hours on Monday, it was unclear if and when the talks, which were abruptly suspended, would resume.

But Mr Trajkovski said in a statement after a Macedonian leadership meeting that the peace talks would continue. He did not elaborate.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, speaking in Washington, made clear that Western peace envoys stand by the original schedule.

He said that after reaching "a general political agreement ... Nato would deploy in support of this and carry out the action of voluntary disarmament by the ethnic Albanian insurgents."