Peace talks in Macedonia were on a knife's edge on Sunday, as top European Union envoy Javier Solana flew in to help broker a deal aimed at avoiding civil war in this Balkan country.
Solana arrived around 11:20 am (0920 GMT) at this lakeside resort town as Macedonian and ethnic Albanian negotiators, meeting for an eighth day, moved towards resolving the key issue standing in the way of a peace deal - the reform of the police in areas of the country inhabited by ethnic Albanians.
Asked on arrival whether he believed a peace accord would be struck Solana said: "Of course I do. I do not say if it happens today, but in any case today will be an important step forward."
He said there had already been progress.
"I hope that today we will give another push to what still has to be agreed," he said.
Earlier, Francois Leotard, the EU's permanent envoy to the talks, told AFP the "talks are on a razor's edge", but added that "an accord is possible today".
Solana would jointly meet the representatives of the two sides around 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), and the talks would be followed by a press conference.
He was due to leave Macedonia later in the day after meetings with President Boris Trajkovski, Foreign Minister Ilinka Dimitrova, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski and Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski.
The international community has weighed in to help secure peace in Macedonia, fearing a new Balkan bloodbath on the scale of Bosnia and the Serbian province of Kosovo in the 1990s.
The crisis started in February when rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA) launched an insurgency in what they say is a fight for better rights for the country's ethnic Albanian population.
The EU's Leotard said there were still notable differences on both sides on the police issue, which is central to ethnic Albanian rebel demands.
Albanians make up up to one third of the population in this former Yugoslav republic, living mainly in the north of the country, on the border with Kosovo, and in the west, near Albania.
The rebels themselves have not been allowed at the negotiating table, but ethnic Albanian political leaders are under pressure to secure a deal that suits them.
Pressure for a settlement intensified last week when the Skopje government started talking tough, threatening military action to oust rebels from areas they have captured.
Max Van der Stoel, the official responsible for minorities at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said positions had been clarified in talks so far.
The talks are being held at Trajkovski' residence in Ohrid and group two Macedonian and two ethnic Albanian parties, plus Leotard and US envoy James Pardew.
Minor incidents were reported overnight by the defence ministry. A fragile July 5 ceasefire has been sporadically marred by clashes since peace talks opened just over a week ago.
The rebels fired several grenades at the village of Popova Sapka, but Macedonian forces did not respond, the ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski said, adding that automatic fire was also reported around Djepciste, another village near Tetovo.
In the northern region near Kumanovo, where guerillas control several villages, the situation was calm, the spokesman said.
The police problem revolves around demands by ethnic Albanians that the composition of local police forces be proportional to the local population.
Macedonia opposes the demand for fear that these forces could be turned against its own security forces -- OHRID, Macedonia (AFP)
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