The European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, Javier Solana, on Tuesday told Skopje not to negotiate with "terrorist" ethnic Albanian rebels fighting Macedonian security forces.
"Let me say clearly it is a mistake to negotiate with terrorists. To negotiate with terrorists in this particular case is a mistake ... and we will not recommend that," he said after talks with Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski.
Solana arrived in Skopje late Monday in a bid to snuff out the crisis threatening to destabilise the entire Balkans region as ethnic Albanian guerillas clashed with Macedonian government troops in the northwest of the country.
The EU foreign policy chief insisted that the European Union would recommend that political parties representing ethnic Albanians make their demands in the state institutions in which they take part.
"In these institutions, they can demand whatever they want, but not to talk and to negotiate with terrorists," Solana said, calling for the Albanian extremists to be isolated.
"All of us condemn these activities and they have to be isolated. Nothing can and nothing should be achieved through violence," Solana warned.
The Macedonian army started massing troops and tanks in Tetovo as special police clashed for a seventh day with Albanian rebels holding strategic hilltops overlooking the embattled northwestern town.
Asked whether the European Union would approve military actions taken by the Macedonian government, Solana said: "Military activities that the government may take to protect itself have to be done."
"Whatever measures the military and the government take to defend themselves should be done in a proportional manner and according to the principles that we have," he insisted.
Before talks with Trajkovski, Solana met on Monday with Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, as well as with Albanian political leaders Arben Xhaferi and Imer Imeri.
Upon his arrival in Skopje, Solana said: "There is no place for violence. We support the territorial integrity of Macedonia. Extremists have no place with the EU."
Flying in with him was Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim, who won a ringing endorsement from EU foreign ministers in Brussels for the way his government is struggling to keep the escalating crisis from exploding into civil war – SKOPJE (AFP)
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