Solana on peace mission to Macedonia

The foreign policy representative of the European Union, Javier Solana, is due in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, today for talks on the fighting with ethnic Albanian rebels.

Mr Solana wants to demonstrate EU support for the recently-formed national unity government and to urge it to step up the search for peace through dialogue.

The government is deeply split between its Macedonian and Albanian parties over the level of violence being used against the guerrillas and over whether politicians should have direct contacts with them.

On Sunday Macedonian troops kept up their bombardment of rebel positions north of the town of Kumanovo.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service