EU call for dialogue in Macedonia

Mr Solana voices EU support during a visit to Tetovo

European Union foreign and security policy chief, Javier Solana, has called on ethnic Albanians in Macedonia to start talking to the government.

"We think that the fighting is over and that it is time for dialogue," said Mr Solana, who is on a visit to the country.

We would be making a terrible mistake to equate the ethnic Albanian people with a few rebels

Javaier Solana

Mr Solana made the appeal during a high-profile visit to the town of Tetovo, where the government has been conducting an apparently successful military operation against the guerrillas.

"An important message to the rebels is that the best thing they can do is lay down their weapons and start a political life," he said.

A villager in Gajre approaches the charred remnants of his home

The EU and Nato are now urging the Macedonian Government to turn its attention to political dialogue and addressing the grievances of the Albanian minority.

During his visit, Mr Solana held talks with Arben Xhaferi, leader of Macedonia's moderate Albanian party, the Democratic Party of Albanians.

He later walked through the town square arm-in-arm with Mayor Ismail Murtezan.

Speaking to the BBC after his visit, Mr Solana said it had given him the chance to express the EU's support for all communities in Macedonia.

The overwhelming majority of the Albanian population did not want violence, but a united community where everyone could feel comfortable, he said.

Macedonian army

Manpower: 17,000

98 battle tanks

14 aircraft

5 helicopters, including two Soviet-designed gunships

50 air defence guns

30 surface-to-air missiles

Mortars and heavy artillery

112 armed vehicles, most in poor condition

Shortage of basic supplies

Estimates from International Institute for Strategic Studies

"We would be making a terrible mistake to equate the ethnic Albanian people with a few rebels."

The BBC's Peter Biles, who is in Tetovo, says the international community, fearful of a wider Balkan conflict, is doing everything it can to help Macedonia.

On Monday, Nato Secretary-General George Robertson commended the Macedonian Government for driving ethnic Albanian guerrillas out of territory around the northern city of Tetovo.

Lord Robertson said the government had shown restraint and firmness in forcing the rebels into Kosovo.

Nato patrols

Nato is strengthening patrols on the Kosovo side of the border to prevent future infiltrations by guerrillas, who earlier abandoned their headquarters in the hills above Tetovo.

Macedonia's offensive has provoked anger among other ethnic Albanians

"I want to be blunt," Lord Robertson said. "It is a united Macedonia or another Balkan bloodbath."

But US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed reservations about the situation.

Speaking in Washington, he renewed support for the Macedonian Government but said he did not believe the fighting was "anywhere near over".

The Macedonian Government says the guerrillas have been driven across the border into Kosovo and they will now become the problem of the K-For Nato-led peacekeeping force there.

Albanian rebels

Manpower: 300-700

Light anti-tank weapons

Kalashnikov rifles

Chinese-made machine guns

Sniper rifles and mortars

However, BBC correspondents say that while the operation has been considered a success inside Macedonia, the intensive bombardment of the rebel-held areas raised international concern about the military's use of force.

It has also intensified regional reaction. In Pristina, capital of neighbouring neighbouring Kosovo, about 10,000 people rallied to support the rebels.

Albanian withdrawal

Reporters who reached the headquarters of the National Liberation Army (NLA) rebels, in the mountain village of Selce, found it deserted.

The violence has driven some ethnic Albanian families from their homes

The AFP news agency reported from the scene that the rebels appeared to have left in a hurry, abandoning weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns by the road side.

But there were no signs of Macedonian troops in the village.

Meanwhile, hundreds of refugees fled across the border into Kosovo after a 12-hour night trek through snow-covered mountain passes. Some said they had come under fire.