Macedonia army chief resigns

The commander of the Macedonian army, General Jovan Andrevski, has resigned.

Quoting army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski, the AFP news agency said General Andrevski had said he was stepping down because of the low morale affecting his troops.

President Boris Trajkovski had accepted his resignation, Markovski said. A new chief of staff, General Jovan Petkovski, has been named as his replacement.

More than 26 Macedonian soldiers have been killed in clashes with ethnic Albanian rebels fighting mainly in northern Macedonia.

The army declared a ceasefire on Monday, hours after the rebels threatened to attack the capital Skopje if the government forces continued shelling their positions.

The Macedonian Government, which includes ethnic Albanian representatives, has accepted President Boris Trajkovski's peace plan to end the four month-old conflict. Among others, the plan envisages an amnesty for the rebels.