SKOPJE - SOLANA MEETS MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN POLITICAL LEADERS

SKOPJE, June 23 (Hina) - After meeting Western diplomats and Macedonia's state officials in Skopje earlier on Saturday, the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, held talks with the leaders of ethnic Albanians' political parties. Before the talks, Arben Djaferi of the Albanians' Democratic Party said he would remind Solana it had been agreed that peace must be preserved in Macedonia. He said he would demand engaging neutral mediators in the conflict. Speaking about negotiations with Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, Djaferi said the President was not neutral and that the Albanian side was no reason to interrupt dialogue. Imer Imeri of the Democratic Prosperity Party said Trajkovski was to blame for the interruption in dialogue and not the Albanian side. The Macedonian army said the operation in Aracinovo was proceeding according to plan and progressing well. The Macedonian forces have seized one third of the village and will most probably assume control over the whole village by Sunday. The terrorists are retreating and regrouping. Near the village of Radusa a group of Albanian terrorists fired shots at a police patrol, lightly wounding five policemen. Earlier today in the vicinity of Tetovo, Albanian extremists fired automatic rifle and sniper shots at a Skopje-Kicevo passenger train. No one was wounded. (hina) ha