WASHINGTON CONDEMNS ANTI-WEST RIOTS IN SKOPJE

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Hina) - The United States on Wednesday most severely condemned protesters' attacks against foreign offices, including the US embassy in Skopje, during yesterday's anti-West riots in the Macedonian capital. Washington labelled allegations about NATO's and West assistance to Albanian extremists in that country as sheer fabrications. A spokesman for the State Department reiterated that international mediators had arrived in Macedonia at the invitation of the country's authorities to help seek a political solution of the current crisis. I resolutely refute any assumption that the United States or NATO are backing ethnic Albanian extremists, spokesman Philip Reeker said on Wednesday. He reiterated that the United States fully supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Macedonia, and added that it was unacceptable that Albanian forces were using a truce to fortify their positions or widen areas under their control. For the first time after some period there was no sentence that both parties must show restraint. In addition, Reeker said no international official had ever accused Macedonian forces of breaching the cease-fire. Macedonian media, however, ascribed such claims to envoys of the Untied States, James Pardew, and of European Union, Francois Leotard. American diplomat Pardew on Wednesday met Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski. According to unofficial reports, the US message was that the Macedonian leadership should cease playing petty- political games. According to US reports, the situation in Macedonia was rather calmer on Wednesday than a day before, but the US embassy in Skopje was closed. (hina) ms