AGREEMENT REACHED ON USE OF ALBANIAN LANGUAGE IN MACEDONIA

OHRID, Aug 1 (Hina) - Macedonian and ethnic Albanian negotiators have achieved agreement on the status of the Albanian language in Macedonia. On late afternoon the Ohrid round of the negotiations was over with closing the issue of the language, the European Union's envoy, Francois Leotard, was quoted by the Macedonian television as saying. The agreement was reached on Wednesday afternoon during the negotiations conducted by representatives of Skopje and the ethnic Albanian community. The two sides accepted a redefined proposal drafted by Leotard and another international mediator, the United States' envoy James Pardew. Under the agreement, the Albanian language will be official in municipalities where ethnic Albanians account for over 20 percent of the local population and will also be used during plenary sessions of Macedonia's parliament. Albanian will not be spoken at sessions of the government, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski's envoys Nikola Dimitrov and Vlado Popov said. The negotiations on the composition of local police units will resume on Friday, whereas on Thursday Macedonia marks an official holiday 'Ilinden'. (hina) ms