SOLANA, PATTEN URGE EXPEDITING IMPLEMENTATION OF OHRID AGREEMENT

SKOPJE, Oct 4 (Hina) - The European Union's high representative for common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, and the commissioner for foreign affairs, Chris Patten, urged senior Macedonian officials in Skopje on Thursday to expedite the implementation of an agreement which ended the conflict with ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Solana and Patten cancelled an announced press conference due to a busy schedule. According to unofficial sources, the two strongly pressured Macedonia's top officials to step up the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, and opposed a temporary return of Macedonian security forces to crisis areas in the country. The chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Mirce Geoana, who accompanied Solana and Patten, also objected to the return of Macedonian police to those areas. He said OSCE observers were not willing to go into the field before conditions ensuring their safety were met. These conditions are the coordination of the Macedonian forces' activities with NATO, finding a solution to the amnesty of ethnic Albanian guerrillas, and the implementation of constitutional changes, said Geoana. Solana and Patten resumed talks with Macedonia's state leadership into the evening and will travel to Pristina in the morning. (hina) ha