Macedonian party leaders meet under global pressure

Macedonia's prime minister held talks Thursday with opposition and ethnic Albanian party leaders, under international pressure to resolve a political crisis in the troubled Balkan country.

The meeting took place following clashes at the weekend in a northern town between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian police that left 22 dead, including eight police officers.

The violence in Kumanovo was the worst in Macedonia for 14 years, and raised fears of fresh unrest similar to the country's 2001 ethnic conflict.

"We met to support democratic values including the right to peaceful protests and to condemn violence, whether it is for criminal or political purposes," the four leaders said in a statement.

They were due to resume their talks on Monday.

Macedonia has seen an ongoing struggle between Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and main opposition party leader Zoran Zaev that has threatened the country's democracy and has also sparked clashes in the streets of the capital Skopje.

The conservative government and the centre-left opposition have been trading accusations including claims of wiretapping and million-euro bribes, and both sides are due to hold rallies in coming days.

On Tuesday two ministers and the intelligence chief resigned. The three officials were being accused by the opposition of involvement in a wiretapping scandal.

Thursday's meeting was attended by Gruevski and Zaev and the leaders of two ethnic Albanian parties: the Democratic Union for Integration, which is a junior partner of the government, and the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians.

US ambassador Jess Baily and head of the European Union mission in Skopje, Aivo Orav, also took part.

Thirty alleged gunmen have been charged with terror offences after the bloody shootout in Kumanovo that erupted on Saturday at dawn when police moved in on the armed group.

Eighteen of the 30 men charged were ethnic Albanians from neighbouring Kosovo, the prosecutors said.

Ethnic Albanians make up around one quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million population.

The 2001 Macedonian conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels ended with an agreement providing more rights to the minority community, but relations between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians remain strained.

The weekend's violence should not distract attention from Macedonia's "very serious internal political situation" or be used "to introduce ethnic tensions", EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said Monday.