Britain said today it was gravely concerned by delays in setting up a broad coalition government in Macedonia where the army is fighting ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "Every passing day increases the risk of deepening divisions between Macedonia's different ethnic communities."
A key ethnic Albanian opposition party is blocking the formation of a "national unity government" designed to isolate the nationalist guerrillas by demanding a ceasefire first.
Two big Slav parties representing two-thirds of the people and one of the two Albanian groups want a unity government. But the fragmented opposition Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) wants truce conditions thrashed out beforehand.
Britain urged the PDP to accept an invitation to join the coalition government.
The spokesman said a combined effort by all the democratic forces in Macedonia is necessary to demonstrate the complete repudiation of the terrorist acts of the rebels.
Democratic dialogue provides the only means of finding long-term solutions which will be acceptable to all the people of Macedonia.