EU foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana rallied Macedonia's fractious political leaders behind a peace plan today as the army pounded ethnic Albanian rebels with tank and artillery fire.
Macedonia's government vowed to recapture a small town just six miles east of Skopje, the closest the four-month-old conflict has come to the capital. The town of Aracinovo slipped into rebel control after thousands of residents fled.
"All political leaders support the plan," Mr Solana said after talks with leaders of a fractious unity government formed in May that includes both Macedonian Slavs and Albanians.
President Boris Trajkovski outlined a peace scheme yesterday that stresses incentives for rebels to disarm, an overhaul of the armed forces and an acceleration of political reforms to address the grievances of ethnic Albanians.
But Mr Arben Xhaferi, head of the main party of the Albanian minority, around a third of the population, gave the plan less than full endorsement.
"There are things there that are too broad. There are some things that need to be corrected," he said, without specifying.
And Mr Solana, asked if the politicians now agreed fully on a strategy for ending the uprising, he said: "Of course they have differences, but I think they can be overcome."
The Macedonian army hit insurgent positions northeast of the capital Skopje with artillery, tank and machinegun fire on Saturday, resuming a battering from Friday when the government ignored rebel calls for a cease-fire.