Frantic efforts to prevent civil war in Macedonia are continuing. NATO and European Union leaders have redoubled their efforts to help President Boris Trajkovski put a political dialogue back on the agenda instead of an all-out military conflict between the Albanian minority and the majority Slavs.
That these communities should now be so polarised indicates how far relations between them have deteriorated since the early spring. Since then there have been repeated efforts to resolve the difficulties peacefully, but all have collapsed. As the Swedish foreign minister, Ms Anna Lindh, put it after an EU council of ministers meeting, this is not only a Macedonian conflict, but one of the utmost international importance. Its conflict draws in surrounding states, including what remains of Yugoslavia (including Kosovo), Albania, Bulgaria and Greece. It is the ultimate cauldron of conflict in the Balkan region.
A restoration of political dialogue depends on President Trajkovski's willingness and ability to face down the militants who occupied the parliament buildings in Skopje on Monday night just as he was engaged in yet another round of talks between majority and minority parties. The 6,000 demonstrators were outraged by the evacuation of KLA guerrillas from the nearby village of Aracinovo, under an agreement brokered by NATO and the EU.
All the more reason to concentrate on political dialogue. The government must talk with Albanian leaders to agree a ceasefire and open negotiations on a constitution. Some 3,000 NATO troops will become involved in disarming the Macedonian antagonists after a ceasefire is firmly in place and political agreement within reach. This commitment falls short of the more robust intervention called for by observers fearful of the parallels with previous Balkan conflicts. It may have to be revisited if circumstances in the next few days push the parties closer to all-out civil war.
Efforts to reform Macedonia's political system have foundered on fears by Slav majority parties that extending more rights to the Albanian minority will encourage secessionist ambitions. That is most apparent in their demands for a federal system; but it also bedevils attempts to equalise language, educational and cultural rights and to develop a better resourced system of regional transfers within the state. It will take the most determined and continuous international pressure to create conditions in which these concerns can be considered calmly and resolved. Unless that is applied Macedonia could well unravel much of the efforts to include the Balkan region peacefully in the European mainstream.