SKOPJE, July 19 (AFP) - Three Macedonian civilians were kidnapped by ethnic Albanian guerrillas near the flashpoint northwestern town of Tetovo, police in the town told AFP Thursday.

The three men, identified as Ivan Stojcevki, Lazen Konstandinovski, Milorad Konstandinovksi, were abducted late Wednesday by guerrillas of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) in the village of Otusiste, police said.

Relatives of the men contacted representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to seek information on their whereabouts, police told AFP by telephone from Tetovo.

The NLA, which has been waging an armed campaign in the north of the country to press for more Albanian rights, has remained active in the Tetovo region despite a truce brokered by NATO on July 5.

The ceasefire was agreed upon to give breathing space to political talks to reform the constitution and state institutions, but the dialogue suffered a severe blow Wednesday when both sides accused each other of not compromising enough.

The Macedonian Slavs, who dominate the fractious emergency coalition, fear that Albanian demands for their language to be officially recognised will lead to a division of the multi-ethnic country into separate ethnic entities.

SKOPJE, July 19 (AFP) - Ethnic Albanian guerrillas are regrouping across the north and west of Macedonia, the defence ministry said Thursday as talks to find a way out of the six-month crisis faltered.

Shooting erupted in several northern areas as guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA) were spotted mustering as far afield as Struga, near the southwestern border with Albanian, and Tanusevci, a former stronghold on the northern border with Kosovo, a ministry statement said.

The NLA opened rifle fire on police positions in villages around the northwestern town of Tetovo late Wednesday and early Thursday, and uniformed fighters were spotted in the town itself, the ministry said. No injuries were reported.

Firing targeted police at a checkpoint near the stadium in the mainly Albanian town, with shots coming from Drenovec on the edge of Tetovo and a number of other Albanian villages.

The ministry said that men in civilian clothes had been spotted hauling covered crates into mosques in what appeared to be preparation for renewed fighting.

Eight fighters also attacked a police checkpoint at a petrol station near the northern town of Kumanovo, close to villages held by the rebels in the foothills of the Black Mountains between Kumanovo and Skopje.

They were driven off without any casualties, the ministry said.

For the first time a group of 15 rebels were sighted near the Matka dam on the southwestern fringes of Skopje, where the army has heavily reinforced its garrison in recent weeks.

Other guerrillas were seen moving for the first time near Radusce, 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Skopje, where the capital's water supply is stored in reservoirs.

And for the first time a group of fighters was seen near Struga, a town just 10 kilometres from the Albania on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the ministry said.

Macedonian troops also opened fire on a group of rebels trying to enter the country from Kosovo. They were replused after a brief firefight near the village of Tanusevci, where the rebellion first erupted in February.

The widespread regrouping came after two bomb blasts in the capital left one woman injured, while the governmental coordinating committee overseeing military aspects of a fragile ceasefire confirmed that three Macedonian men had been abducted Wednesday by a group of 11 armed NLA fighters near Tetovo.

Political talks among Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political leaders foundered late Wedenesday, with both sides saying they were drawing the line on further concessions.

BELGRADE, July 19 (AFP) - Yugoslavia's parliament is expected to endorse the new federal government led by former finance minister Dragisa Pesic during a vote scheduled for Tuesday.

At the session, Pesic will unveil his new ten-member cabinet and his government programme before the 178-seat parliament, the Tanjug news agency reported Thursday.

Pesic replaces Zoran Zizic, who resigned on June 29 to protest the handover of former president Slobodan Milosevic to the UN tribunal in The Hague to stand trial for war crimes.

Pesic, like Zizic, is a member of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro, which was allied with Milosevic until he was ousted from power in a popular revolt in October.

The SNP, while a minority party in Montenegro, has political clout because the republic's pro-independence alliance boycotted last September's federal elections.

It is expected that the parliament, in which Serbia's reformers of the DOS coalition and the SNP have a majority, will endorse Pesic's appointment and those of his ministers.

The new government is to start redefining relations between Serbia and Montenegro as the two constituent republics of the Yugoslav Federation by the end of August.

The two republics are all that is left of Yugoslavia following the wars of secession in the 1990s, but their relations have been seriously shaken by Milosevic's policies that pushed Montenegrin leaders towards independence in a bid to distance Podgorica from Belgrade.

SKOPJE, Macedonia -NATO's secretary general and the European Union's foreign policy chief postponed a planned Thursday trip to Skopje, after Macedonian officials bluntly rejected a peace proposal backed by the United States and the EU, raising fears that talks aimed at defusing an Albanian insurgency could collapse.

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson and EU foreign policy expert Javier Solana put on hold their trip to the Macedonian capital to discuss the proposed peace plan, officials in Brussels announced Thursday morning.

``The political negotiations are going through difficulties,'' said Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach.

Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski on Wednesday lashed out at the peace proposal, accusing the United States and the EU of interference.

``What we have on the table is a document tailored to break up Macedonia,'' Georgievski said. He called the draft ``a blatant violation of Macedonia's internal affairs.''

The unusually direct language was clearly aimed at U.S. envoy James Pardew and his EU counterpart, Francois Leotard, who both had expressed support for the draft in a joint statement issued just hours earlier.

Macedonia's leadership called for renewed peace legotiations Thursday afternoon, but an influential ethnic Albanian party said it would boycott the talks.

``We are not coming today. Talks are over for us,'' Mersel Bilali of the Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity said of talks scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) between Macedonian and Albanian party leaders and President Boris Trajkovski.

The draft peace proposal discussed Wednesday retains Macedonian as the primary official language and maintains central state control of the police, but proposes Albanian as a second official language in some areas, the U.S.-EU statement said.

The Macedonian leadership's objections focused on those proposals.

A joint statement issued Thursday by Solana and Robertson called Georgievski's reaction ``an undignified response to international efforts to assist in the search for a peaceful solution.''

``It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has begn informed of every move made,'' the statement added.

Since Wednesday evening, two separate explosions have rocked the Skopje suburbs, while three Macedonian civilians were reported abducted by ethnic Albanians.

Late Wednesday, a device exploded near a near a shopping mall in the northern suburb of Cair, which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians. Six shops were damaged, but no injuries were reported, police said.

A woman was injured in the eastern residential area of Kisela Voda early Thursday after ``two hand grenades were detonated under a car,'' police said.

They refused to speculate who caused the explosions, adding, ``it is to early to say whether it was criminal activity or terrorism.''

In western Macedonia, three civilians were kidnapped late Wednesday near the city of Tetovo, according to the Defense Ministry.

A ministry statement said Ivan Stojanovski and brothers Lazo and Milorad Kostadinovski were abducted by armed ethnic Albanians at about 10:30 p.m."*2030 GMT).

Sporadic infantry fire also was reported around Tetovo and Kumanovo, another ministry statement said.

The hard-line stance of Macedonian officials to a peace plan dimmed hopes that a breakthrough was imminent after nearly two weeks of talks between majority Macedonians and the ethnic Albanian minority.

It also raised the prospect that the negotiations could break up, leading to the end of a two-week cease-fire, which was brokered by NATO and the EU, and the resumption of warfare. Army spokesman Marjan Djurovski said troops had been ordered to fire if the rebels come closer than 200 yards (meters).

Although Pardew said earlier in the day that there was no deadline for reaching an agreement and it was up to Macedonia's ethnic groups to find a peace formula, Georgievski said the draft represents ``an ultimatum.''

Without elaborating, Georgievski also accused the West of siding with Albanian insurgents, saying their ``terrorist actions are performed with logistical support from so-called Western democracies.''

Meeting Thursday in Skopje, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Macedonian counterpart, Ilinka Mitreva, expressed hope that talks would continue despite ``current difficulties.''

``We are monitoring and approving all steps of all Macedonian political factors, and we are ready to provide our support if needed,'' Cem said.

Mitreva added a ``negotiated outcome is a must, provided that the united character of the state is preserved.''

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Top NATO and European Union officials said Thursday that Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's reaction to a proposed peace plan backed by the United States and the EU was ``undignified.''

Javier Solana, the European Union's chief of foreign and security affairs, and NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson put off plans for going to Macedonia after the government there rejected the latest peace proposal.

The plan would retain Macedonian as the primary official language and maintain central state control of the police, but proposes Albanian as a second official language in some areas.

On Wednesday, Georgievski called the draft plan ``a blatant violation of Macedonia's internal affairs,'' raising fears that talks between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties could collapse, throwing the country into chaos.

``Mr."Georgievski's statement yesterday in reaction to the proposals of the EU and the U.S. envoys in Skopje was an undignified response to international efforts to assist in the search for a peaceful solution,'' Robertson and Solana said in a joint statement issued at NATO headquarters.

``It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has been informed of every move made,'' Robertson and Solana said.

The EU and NATO are not giving up, however. ``The political negotiations are going through difficulties,'' said Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, adding that Solana and Robertson had decided late Wednesday not to go to Skopje in light of the stalemate.

The plan had been put forward by U.S. envoy James Pardew and his EU counterpart, Francois Leotard.

``We have to let the facilitators to do more work,'' Gallach said. She said Solana would go to Skopje once the talks got back on track.

Robertson and Solana had hoped a visit Thursday would lead to a final peace plan.

Ethnic Albanian and Macedonian leaders said Wednesday they would continue negotiations.

The Robertson-Solana statement stressed that the international community have given no support or comfort to the armed ethnic Albanian groups involved in the uprising in parts of northern Macedonia over the past several months.

``Throughout the current crisis, the international community has clearly stated its commitment to the democratic institutions, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and this is reflected in the proposals being presented by the international facilitators,'' the EU and NATO leaders said.

PODGORICA, Yugoslavia - Montenegro's pro-independence prime minister and opposition leaders met Thursday in efforts to defuse tensions resulting from disagreement over whether the small republic should leave Yugoslavia.

The government of Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic has set as its top priority an independence referendum, expected by March 2002, while opposition parties remain committed to saving the two-member federation dominated by Serbia.

Montenegro, with 600,000 residents, was alienated from Serbia during former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's autocratic reign. Its independence drive continued after Milosevic was ousted last October and despite growing international pressure for Montenegrin leaders to work with Belgrade's new pro-democracy authorities.

Vujanovic said the talks with the opposition Thursday were ``meant to defuse tensions by bringing into the open their disparate views.''

``This way we shall have safe, permanent channels of communication,'' he said. ``It is important for Montenegro's overall stability.''

Predrag Bulatovic, head of the pro-Yugoslavia camp, said the meeting with Vujanovic served ``democratic purposes.'' He said the two agreed that, ``regardless of what political path Montenegro chooses, all must take responsible for its stability.''

However, the two sides remained split over Montenegro's future. ``We perceive Montenegro as part of the Yugoslav federation,'' Bulatovic said, adding his camp would back holding a referendum ``if it were vital to solving the crisis.''

He criticized the government for planning to hold it alone, calling instead for formation of a ``broad national unity government'' ahead of the vote.

Vujanovic repeated the government stand, rejected by Serbia, that a ``union of two independent, internationally recognized states'' was best for Montenegro.

International officials fear the ultimate breakup of Yugoslavia could further encourage secessionists elsewhere in the Balkans.

Vujanovic's pro-independence cabinet was installed earlier this month.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - It used to be that when the Russian bear growled, it got the attention of the folks at NATO headquarters.

That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Maybe it's because NATO's eyes are too intensely focused on the Balkans these days.

Or maybe the allies are deeply contemplating the consequences of an American missile defense test that acvwally worked.

It could simply be because vacation season is bearing down on Brussels.

Or, perhaps, that the ol' Russian growl just ain't what it used to be.

Whatever the case, President Vladimir Putin's blast at NATO during a Moscow news conference Wednesday elicited little more than a shrug at the headquarters of the 19-nation alliance.

NATO should be abandoned, Putin railed before an audience of 500 reporters. There is no justification for its existence. The Warsaw Pact has been dead for 10 years, yet NATO is still growing. If NATO won't disband, it should at least let Russia in. There can be no real security in Europe without a single security institution that includes Russia.

Yawn. In the halls of NATO, there was a bored sense of ``we've heard it all before.'' And, of course, they have. There is also a very detectable sense that the West simply doesn't have to worry too much about what Russia thinks any more.

Several NATO officials pointed out that Putin's tough words came at exactly the same time that ambassadors of the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council were meeting at alliance headquarters, discussing many of the divisive issues.

Clearly, the Russians don't like the idea of enlarging NATO again. Nor do they like Washington's plans to deploy a limited missile defense system that eventually will violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. And, they have never quite gotten used to having lost superpower status.

``I wouldn't shrug, I would take it seriously,'' said Prof. Karl Kaiser, a defense expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. ``I would argue that the West should make a serious effort to deal with Russian concerns and continue its effort to integrate them into a system that is open.''

NATO, of course, says it is doing just that. On a sunny May 1997 afternoon in Paris, a beaming Boris Yeltsin embraced President Bill Clinton and leaders from other NATO nations and signed the NATO-Russia cooperation and security agreement. The deal called for a Permanent Joint Council, where the two sides could consult on matters of mutual interest, and the posting of a Russian general to NATO's military headquarters in southern Belgium.

Two years later, the agreement was in tatters. The Russians virtually shut down the PJC at the onset of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and refused to discuss anything beyond Bosnia and Kosovo, where Russia has troops. Throughout that hiatus, however, the military cooperation remained excellent.

Now, PJC operations are back on track. The ambassadors are meeting regularly and top Russian officials frequently trek to NATO headquarters. This proves that Moscow regards NATO as an important security partner and wants to work with it, said one NATO official, speaking on condition he not be identified. As to eventual Russian membership, the official said, ``We have never said never.''

That's true, but it's difficult to imagine a feisty Russia as a full member of a defense organization that operates strictly by consensus. That would give Moscow a veto over all alliance decisions, and nobody is prepared for that.

Experts say Putin's tough statements are part of the realization that came after his talks with President George W. Bush that Washington intends to push ahead with missile defense and NATO enlargement, and the clear possibility that this could extend into the sensitive Baltics, whether Moscow likes it or not.

It's also the result, Kaiser said, of ``an exaggerated perception of NATO as a hostile alliance. That will disappear slowly from the Russian mindset.''

For its part, the alliance stresses its efforts to make a NATO-Russia ``partnership'' work.

``We feel convinced we have reached a level of maturity in our relationship that the benefits of partnership and cooperation are appreciated on both sides,'' said Robert Pszczel, a NATO spokesman. ``We have no doubt that the relationship, the partnership ... has a good, solid future based on mutual interest.''

The wife of the former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, is making her first visit to the Dutch prison where he is awaiting trial on war crimes charges.

Mira Markovic was driven to the prison after flying into the Netherlands on Thursday morning for a three-day trip to see her husband.

She was surrounded by photographers and television crews as she left Belgrade but declined to make any comment before passing through customs with her lawyer.

Ms Markovic, 59, was granted a visa last week to travel to the jail in the leafy The Hague suburb of Scheveningen, where her husband is being held by the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

The European Union agreed to relax a travel ban on close associates of Mr Milosevic.

"She will have the opportunity to visit her husband and will return to her country afterwards," said Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Frank de Bruin.

"We will guard her safety as well as we can," he added.

Ms Markovic is not being accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Milica Gajic.

"Our embassy on Friday granted a visa request to the daughter-in-law of Ms Markovic, but she did not come to the embassy to collect her visa," Mr De Bruin said.

The ex-president was dramatically extradited to The Hague in June to face charges over the deaths of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Prosecutors say charges over the wars in Bosnia and Croatia are likely to be added to the list.

Ms Markovic's travel plans will be strictly controlled.

A tribunal spokesman said Ms Markovic would probably only have access to the tribunal's prison.

Personal devastation

Reports have said Ms Markovic wants to rent an apartment in The Hague for the duration of her husband's trial, which is expected to last several years.

She was said to be devastated by his extradition.

A BBC correspondent in Belgrade, Ray Furlong, says Ms Markovic may bolster Mr Milosevic's defiance of the Hague tribunal.

He says she is widely regarded as a behind-the-scenes powerbroker, who influenced all her husband's major decisions.

Ms Markovic herself says she devoted her life to him, preparing his food and giving him support.

But she also had her own network of power and her own political party, whose influence reached far beyond its small voter base.

In an interview this week, Ms Markovic said she had advised Mr Milosevic to make a deal with the current Yugoslav authorities to avoid being extradited, but that he was too stubborn to do so.

The tribunal does not give details of detainees' private matters, but couples can typically expect to be provided with rooms for conjugal visits, known as "intimacy rooms".

Ms Markovic said in a recent magazine interview that she felt lost without her husband and still found him "cute and likeable".

"What can I say? He is my hero," she said.

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- At least one person is believed to be injured after two blasts rocked the capital of the divided Macedonian republic.

The explosions come amid continuing political turmoil, with the Macedonian prime minister rejecting a peace plan backed by Western powers as a capitulation to ethnic Albanian rebels.

Ethnic Albanian political leaders in turn are refusing to attend a Thursday afternoon meeting called by President Boris Trajkovski aimed at restarting talks, saying the draft plan represents all the compromises they are prepared to make.

Journalist Juliet Terzieff told CNN that at least one woman was reported to be hurt in the first blast overnight on Wednesday in a suburb populated mostly by minority Albanians.

No casualties have been reported in the second blast early on Thursday in an eastern ethnically mixed district.

Macedonian state television said both explosions were caused by grenades but there have so far been no claims of responsibility.

Terzieff said such incidents demonstrate the growing polarisation between the majority Macedonian and minority ethnic Albanian population, adding urgency to negotiations -- currently at a virtual standstill.

Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski has condemned a new peace plan saying it threatened the future of the state.

"What we have on the table is a document tailored to break up Macedonia," the Associated Press quoted Georgievski as saying, condemning it as "a blatant violation of Macedonia's internal affairs."

U.S. envoy James Pardew and his EU counterpart Francois Leotard had expressed support for the draft -- which ethnic Albanian political leaders appear ready to accept -- in a joint statement just hours earlier.

The plan sees a decentralisation of authority and, while Macedonian is retained as the primary official language, it proposes recognising Albanian as a second official language in some areas, a U.S.-European Union statement said.

Macedonian government objections focus on the language question as well as a proposal to give ethnic Albanians a limited vote in the appointment of local police.

Although Pardew had said there was no deadline for reaching an agreement and it was up to Macedonia's ethnic groups to find an appropriate formula, Georgievski said the draft represents "an ultimatum."

He accused the West of siding with the rebels, saying their "terrorist actions are performed with logistical support from so-called western democracies," according to AP.

Despite scattered clashes, a shaky cease-fire brokered earlier this month by NATO and the EU largely has held, but there are fears that with such an impasse fighting could resume.

Ethnic Albanian rebels have waged a five-month rebellion in the north of the country.

They say they are fighting for greater rights for the ethnic Albanian minority, but the government says they are seeking to grab land and split the state.

Podgorica - The leader of the Montenegrin opposition, Socialist People's Party (SNP) chief Predrag Bulatovic, said Thursday that his pro-Yugoslavia bloc would accept to take part in organizing a referendum on independence of the republic if that is its interest.

``If it is in the interest of stability, the SNP will agree to the referendum,'' Bulatovic said after meeting Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic, who heads a minority pro-independence government.

But Bulatovic said Vujanovic's cabinet is not fit to prepare the vote and ``create the ambience for its implementation''.

``If we are to go toward it, we will demand a broad ... government (of all parties),'' he said. ``It is not just the question of a referendum law, but also of democratic conditions that include democratic police, media, finances and the entire state apparatus.''

President Milo Djukanovic's Victory for Montenegro bloc, with 36 seats in the parliament of 77, runs the minority government on support of six deputies from the hardline pro-independence Liberal Alliance party and two ethnic Albanian votes.

Bulatovic's SNP leads the Together for Yugoslavia coalition, which comprises the entire opposition with 33 parliamentary seats.

Unlike in Serbia, the authorities and the opposition in Montenegro have led serious and productive talks in the time of crisis and pressure, unlike in Serbia, where the dialogue never existed.

SKOPJE, July 19 (Reuters) - Two explosions damaged property and wounded at least one person in the Macedonian capital early on Thursday after leaders of the divided republic's dominant ethnic group lashed out at Western peace proposals.

A police source said one device exploded overnight in the vicinity of the Caircanka shopping centre in a northern Skopje suburb populated mostly by minority Albanians. No one was hurt.

A second blast followed in the early morning in the eastern district of Kisela Voda, the source said, adding that one woman had been injured according to as yet unconfirmed reports. State television said grenades were to blame for both explosions.

Efforts to unite Macedonia's leaders behind a deal designed to end five months of sporadic warfare between government forces and Albanian guerrillas were in turmoil after Macedonian parties accused Western mediators of brutal interference.

Nationalist Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said U.S. envoy James Pardew and the EU's Francois Leotard were forcing Macedonia to cave in to demands from guerrillas whose five-month rebellion has dragged the tiny Balkan state towards civil war.

``As much as their text is brutal, more brutal and worrying is the fashion in which they are trying to break up Macedonian state institutions,'' he said, dismissing a draft that would devolve some power and make Albanian a semi-official language.

WAR PARTY IN ASCENDANCY

Diplomats scrambled to deny their plan, which aims to grant Macedonia's large Albanian minority more civil rights in a bid to avert major bloodshed, would do anything of the sort.

But they questioned whether Macedonian leaders would retreat from hardline rhetoric as tensions rise towards boiling point.

``There's a fatalist war party but there's also a deal party,'' a Western diplomatic source said. ``The war party hasn't won yet, but they're more corrupt, they've got more money, they control a bunch of newspapers and they're more ruthless.''

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana postponed plans to visit Skopje for a last-ditch attempt to rescue a deal they hope will induce rebels to surrender some of their weapons in return for amnesty.

In a joint statement, Robertson and Solana reacted angrily to what they called Georgievski's ``undignified'' criticism.

``It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has been informed of every move made,'' they said.

Macedonian politicians, whose united front diplomats view as risky brinkmanship, denied they were exploiting fears of renewed conflict to negotiate a better deal in a fresh round of talks.

``It is better to talk for 100 days than to have a bloody war for one day,'' Social Democrat leader Branko Crvenkovski said.

But Albanian parties are refusing to tear up the draft and go back to square one as President Boris Trajkovski wants. They are not even certain to turn up to talks later on Thursday.

``If it's of the same character as yesterday, I surely won't go,'' said Imer Imeri, one of Macedonia's top Albanian leaders.

Diplomats say the meeting, which tiny hardline Macedonian parties will also attend, is unlikely to resurrect an agreement.

``It's necessary political theatre. It keeps the process alive but won't get us closer to any sort of deal,'' one said.

Despite the stalemate, no politician is yet advocating a return to the battlefield to attack the National Liberation Army (NLA) rebels who occupy swathes of Macedonia's northern hills.

But a two-week truce, punctured almost daily by sporadic shooting, looks increasingly shaky after the chief of staff of Macedonia's army signed an order permitting troops to resume fighting if guerrillas within 200 metres (yards) open fire.

Both Macedonian forces and the NLA have used the ceasefire to resupply and reposition troops in case talks collapse, with the main Albanian town of Tetovo the likeliest flashpoint.

Diplomats conceded, however, they had little up their sleeves to force Macedonian parties to accept the revised plan.

``They should think long-term and not get caught up in the emotions of the present,'' one Western diplomat pleaded.

The new proposals would make Albanian an official tongue in all but name. But while Macedonians would not be forced to learn it, public officials would have to communicate in Albanian.

The plan would also allow local police chiefs to be elected, though only from a shortlist drawn up by the Interior Ministry to limit the potential for the NLA to maintain its grip on the arc of western and northern Macedonia where most Albanians live.

Many Macedonians remain convinced, however, that their country is being taken from them at gunpoint.

``If we accept this proposal, we will become the second-class citizens Albanians now claim to be,'' Georgievski said

BRUSSELS, July 19 (Reuters) - NATO and the European Union responded angrily on Thursday to claims by Macedonia's prime minister that the West was putting ``brutal'' pressure on him to accept a peace deal with his country's ethnic Albanian minority.

``(Ljubco) Georgievski's statement yesterday in reaction to the proposals of EU and U.S. envoys in Skopje was an undignified response to international efforts to assist in the search for a peaceful solution,'' NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a joint statement.

``It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has been informed of every move made,'' they said.

Solana and Robertson postponed a trip to Macedonia planned for Thursday due to the poor state of negotiations.

On Wednesday, Georgievski, a nationalist, accused the U.S. and EU envoys of forcing Macedonia to cave in to demands from ethnic Albanian guerrillas whose five-month rebellion has dragged the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic to the brink of civil war.

``As much as their text is brutal, more brutal and worrying is the fashion in which they are trying to break up Macedonian state institutions,'' he said, dismissing a draft that would devolve some power and make Albanian a semi-official language.

In their statement, Solana and Robertson rejected any suggestion that they were biased towards the rebels and repeated their view that only continued dialogue between the Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties could avert a return to bloodshed.

``The international community has given no support or comfort to the ethnic Albanian armed groups,'' they said.

``Throughout the current crisis, the international community has clearly stated its commitment to the democratic institutions, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, and this is reflected in the proposals being presented (by the EU and U.S. envoys).''

EU officials also expressed dismay over two explosions which damaged property and injured at least one person in Skopje early on Thursday.

``The blasts are a sign of what could happen if the talking stops. We have to make every effort to keep the dialogue going,'' said one diplomat.

NATO has agreed to deploy troops in Macedonia to supervise the disarmament of the ethnic Albanian rebels but only if and when the political parties agree a package of reforms.

Both Macedonian forces and the National Liberation Army rebels have used the current NATO-brokered ceasefire to resupply and realign their troops in case the talks collapse

BELGRADE, July 19 (Reuters) - A Serbian police source confirmed a report on Thursday that the Interior Ministry has filed preliminary charges of abuse of office against Vlajko Stojiljkovic, its leader under ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The former interior minister and three others are accused of illegally providing a Milosevic-era secret police chief with a home and using state cash to furnish and decorate it, the source said.

Stojiljkovic is also wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where Milosevic is awaiting trial.

Belgrade's deputy district prosecutor told the Politika Daily newspaper that his office was looking into the police charges. Under the Serbian justice system, the Interior Ministry can file preliminary charges but it is up to the prosecutor to decide whether they are justified.

Stojiljkovic, his former deputy Petar Zekovic, former secret police chief Radomir Markovic and his deputy Nikola Curcic were all accused of causing material damage to the police of around half a million U.S. dollars, the source said.

``We filed preliminary criminal charges and now it's up to the prosecutor to decide on whether there is enough evidence to start court proceedings,'' the source, who demanded anonymity, told Reuters.

If convicted, the four face a jail term from six months to 10 years.

The reformers who ousted Milosevic last October have launched investigations into many of the former president's associates on suspicion of crimes ranging from corruption to multiple murder.

Earlier this month, Markovic and Curcic were sentenced to a year and 14 months respectively for revealing state secrets, becoming the first senior Milosevic allies to be convicted since the downfall of their authoritarian patron.

Milosevic and Stojiljkovic were charged in May 1999 along with three other senior state officials with crimes against humanity in connection with the mass killing and expulsions of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serb forces under their command.

Stojiljkovic is a deputy in the federal Yugoslav parliament for Milosevic's Socialist Party and as such enjoys immunity from prosecution. But the parliament could vote to strip him of immunity on the request of a prosecutor.