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US, Britain Voices Support for Macedonia Peace Talks
The United States and Britain Wednesday voiced their support for talks aimed at ending an Albanian insurgency in Macedonia, saying that holding talks represented the only way out of the conflict.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with the visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at the State Department, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he hoped that the Macedonian ethnic Albanian rebels will understand that "there is no military solution to this crisis."
"We have made the same point to the Macedonian government, and the real answer has to be a political settlement, and that's what we're working hard to achieve," Powell said.
"I am pleased frankly that the political track has shown quite a bit of movement in the last couple of weeks," Powell said.
For his part, Straw, who was on his first visit to the United States as foreign secretary, said "the only way forward in Macedonia is through these negotiations."
"Both sides, the Albanians and the Macedonian Slavs, have agreed as part of the peace process arrangements with the proposals from Badinter, the constitutional expert," Straw said.
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