Macedonia OKs UN Kosovo plan

Macedonia on Saturday OKed the UN plan on the final status of Kosovo, saying it is acceptable to Macedonian government, news reaching Tirana from Skopje reported.

"From what we have seen, we think the document is acceptable to the Macedonian government," Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters after meeting Kosovo opposition leader Hashim Thaci.

He said that the plan would bring stability to the whole region.

"These comments run contrary to the stance that Macedonia has been adopting on the Kosovo issue," a western diplomat stationed in Skopje said.

In October last year, Macedonia President Branko Crvenkovski told a visiting official from the Council of Europe that the solution for Kosovo final status "has to be mutually acceptable to Belgrade and Pristina," the diplomat said.

UN special envoy Martti Ahtisarri on Friday presented a plan in Belgrade and Pristina which Kosovo embraced while Serbia rejected out of hand for the very reason that it would pave the way for Kosovo's eventual independence.

Macedonia has a large Albanian minority, who roughly accounts for 25 percent of its two million population. And Gruevski's coalition government includes an Albanian party.

Source: Xinhua