By Andrew Gray
SKOPJE (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana visits Macedonia on Monday on a mission to bolster the troubled government of national unity formed to disable an ethnic Albanian guerrilla insurgency.
Macedonian armed forces on Sunday kept up their bombardment of rebel positions in and around villages of red-roofed houses in northern hills, using helicopter gunships, tanks and cannons in an effort to drive out the guerrillas.
Thousands of civilians were believed to be sheltering in the villages. Officials said talks on evacuating them were being held up by a dispute between the government and the rebels over where the civilians should be taken.
Heavy shelling of the line of ethnic Albanian-dominated villages held by the rebels near Kumanovo, around 40 km northeast of the capital Skopje, continued into Sunday evening.
Reporters saw a convoy of tanks and armored personnel carriers, the second of the day, heading for the crisis zone and saw impacts from the shelling in or around several villages including Lipkovo, where most civilians were believed to be.
Any substantial civilian casualties would undermine a cross-party government already under severe strain. The national unity coalition was formed just two weeks ago under heavy pressure from Solana and other top international figures.
The government includes all the main parties representing Macedonia's Slav majority and ethnic Albanian minority, which accounts for around a third of the population of two million.
Western powers regard the government as a key plank in their strategy to prevent Macedonia becoming the scene of the next war in the Balkans by isolating the guerrillas politically.
COALITION CRISIS
The coalition plunged into crisis last week after it emerged that leaders of the two main ethnic Albanian parties had met the rebel political leader, Ali Ahmeti.
Slav parties and the West expressed horror and called on the Albanian leaders to distance themselves from the peace plan they agreed with Ahmeti -- something they have not yet done.
A retired American diplomat apparently involved in brokering the talks as an envoy of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) left Macedonia at the request of the foreign minister.
Solana plans to get the government back on course and urge a quick resumption of talks to improve inter-ethnic relations.
"The first objective is to express support for the grand coalition government in the current difficult political and security situation," spokeswoman Cristina Gallach told Reuters.
"Mr. Solana will press the leaders of Skopje for an early resumption of enhanced political dialogue," she added.
The guerrillas began their uprising at the start of this year, saying they were fighting against state-backed discrimination and violence against ethnic Albanians. The latest clashes in the north broke out at the beginning of this month.
Western powers have given strong backing to the Macedonian state, arguing that while Albanians may have some legitimate grievances, they should address them democratically through their own political parties, two of which are now in government.
Solana is expected to arrive in the former Yugoslav republic in the early afternoon and to hold talks with Boris Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski as well as other party leaders.