Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama postponed a visit to Macedonia due this week after deadly violence pitted ethnic Albanian rebels against Macedonian police, a ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
Rama was supposed to travel to Macedonia on Thursday to receive an honorary degree from the University of Tetovo, a western town mainly populated by ethnic Albanians.
"The prime minister's visit has been postponed indefinitely," Glevi Dervishi, a spokesman of the Albanian foreign ministry, told AFP Tuesday.
Albania condemned the weekend clash between Macedonian troops and the ethnic Albanian rebels in the northern town of Kumanovo.
The violence, which left 22 dead including eight policemen, was the worst since Macedonia's 2001 ethnic conflict.
A Macedonian prosecutor on Monday charged 30 people terrorism and illegal possession of weapons and explosives.
Ethnic Albanians make up some 25 percent of Macedonia's population of 2.1 million people.
The 2001 Macedonian conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels ended with an agreement guaranteeing more rights to the minority, but relations between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians have remain strained ever since.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama postponed a visit to Macedonia due this week after deadly violence pitted ethnic Albanian rebels against Macedonian police, a ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
Rama was supposed to travel to Macedonia on Thursday to receive an honorary degree from the University of Tetovo, a western town mainly populated by ethnic Albanians.
“The prime minister’s visit has been postponed indefinitely,” Glevi Dervishi, a spokesman of the Albanian foreign ministry, told AFP Tuesday.
Albania condemned the weekend clash between Macedonian troops and the ethnic Albanian rebels in the northern town of Kumanovo.
The violence, which left 22 dead including eight policemen, was the worst since Macedonia’s 2001 ethnic conflict.
A Macedonian prosecutor on Monday charged 30 people terrorism and illegal possession of weapons and explosives.
Ethnic Albanians make up some 25 percent of Macedonia’s population of 2.1 million people.
The 2001 Macedonian conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels ended with an agreement guaranteeing more rights to the minority, but relations between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians have remain strained ever since.
