Macedonia backs Kosovo plan

Macedonia backs Kosovo plan

"It is a document that should help stabilize the region."

The comments set the former Yugoslav republic on a diplomatic collision course with Serbia, which rejects independence for its southern province but may be powerless to prevent it.

Serbia's caretaker prime minister, Vojislav Koštunica, has urged parties trying to form a governing coalition after an inconclusive January election to take a hard line on relations with any state that recognises the independence of Kosovo.

UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveiled a plan in Belgrade and Priština on Friday which, if adopted by the U.N. Security Council, would open the door to a form of internationally-supervised independence for the territory.

Macedonia has a large Albanian minority - roughly 25 percent out of a population of 2 million - and is anxious to avoid fresh instability in Kosovo that might spill across their joint border. Gruevski's conservative coalition includes an ethnic Albanian party.

In 2001, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla army seized areas of northern and western Macedonia. The European Union and NATO intervened diplomatically to halt seven months of fighting and a peace accord gave the Albanian minority greater rights.