Macedonia: Ethnic Albanians demand federal state


About 300 ethnic Albanian nationalists have held a peaceful protest in Macedonia's capital to demand a new constitution to boost their minority's standing.

The protesters want to create a federal state and grant self-government to the country's restive ethnic Albanians _ about a quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million population.

Tuesday's protest in Skopje was organized by a group of prominent ethnic Albanian nationalists, including military commanders who brought Macedonia to the brink of civil war in 2001.

The protesters' demands would challenge a peace agreement that ended the fighting between government forces and rebels and formed the basis of constitutional reforms in late 2001.
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