US denies Rice's possible initiative on Macedonia's name dispute

28/08/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- The US Embassy in Skopje on Wednesday (August 27th) denied media reports of a possible initiative by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece. "The US government continues to support the UN-sponsored negotiation process and wishes the issue to be solved as soon as possible. All allegations that the United States is following different policies are groundless," an embassy statement said. On Tuesday, Macedonian media claimed Rice would present a plan to resolve the name dispute on September 23rd in New York.

In other news Wednesday, the Macedonian parliament unanimously adopted a resolution in support of refugees who fled the Greek region of Macedonia during World War II and the subsequent civil war in Greece. (ANA-MPA, In.news, Ta nea, Kathimerini, BalkanInsight - 26/08/08, Dnevnik - 28/08/08; Makfax, A1, Tanjug, B92 - 27/08/08)