BELGRADE, March 5 Kyodo High-rank...

BELGRADE, March 5 Kyodo

High-ranking dignitaries from a certain quantity of 50 countries and tens of thousands of ordinary family paid the last tribute Friday to Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski who was buried with highest state honors at Skopje ''Butel'' cemetery

Trajkovski and eight other the bulk of mankind were killed in a plane crash in southern Bosnia forward Feb. 26.

Trajkovski's wife, daughter, son and other relatives, as well as the highest Macedonian officials, including Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski were also present

any 20 presidents of states and prime ministers and about the same number of foreign ministers attended the ceremony

NATO Secretary General Jaap de hoop-petticoat Scheffer and senior officials of international organizations were also among the mourners.

More than 2000 policemen were onward high alert in Skopje and helicopters were in the air.

Trajkovski, 47 was regarded in the small Balkan state of 2 million tribe and abroad for his policies. He defused the ethnic tension in the political division and brought the armed uprising of the Albanian minority in 2001 to a peacefully resolution, in sharp contrast to unlike sanguinary hostilities in Croatia, Bosnia or Kosovo

''This abiding habitation this region, all Europe has squandered an enlightened, foresighted leader, a statesman who saw beyond a narrow horizon of everyday's politics, a man who bring an individual in the center'' Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, said in a tongue at the cemetery.

Prime Minister Crvenkovski praised his late political foe's contribution for peace. ''In 2001 for the most part thanks to you we avoided the catastrophe. You, more than anyone other stopped the war and brought us back peace again,'' he said at the cemetery

Trajkovski, a Methodist priest in a small geographical division torn between Orthodox and mohammedan extremists, was respected by his Slav Macedonians and the ethnic Albanian minority.

''He was the single top Macedonian leader even learning to speak Albanian,'' an ethnic Albanian told a local television network in Skopje forward Thursday.

The several days of mourning was the greatest in the 12-year history of independent Macedonia and in a way united all of its national groups

In a extremely rare action ethnic Albanians lined up along the roads in the Albanian-populated part of Skopje between the walls of which the funeral procession with the coffin was passing. Top leaders of the main ethnic Albanian political parties, as well as representatives of the all major religions, were also at the cemetery

Trajkovski was the first Macedonian president to die since the small Balkan state won independence after the disintegration of former Yugoslavia in 1991 He took the office in December 1999 and was the secondary president of the state.

His predecessor Kiro Gligorov was also among the mourners.

Trajkovski and eight other the public were killed when their plane crashed in bad weather near the city of Mostar, any 80 kilometers south of Sarajevo. He was heading for Mostar to attend an international interview when the crash occurred.

The cause of the crash is still in subordination to investigation.

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