Macedonian forces pounded rebel Albanian positions on the edge of the northern city of Tetovo on Friday, as the rebels vowed to broaden their armed struggle for improved rights even at the risk of sparking a new Balkans conflict.
After a night disturbed by sporadic shooting, the first mortar rounds crashed into the hills overlooking the town of 200,000 mostly Albanian residents at around 11:30 am (1030 GMT).
Life had just been returning to a semblance of normality, with shops opening and people venturing out onto previously deserted streets, when government forces started bombarding rebel targets on the outskirts of Tetovo.
Guerrillas of the self-styled National Liberation Army (UCK), whose armed insurrection has prompted fears of a new Balkans war in the fragile multi-ethnic state, were still holding positions above the town.
Police appeared to have lost control of some areas, as machinegun fire was heard on the hills and plumes of smoke rose from the area.
"The police don't come here, they are afraid," said one resident.
"A bit further up, about eight kilometers (five miles), is our army. Those are the free Albanian zones," he said.
The UCK opened a daring offensive against Tetovo on Wednesday, for the first time emerging in force from their bases in mountain villages along the border with UN-run Kosovo.
Skopje said there were around 200 guerrillas perched above the town.
But an UCK commander warned Friday that the Tetovo battle, which has left one civilian dead and injured 20 people, 15 of them policemen, was just a warning.
The rebel commander, speaking to AFP in Kosovo by phone from the Macedonian village of Malino Malo, said: "We are capable of setting the whole place ablaze."
"The Macedonian government is hard-headed, but we are not going to stop, it will go on until Skopje understands" the demands of the rebels, he said.
The rebels want to make Macedonia a federation of Slav Macedonians and Albanians, who they say makes up more than a third of the two million people in Macedonia.
Skopje puts the Albanian minority at around 500,000.
"In Tetovo, we wanted to warn the Macedonian government. We will continue to fight on all fronts, if the Macedonians launch an offensive in one place it will explode elsewhere," warned the rebel commander.
He said he was referring to a possible offensive in the town of Kumanovo, northeast of the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
Macedonia's parliament was due to hold a closed session later Friday to discuss the growing crisis, which the national defense council blamed on "terrorist formations" entering from UN-run Kosovo despite NATO border patrols.
"The security situation in the country has deteriorated as a result of the violence carried out by terrorist formations crossing from Kosovo and made up of members of the former Kosovo Liberation Army," the council said in a statement after an emergency session late Thursday.
The KLA fought Belgrade for two years until 1999 and officially disbanded after NATO-led peacekeepers took over security in the Yugoslav province.
"The goal of these formations is to destabilize Macedonia by attacking inter-ethnic relations and state institutions," it added.
NATO chief George Robertson said in Athens his alliance was "determined that Kosovo will not be used as a launching pad for violence and destabilizing activities."
In a significant move, Skopje said border police units would be allowed to operate inside the country, lending their heavy firepower to special police units who have so far clashed with the Albanian rebels.
In a bid to stave off Albanian claims of widespread discrimination, the government said it was "open to an improvement of minority rights by constitutional means."
In Berlin, Kosovo's leading moderate politician Ibrahim Rugova urged Skopje to listen to Albanian demands to avoid an escalation in the fighting.
"I urgently request that the Macedonian government listen to Albanian demands and if not, there will be a sharp escalation," Rugova said.
He said the Albanians were not to blame for the conflict, which he said had its roots in Macedonia's failure to integrate its ethnic Albanians.
But Russia called for tougher measures to prevent the conflict flaring out of control.
Albanian extremists must understand that the Macedonian authorities' "legitimate measures" to protect their borders and ensure the safety of their citizens "will be fully understood and supported by the international community," Moscow said -- TETOVO, Macedonia (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
