Albanian rebels dig in, vow to ignore Govt deadline

TETOVO - Ethnic Albanian rebels were being given until 11 am today (New Zealand time) to withdraw, surrender, or face a Macedonian Army onslaught with tanks and artillery in the hills behind the city of Tetovo.

They also faced the condemnation of major powers, who warned there would be "zero tolerance" for any more deliberate ethnic violence in the volatile Balkans.

But a guerrilla commander said the fighters would ignore the deadline and take the battle to the streets of Tetovo if the Government did not negotiate on their demand for equal rights for Macedonia's 600,000 Albanians.

"Morale is high, our ammunition is plentiful and casualties are light," the commander, codenamed Skopje, asserted by telephone from the hills.

Macedonian forces have been pounding a hill overlooking the mainly Albanian city of 70,000 for the past seven days after the guerrillas showed up last Wednesday and began firing on police.

In the past two days, the sound of heavy weapons has also been heard from the valleys behind, indicating operations out of sight of reporters to encircle the ridge that rises from the city's northwestern outskirts.

Troops of Nato's Kosovo peacekeeping mission reinforced their presence on the mountainous border, one possible line of retreat for the guerrillas. But the territory they move in is spacious and remote.

The Interior and Defence Ministries said Macedonian troops would not fire on rebel positions for 24 hours unless attacked.

"After this deadline, Macedonian security forces will continue using all means against positions of terrorists until they are completely destroyed," the Government said.

The ultimatum was issued hours after the Army started using tanks to shell rebel positions for the first time.

European Union security chief Javier Solana, visiting Skopje to back the Government, told the gunmen they would achieve nothing by force and advised his hosts not to negotiate.

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, will be obtained by violent means," Solana told reporters. "It is a mistake to negotiate with the terrorists and we do not recommend it."

The six-power international Contact Group on the Balkans would show "zero tolerance" towards the gunmen, said Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini of Italy, a member of the group along with the United States, France, Germany, Britain and Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was due to hold talks in Skopje overnight after Moscow warned the violence could spiral out of control unless stamped out - by force if necessary.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac added their weight to demands for an end to the fighting, and respect for Macedonia's territorial integrity.

A rebel commander earlier said his fighters over Tetovo were dug in and had not been dislodged by Macedonian gunfire.

"We are not afraid of them," Sadri Ahmeti, a leading member of the self-styled National Liberation Army, said from at his base in the mountain village of Selce.

Nearly 8000 people have fled their homes in Macedonia to escape the fighting, with half of them crossing into Albania. Most went to friends and family, relief organisations said.

The guerrillas say they are fighting for better rights for Albanians in Slav-dominated Macedonia, where many feel they have been treated as second-class citizens.

- REUTERS

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