Nationalist mobs rampage through Macedonian capital

SKOPJE - Nationalist mobs went on an anti-Western rampage through the Macedonian capital yesterday after the Government accused Nato and international peace envoys of helping ethnic Albanian rebels to tear the country apart.

Rioters stoned the Germany Embassy, broke the windows of a McDonald's and a British Airways office and torched vehicles of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The crowds cheered as flames consumed the cars that had been used to ferry around international monitors of a ceasefire that three days of fighting and aggressive government rhetoric appear to have consigned to history.

The previous night heavy fighting broke out across the flashpoint town of Tetovo, 40km to the west of Skopje, where fierce combat had killed two people, wounded around 30 and forced hundreds of Macedonians from their homes.

"There are bullets flying everywhere," said a Tetovo university student called Remzie, contacted by telephone.

The Government levelled charges of bias against Westerners trying to shore up the truce and push peace talks supposed to end a five-month rebellion by granting more rights to the ethnic Albanian minority.

A Government spokesman said American and European Union envoys had blamed Macedonia for wrecking the ceasefire.

"That is a big lie, the biggest we have heard. It removes all doubt that they are not objective," Antonio Milosovskis said.

US envoy James Pardew and EU negotiator Francois Leotard said they were shocked at the accusation.

A Western diplomat said he thought "we're in a period of hypernationalism. They're lashing out at the entire international community".

"That's very damaging to negotiations and very dangerous for the people of this country."

The Government broadside brought ties between the West and Skopje to a new low. They were badly damaged when the Government assailed the envoys last week for making peace proposals it said were tantamount to the destruction of the country.

Diplomats have been struggling to keep talks alive while voicing suspicion that hardline elements in the Government would rather return to fighting than make the unpalatable compromises needed to secure peace with the Albanian minority, who make up a third of the population.

Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, a nationalist, called on President Boris Trajkovski to launch an all-out attack on the rebels if they refuse to pull back from territory he says they took under cover of the 19-day truce.

"I'm calling on you as commander-in-chief to use your constitutional authority to give the necessary orders," he said.

The Government condemned Nato, which is to send 3000 troops to supervise the disarmament of National Liberation Army (NLA) guerrillas once a peace deal is signed.

In a further ratcheting up of tension, Macedonia ordered the closure of its border with the Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo.

- REUTERS

Feature: Yugoslavia

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Serbian Ministry of Information

Serbian Radio - Free B92

Otpor: Serbian Student Resistance Movement

Macedonian Defence Ministry

Albanians in Macedonia Crisis Centre

Kosovo information page