Macedonia urged to forge peace

Fighting is continuing amid hopes of a peace agreement

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Pressure is growing on Macedonia to strike a deal with ethnic Albanian politicians as Western leaders said it had gained the initiative in its fight against rebels.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said Macedonia had succeeded in isolating the armed ethnic Albanian rebels, and should take an early political initiative to address Albanian grievances.

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He was speaking after three Kosovo Albanian leaders -- Ibrahim Rugova, the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, and two former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj -- released a statement urging the rebels to lay down their arms and return home.

"This country is still on a knife-edge but in the last three days the government has regained confidence, regained ground and regained the initiative," Lord Robertson said on Friday.

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Action by the Skopje government to try and flush the rebels from the hillsides with mortar bombardments, coupled with universal international condemnation, had "marginalised the armed extremists" fighting near the city of Tetovo, he said.

"There is a chance for a breakthrough and I certainly am urging the Macedonian Government to seize that opportunity," Lord Robertson added.

International support also came from European Union leaders currently meeting in Stockholm.

The EU confirmed its support for Macedonia by saying it would sign a stabilisation and association pact with Skopje next month -- the first formal step on the road to eventual membership of the union.

Macedonian troops and police have carried out an offensive against the rebels near the city of Tetovo since the passing of a 24-hour ceasefire deadline on Thursday.

Germany has pledged to send about 130 extra soldiers to Skopje to reinforce patrols on the Kosovo border with Macedonia, a route that has allegedly been used by rebels to smuggle weapons and soldiers.

Macedonia boosted its fire power on Friday when it took possession of two Russian-made Mi-24 helicopter gunships from the Ukraine.

Troops continued to fire heavy mortar fire at the hillsides around Tetovo as well as Tanusevci near the border with Kosovo, and at one stage attacked suspected rebel rear-supply bases inside Kosovo, defence ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov said.

The government appealed to ethnic Albanian civilians in the border regions with Kosovo to leave their homes so as not to become "rebel hostages."

The United Nation's refugee agency, the UNHCR, said more than 22,000 civilians had fled their homes since the fighting began more than a week ago, most of them going to stay with friends and relatives.

NATO pledge

Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, who attended the EU summit in Stockholm, said he was confident the country could avoid all-out civil war.

He said his armed forces were able to cope with the rebels without outside help, provided NATO kept its pledge to secure Macedonia's mountainous northern border with U.N.-administered Kosovo.

Lord Robertson said the National Liberation Army rebels appeared to have left their strategic positions and moved further back into thickly wooded territory.

"They are surrounded both in the political and in the military sense," he added. "I do not think there is going to be another Balkan war, nor need there be."

A source close to the rebels said commanders of the NLA were due to meet to discuss their unilateral ceasefire and were expected to stick to it unless government troops came within 500 yards of their positions.

Hopes for peace talks increased when Trajkovski agreed on the need for a broad political dialogue with elected representatives from the ethnic Albanian community -- even if he refused to speak to the rebels themselves.

He admitted that high unemployment among Macedonia's Albanian population had helped fuel the insurrection.

Ethnic Albanians, who account for between a quarter and a third of Macedonia's population, want improved civil rights including more recognition of their language and better education.

Lord Robertson said: "I hope the Macedonians will continue to be restrained and not engage in an unnecessary military confrontation with these people and focus on uniting the country."

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Macedonian government
The European Union
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Kosovo Information
NATO
United Nations

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