Macedonia has given ethnic Albanian rebels 24 hours to surrender or withdraw from its territory. The ultimatum said that troops would not fire on rebel positions at the town of Tetovo from midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow unless attacked. Tonight, a rebel commander said that they would ignore the ultimatum. The commander, code named Skopje, told Reuters his forces were confident that they could resist a threatened onslaught by Macedonian army tanks and artillery.
Earlier today, Macedonian tanks and artillery bombarded the hills overlooking Tetovo in an effort to dislodge ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Macedonia's president warned that the fighting threatens the stability of the Balkans, while the visiting EU foreign affairs spokesman, Javier Solana, has referred to the guerrillas as terrorists. He said that the EU backed what he called a proportional military response. He also said that a political not a military solution must be found.
In another development, the United Nations refugee body said that the exodus of people from northwestern Macedonia is worsening as the situation there continues to deteriorate. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that nearly 4,000 ethnic Albanians have fled in the past week, while another 4,000 people, both Albanian and Slave, have been displaced. Government troops are being concentrated in and around the town of Tetovo.
Today, fierce fighting continued between government troops and rebel ethnic Albanians. The Macedonian government says that it is determined to crush the rebellion - which is led by Albanian fighters who live in Macedonia, helped by ethnic Albanians in neighbouring Kosovo. Frantic diplomatic efforts are in train to contain this latest Balkan crisis.
For six days now the Albanian rebels have been holding out in the villages they have occupied in the hills. The rebel commander in a village in Selce said that there are over 2,000 armed fighters around Tetovo. Their aim, he says, is to create an independent country within Macedonia for the 2 million ethnic Albanians who live there - a quarter of the population.
It is not just the Macedonia that is under threat - neighbouring countries like Albania itself are keen to snuff out the trouble in case it spreads. Already some 4,000 people have fled their homes in and around Tetovo - if the fighting really erupts there'll be many more.
Earlier, about 400 German troops arrived in the besieged Macedonian town. The soldiers are from the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force. It is unclear why the troops have come to the town. Nearly 900 out of 1,000 German troops stationed in Tetovo withdrew to a base outside the town on Friday after the rebels opened fire on their barracks.
The Macedonian authorities say that they are mounting a counter-offensive to retake lands seized by ethnic Albanian rebels near the country's border with Kosovo. Military and special police reinforcements have been arriving in the city of Tetovo, which is at the centre of the week-old conflict.
