NATO tells rebels to surrender

Ethnic Albanians are fleeing from rebel-held villages

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson is urging ethnic-Albanian rebels in Macedonia to lay down their arms.

Macedonian government forces are continuing to hold their fire after the noon (1000 GMT) deadline passed for the rebels to surrender on Thursday.

Sporadic clashes earlier in the day, blamed on the militants, sparked a brief firefight with the army, but the front line close to the border with Kosovo remained relatively quiet.

Speaking in Albania, Robertson warned NATO would help Macedonia "aggressively cleanse" its border with Kosovo if necessary.

He also said the alliance would step in if rebels tried to move from Serbia to Macedonia to join forces. However, he expressed hope that the surrender of scores of fighters in southern Serbia's Presevo Valley was a good sign that perhaps a wider conflict could be avoided.

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"It's possible that a handful of people may make that journey south," Robertson said. "But I think most of them, having laid down their arms, will now go back to conventional activities again.

"Of course, that is why tough policing of the border is so important, because it makes it very difficult for these people to relocate themselves from one theatre of fighting to another."

He said NATO was "aggressively policing" Kosovo's borders to prevent rebel infiltration of southern Serbia or Macedonia.

Shortly after the deadline expired, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski ordered his troops to refrain from launching an onslaught, saying civilians must be allowed to leave the besieged area near the border with Kosovo.

"We can defeat them within a day or two but our assessment is that this is not only a military problem and that whatever steps are taken must lead to a long-term solution and avoid unnecessary bloodshed," he said.

The government's decision to back down from an all-out offensive followed intense international lobbying, with Robertson reiterating that NATO was willing to assist Macedonia's military "to defend its integrity."

Amid concern that fighting in Macedonia could spill over into neighbouring countries, he urged the country's new unity government to press ahead with reforms empowering the ethnic-Albanian minority.

CNN's Chris Burns said diplomats from eight Balkan countries meeting in Albania had urged the rebels to back down in exchange for an amnesty.

He said that would buy more time for the new unity government to address rebel concerns demanding more rights for ethnic Albanians.

Burns said there was no sign of the rebels pulling out of the villages, 16 miles (25 kilometres) north of Skopje, and the area was quiet.

However, government observers said on Thursday morning that up to 850 ethnic-Albanian civilians were seen moving out of the rebel-held villages of Opaje and Nikustac following two weeks of clashes in the region bordering Kosovo.

Macedonian President Boris Trajkovksi said the current ceasefire was producing results, as ethnic-Albanian civilians were leaving villages in the battle zone and more were preparing to move out.

The decision not to launch an offensive should not be taken as any sign of hesitancy, he warned.

"We have analysed the situation in the conflict zone near Kumanovo and we believe that the ceasefire is producing results," he said.

"A significant amount of villagers have left their homes in some areas and others are preparing to do the same."

Top European leaders had earlier urged Skopje to show restraint for fear that civilian casualties would drive ethnic-Albanian parties out of the new coalition government.

The government blamed the rebels for sporadic new clashes and accused them of holding civilians as human shields.

Burns said exchanges of fire near the village of Slupcane on Wednesday night and Thursday morning indicated the rebels had no intention of pulling back.

A European Union delegation, led by Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, visited Skopje on Wednesday. The three-member team, who also included EU Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten, met Trajkovski in an effort to diffuse the growing tensions.

Alarmed by the escalating fighting between government troops and ethnic-Albanian militants, Macedonia's leaders on Sunday created a broad-based coalition government, uniting all major ethnic Albanian and Macedonian Slavic parties.

The new government faces the task of bridging deep differences sparked by distrust between the majority Slavs and the ethnic Albanian minority and demands by that minority to have the country's constitution changed to guarantee them greater rights.

Burns said there were divisions within the government over how much force troops should use against the rebels.

The Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity had argued for a softer response than that proposed by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski in an effort to isolate them politically.