NATO slams Macedonia rebel attacks

Macedonian troops have been fighting the rebels since February

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has issued a strong condemnation of ethnic Albanian rebel attacks in Macedonia.

His statement followed a night of rioting in which dozens of homes and shops belonging to ethnic Albanians were smashed and burned in the south of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The violence came after news that ethnic Albanian rebels had killed five Macedonian soldiers in an attack in the north of the country.

It also followed Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski saying he wants parliament to declare a state of war.

Robertson, opening a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels, Belgium, said: "NATO utterly condemns the violence of yesterday in which five soldiers were killed.

AUDIO Journalist Vladimir Gjuzelov: Shots fired at Parliament building 48sec/525kb AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO CNN's Chris Burns has more on the rebel activity in the Balkans (June 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH Macedonia: Hurdles to peace   •  Balkan hotspots   •  Interactive map   •  Macedonia's military   •  News search   •  Audio/video archive   •  In-Depth: Yugoslavia   •  In-Depth: Kosovo

"Such cowardly, senseless attacks will never achieve any political goals and they must cease.

"I urge the men of violence to lay down their arms are take part in normal political processes. They have no support among the international community at all, and no other way of achieving their ends."

Robertson also called for restraint from Macedonia, while stopping short of urging the government not to declare a state of war.

"I also encourage the government in Skopje to persevere in its two-tack approach of engaging an effective political dialogue while using necessary and proportionate military force," he said.

Macedonian politicians had suggested a declaration of war in early May to end the insurgency which began in February.

They were persuaded not to do it by the Western powers who said it would alienate ethnic Albanians and complicate the search for peace.

Ethnic Albanians say they face discrimination by majority Slavs. The government calls them terrorists trying to wreck the nation.

The U.N. refugee agency sounded a warning on Thursday that ethnic Albanian refugees might pour into Kosovo from Macedonia in large numbers if fighting there escalates.

Astrid van Genderen Stort, a spokeswoman for the Kosovo mission of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said 150,000 or more people may seek shelter in Kosovo if a state of war is declared in Macedonia.

"If the situation really escalates, people will leave," she told Reuters. "It doesn't look very optimistic at the moment."

"We're making plans for 150,000 people," she said. "If there is a state of war, it could happen. It's important to plan for the worst-case scenario."

Trajkovski would gain wider powers if a state of war was declared

Around 400 residents of Aracinovo had left Macedonia on Thursday, fearing clashes between rebels and police, according to a Reuters reporter at the border with Albanian-dominated Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanian rebels said they were back in control of Macedonian villages northeast of the capital Skopje that they had been forced from earlier by the army.

Concerns grew that the rebels might try to extend their activity to almost within Skopje by attacking Aracinovo, an Albanian-dominated district between the city centre and villages the rebels currently occupy.

The NLA's Commander Shpati said his men completely controlled Matejce, the focus of fierce fighting at the weekend, and were once more occupying the village of Vaksince.

The claims could not be independently confirmed, although the Macedonian army shelled Vaksince Wednesday, setting a house on fire -- unlikely if they still occupied the area.

Defence ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov denied the army had been forced out but said Vaksince was empty. "There are no civilians or terrorists and the army is in its positions," he said.

Declaring a state of war in Macedonia would need more than two-thirds majority approval -- or 81 of parliament's 120 deputies.

Besides allowing the military to call up all able-bodied men to fight, calling a state of war would give President Trajkovski the ability to rule by decree and appoint a government of his choosing.

Borders could be sealed, a nationwide curfew imposed and demonstrations banned.

Journalist Vladimir Gjuzelov, speaking from Skopje, told CNN that it would be very difficult for the declaration to be approved, as many parties were opposed to the move and would join ethnic Albanian deputies in voting against it.

The Parliament is due to meet on Friday.