Macedonian Town Rocked by Fierce FightingMacedonian forces fought ethnic Albanian rebels on the outskirts of Tetovo on Friday in a third day of violence that has intensified international fears of a new Balkan ethnic conflict, according to a Reuters report.In the narrow streets of the Kotluk district, heavily armed Macedonian police units poured fire onto guerrilla positions on the slopes of the Baltepe mountain on the edge of town. The rebels aimed heavy machinegun and automatic rifle fire into the district of small two-storey houses, where most of the ethnic Albanian-dominated town's Macedonian population live. Meanwhile in Athens, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said that the alliance had boosted its presence on the border in Kosovo to cut off supplies to the guerrillas. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher visited the capital Skopje, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) away and condemned the guerrillas, who Macedonia and the West say are set on upsetting Macedonia's ethnic balance and heightening regional tensions. Robertson said measures were already in place to try to stem the flow of supplies across the border, and that helicopters and electronic surveillance equipment were being brought in. Moreover, the head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for a crackdown on suspected sources of funding for ethnic Albanian guerrillas operating in Macedonia and elsewhere in the Balkans. |
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