Tetovo, Macedonia — Fighting between government troops and ethnic Albanian rebels sent residents scurrying for cover Sunday on the outskirts of Macedonia's second-largest city and mixed the sounds of gunfire with chants of churchgoers praying for peace.
Macedonian gunners un-leashed sustained artillery and mortar strikes Sunday for the fifth straight day, targeting the wooded foothills where the rebels have been hiding and returning fire on Tetovo. Government forces fired large-caliber mortars, sending 120-mm rounds looping behind a mountain ridge in an attempt to reach insurgent positions farther back.
Fighting between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian rebels has gone on for five days. Residents of Tetovo, Macedonia, and a police special forces officer ran for cover from sniper fire Sunday.
In an address to the nation Sunday, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski announced new measures to crack down on the rebels' fight for greater rights and recognition, including a curfew and restrictions on movement in the Tetovo region.
He rebuked the United States and Germany, whose troops patrol the neighboring Yugoslav province of Kosovo as part of NATO's contingent there, of not doing enough to stop the rebels. Meanwhile, he said, "Macedonia is rapidly arming itself."
"You cannot convince us that the chieftains of these gangs are unknown to your governments, nor can you persuade us that they cannot be stopped," Georgievski said.
While stepping up border patrols inside Kosovo to interdict fighters and supplies to the zone and to Macedonia, the NATO alliance refuses to be drawn directly into fighting that could lead to casualties.
Only a handful of people and a few cars with their headlights off crept through the streets Sunday evening as a curfew in Tetovo took effect and the sound of weaponry fire echoed through the deserted streets.
Despite the ferocity of the Slav-led government's assault, there was evidence that the insurgents were winning over some ethnic Albanians. Although ethnic relations in Macedonia have been relatively trouble-free, substantial numbers of the minority feel they are being treated as second-class citizens.
But although the National Liberation Army urged ordinary citizens to take up arms and join their struggle, some ethnic Albanians remained suspicious of the rebels and their motives.
"I don't know what to say about them. I do not know even if we can trust them or not," said Shefik Azizi, 25, after guiding a group of fellow ethnic Albanians fleeing the threat of violence into neighboring Albania.
The rebels insist their battle is not being instigated from neighboring Kosovo by the former Kosovo Liberation Army, but the latest uprising shares the aspirations for ethnic Albanian self-determination, if not outright independence.
In Tetovo's Slav neighborhood of Koltuk, about 30 people gathered Sunday for Christian Orthodox service at St. Nicholas church. They held twigs of dried sage during chants of the Lenten Liturgy, drowned out by the sounds of battle less than half a mile away.
"Pray for the Christians of Macedonia and especially here in Tetovo," intoned the priest.
The sharp smell of the burning woodlands around the city, carried by a north wind coming from the direction of Tetovo, drifted into the church and mixed with the earthy odors of incense.
"I don't often go to church," said Dimitri Kolovski. "But how can you not pray at a time like this?"
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