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Albanians Declare Ceasefire
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, March 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Ethnic Albanian separatists in northern Macedonia announced a unilateral ceasefire late Wednesday just hours before the end of an ultimatum set by Skopje was due to trigger an all-out assault on their positions.
But a source close to Macedonia's army command said the army would go ahead with the resumption of shelling if the fighters do not surrender or withdraw, moving at least 10 Soviet-made tanks, hundreds of troops and artillery to Tetovo in what the authorities say is preparation for a final push against the separatists
Ali Ahmeti, presented as the political leader of the National Liberation Army (NLA), said in an interview with RTK television in Kosovo: "We want to stop the bloodshed and find a better solution.
"Today we are declaring a ceasefire, but if one of our positions is threatened by the other side, all our forces will mobilize and the consequences will be even more serious."
"We have repeated constantly and will repeat again that we are for dialogue," he said. "We are not for a war that would create rivers of blood between two nations, because the reason for dialogue would be lost in that case."
His statement came just hours before a midnight (2300 GMT) deadline by Macedonian forces observing their own 24-hour unilateral ceasefire.
Macedonian troops had threatened to resume shelling separatist positions in the hills above Tetevo, the country's second-biggest town, if ethnic Albanian fighters did not surrender.
"They have the option of accepting the ultimatum: to give up their weapons and to surrender to authorities, or to leave Macedonian territory," the Macedonian official said after the separtist's declaration.
"At the moment, we have no indication that they are doing that," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"What we have heard is not a response to the conditions given."
The Macedonian government has repeatedly refused to entertain the prospect of talks with the fighters.
Earlier Wednesday, Commander Hoxha, the military leader of National Liberation Army, said that his men would never bow to the Macedonian ultimatum.
And he reaffirmed the separatists' determination not to let Macedonian troops and police dislodge them from hills above the town. "We will not leave our positions, we will advance and open new fronts," Hoxha said.
Ethnic Albanian gunmen have been involved in skirmishes with Skopje's security forces around the town for days, in violence that many feared could spiral out of control into a civil war.
The separatists say they are an indigenous movement fighting for greater rights in Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians are outnumbered by Slavs three to one, but Western news agencies state that the origin of the separatists is unclear.
Some ethnic Albanian politicians in Macedonia say they come from the ethnic Albanian population in the country, estimated to account for more than 20% of the total two million-strong population. Many in the community claim they are discriminated against, with their language and culture ignored by rules set under the Slav majority.
But others, including officials in NATO and members of its peacekeeping force in neighboring Kosovo, have said it appears some, maybe most, of the separatists have links to ethnic Albanians in the southern Serbian province.
In the early stages of the Macedonian conflict, separatists attacked Macedonian security forces before running back over the border into Kosovo or into a buffer zone between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia.
The BBC reports that NATO has decided to send a reported 1,000 extra peacekeepers to Kosovo to augment an already reinforced presence on the border in order to patrol the border with Macedonia.
Meanwhile, MSNBC reports that the U.N. Security Council is debating a new resolution that would condemn violence in Macedonia and southern Serbia. The draft calls on all those engaged in armed action against authorities to lay down their arms and stresses the need to solve differences through dialogue.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in Skopje to meet with Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and other top officials, has said much of the violence in the region was exported from Kosovo, "a hotbed of extremism."
Western countries and Russia have given Skopje solid support in their fight, with several governments taking up Macedonia's description of the ethnic Albanian separatists as "terrorists" capable of again shattering the Balkans tenuous peace.
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