OHRID, Macedonia — Violence flared in the Macedonian capital Skopje and flashpoint town of Tetovo, dealing a new blow on Tuesday to peace talks already hampered by a sudden demand that ethnic Albanian rebels be disarmed.
Macedonian police said they had killed five Albanian rebels in a raid on a house in Skopje, and the army said it had responded to rebel attacks on checkpoints in and around Tetovo.
A rebel commander code named Leka told Reuters that the army caused extensive damage in the village of Neprosteno northwest of mainly Albanian Tetovo in heavy mortar fire through the night.
"We can't figure out what the Macedonian forces want to achieve with such actions," he said.
"Whatever it could be doesn't suit the situation. Shelling civilians' houses doesn't contribute to the peace of this country."
A Western source confirmed that houses in the village had been damaged by shell fire from the Macedonian side overnight but could not give any further details.
Macedonia's Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski said police planned the raid in Skopje, in which another five people were arrested, after discovering those inside were guerrillas.
"A terrorist group was preparing an attack on Skopje and the police carried out an operation early this morning," he told Reuters.
The violence tore into a truce between the security forces and the guerrillas, who appeared in Macedonia in February.
The NATO-brokered ceasefire had been restored only late last month after earlier bouts of heavy fighting.
NATO envoy in Ohrid
It also cast a deep shadow over peace talks in the southern lakeside resort of Ohrid which hit an unexpected obstacle when Macedonian leaders suddenly demanded guarantees on Monday from NATO of full ethnic Albanian guerrilla disarmament.
NATO envoy Pieter Feith was in Ohrid on Tuesday to try to persuade the Macedonians to drop the demand, which could derail a delicate peace process just as it was showing signs of nearing completion, Macedonian and Western sources said.
Political talks on an agreement between Macedonian party leaders and their ethnic Albanian counterparts—who are not linked to the rebels—on reforms to give the minority greater rights had been due to be wrapped up on Monday or Tuesday.
Western mediators were hoping for a quick resolution of the disarmament dispute so they could finalise the agreement, opening the way for an expected amnesty of the rebels which was designed, like the political reforms, to persuade them to lay down their arms.
NATO has offered to send a force of up to 3,500 troops to collect weapons from the guerrillas, who have said they will end their fight once they win minority rights but do not want to hand their arms over to the Macedonian security forces.
The alliance says it will not disarm the rebels by force, fearing possible reprisals both on the troops in Macedonia and its peacekeeping force in neighbouring mainly Albanian Kosovo.
President Boris Trajkovski chaired a security council meeting with senior cabinet ministers from the Macedonian side in Ohrid on Monday night to discuss how far to push the demand.
NATO urged to disarm rebels
"If there is no full disarmament, the security council expects NATO to take urgent steps for complete disarmament," said a statement issued by the council after the session ended.
"It is necessary for NATO in cooperation with the international community to undertake urgent activities for full disarmament of the armed extremists."
The statement made an oblique reference to a clause in the agreement in which the Macedonian side pledges to get it approved by parliament, along with any constitutional changes required to implement it, within 45 days of signing.
But it was not clear if it was specifically making retention of that clause a condition of full rebel disarmament.
Diplomats say this would be virtually impossible to verify, let alone implement, since guerrillas could simply bury their weapons in remote places.
It was also unclear if the Macedonian side was insisting that disarmament begin before it even signs a deal, as suggested by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski in a speech last week.
The rebels, who are not at the talks, say they want to see improvements for rights of Albanians, who make up about a third of the population, before giving up their arms.
"The percentage of implementation achieved will decide the percentage of disarmament," a rebel commander codenamed Djini told Reuters.
Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Skopje and Ana Petruseva in Ohrid