Fighting between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas subsided on Thursday, but the two sides squabbled over how thousands of civilians trapped in the battle-zone should be evacuated. The contested village of Matejce, some 13 miles northeast of the capital Skopje, was quiet after the two sides exchanged machinegun and mortar fire through the night.
But some small arms fire and a short burst of artillery was heard further north, close to the village of Slupcane. A plan on Wednesday to evacuate some 8,000 civilians trapped in guerrilla-held villages with dwindling supplies of food and water was scrapped after each side accused the other of sparking a fresh bout of fighting.
The government accuses the guerrillas of using civilians as human shields in their five-month-old campaign for greater rights for the Balkan state's ethnic Albanian minority. But the guerrillas say civilians in the northern hills, most of them ethnic Albanians, fear mistreatment by Macedonian security forces if they do flee.
A statement from the "civilian defence councils" of four rebel-held villages said government proposals for the evacuation of civilians were unacceptable.
The council leaders objected to plans for a collection point at a sports stadium in the town of Kumanovo. They said men would be taken off to take paraffin tests to see if they had used firearms and "would be declared terrorists whatever the result." The statement called for the villages of Lipkovo and Otlja "which are overcrowded and in dire need of medicines, food and water" to be declared safe havens under UN protection. Bureau Report