Macedonians Keep Shelling Rebel Positions

The sound of heavy artillery fire mixed with the chants of churchgoers praying for peace Sunday as government forces pounded hills held by ethnic Albanian rebels seeking to expand their struggle for more rights in Slav-majority Macedonia.

The Macedonian government ordered a general mobilization of reservists to counter the guerrilla assault and began other preparations for a wider conflict.

Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski declared in a televised speech to the nation that he would not negotiate with “terrorists.” Government forces are being doubled every day in Tetovo, he said, and the city will be subject to a nightly curfew.

Macedonian gunners in Tetovo, Macedonia’s second-largest city, unleashed sustained artillery and mortar strikes Sunday, targeting the wooded foothills where the rebels have been hiding and returning fire.

At midmorning, government forces started firing large-caliber mortars, sending 120-millimeter rounds behind a mountain ridge in an attempt to reach insurgent positions.

In Tetovo’s Slav neighborhood of Koltuk, about 30 people gathered for an Orthodox Christian service at the church of St. Nicholas. They held twigs of dried sage during the chants of the Lenten liturgy, which were 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 burning woodlands set ablaze by artillery drifted into the church and mixed with the earthy odors of incense.

Outside the church, more people packed their cars with essentials and headed away from Tetovo. Hundreds were reported to have fled from Tetovo and Skopje, the capital, including about 350 Slavic Macedonians, who arrived Sunday in southern Serbia, and ethnic Albanians crossing into Albania.

For a second day Sunday, thousands of protesters demonstrated in Skopje, gathering outside Georgievski’s office to demand stability so that those who have fled can return.