Macedonia moves to crush rebels

Macedonia’s President has vowed to defeat ethnic Albanian rebels both politically and militarily amid signs the violence could spread and move closer to the capital Skopje.

President Boris Trajkovski promised deputies in the Balkan nation’s parliament that his Government would place the army and police under a single command, increasing efficiency and speeding up ‘‘the neutralising of the terrorists’’.

But he acknowledged that force alone would not end the months-long insurgency and pledged to jump-start dialogue with ethnic Albanian political leaders to try solve the crises that has been tearing apart the fledgling nation.