Macedonia: Gunmen ambush minister's car

Gunmen ambushed Macedonia’s interior minister yesterday, spraying his car with bullets as he travelled to visit refugees returning to their homes.

No one was injured in the attack, which came as leaders deadlocked in peace talks.

The attack occurred at about 6pm (5pm Irish time) on the main highway linking Skopje, the capital, and Tetovo, Macedonia’s second-largest city, as the car carrying Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski and journalists with state-run television passed near the village of Grupcin.

Gunfire rang out from both sides of the highway, but the car managed to evade the gunmen, and Boskovski’s guards returned fire in a gun battle which lasted about five minutes, state-run TV reported.

The ambush happened as key Government and ethnic Albanian leaders were engaged in a second day of peace talks in the southwestern city of Ohrid aimed at ending five bitter months of conflict between security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

In a statement, Boskovksi blamed the attack on the rebels and called on ‘‘the police and the army to establish control over the entire Macedonian territory’’.

He added: ‘‘Not a single smart man can trust terrorists any longer. We have to prepare and be ready to regain lost territory.’’

Despite the lingering threat of civil war and reports that ethnic Albanian rebels were re-grouping, the feuding parties remained deadlocked in their talks at a lake-side presidential retreat in Ohrid.

European Union envoy Francois Leotard, who is mediating the talks along with United States envoy James Pardew, said there was ‘‘no progress yet’’ and that the talks would resume today.

A diplomat close to the negotiations said proposals to make Albanian an official language and let local mayors select their own police chiefs remained the key sticking points.

In an apparent concession to majority Macedonians, a compromise was on the table to make Albanian official only in areas where ethnic Albanians account for more than 20% of the population.

Ethnic Albanians, however, were holding out for equal recognition.

Zjlcelal Hajdari, an ethnic Albanian, said: ‘‘Our minimum request is for our language to be an official language on all levels not only at the local level, because we will have administrative problems.’’

The language dispute underscores the deep cultural differences between ethnic Albanians, who account for about a third of the Balkan country’s two million people, and Macedonians of Slavic origin.

Ethnic Albanian rebels launched an insurgency in February, saying they were fighting for greater rights and recognition for their people.

The Macedonian Government alleges that the rebels are linked to militants in neighbouring Kosovo and has accused them of trying to carve out territory.

The Defence Ministry said rebels near Tetovo, Macedonia’s second-largest city, fired four mortars on an army barracks yesterday, but missed.

It said there were sporadic minor clashes around Tetovo overnight and reports that the rebels were re-grouping near the northern village of Vaksince.

Two civilians were killed Sunday when they stepped on a landmine in a northern village in an area that had been under rebel control, said Defence Ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski.

The Macedonians were being represented at the talks by President Boris Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski and Branko Crvenkovski, the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Alliance.

The ethnic Albanian representatives were Imer Imeri, of the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity, and Arben Xhaferi, of the Democratic Party of Albanians.

Hundreds of ethnic Albanian refugees today began returning to their homes in Aracinovo, a suburb of Skopje the rebels took earlier this month until Government forces drove them out.

The returnees reacted with anger and disbelief at the scene: Houses and other buildings lay in ruins after having been hit by rockets and mortar shells. Others still standing had no more running water or electricity.

‘‘How are we going to live here? How are our children going to live here?’’ said one elderly man who as he looked at the wreckage of his home.

‘‘The Macedonian police and the Macedonian army have destroyed everything here.’’