-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Macedonian government forces resume shelling Location of ambush (KRT) By Radul Radovanovic The Associated Press Published May 6 2001, 2:59 PM CDT RECICA, Macedonia -- Macedonian forces lobbed shells into villages seized by ethnic Albanian rebels northeast of the capital Sunday, pounding militant strongholds just hours after the expiration of a deadline set for civilians to evacuate. The fighting follows a pledge by the Balkan country's prime minister to pressure parliament to declare a state of war -- a move designed to give the government a freer hand in attacks against militants hunkered down near the border with Kosovo. ``The integrity of our country is threatened,'' government spokesman Antonio Milososki told reporters at a news conference only a few miles from the site of recent attacks. Bolstering his claims, rebels opened fire on soldiers near the country's second-largest city, Tetovo, the site of clashes and a massive government offensive in March. There were no reported injuries, but army officials pledged to respond in kind to prevent the creation of a second front-line. The new spate of fighting underlined the government's increasingly tenuous hold on control in areas near the border with the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo. It also alarmed international officials concerned about the prospect of another Balkan conflict. European Union officials urged Macedonia not to declare a state of war, sending their top diplomatic envoy to push for an end to the fighting between the government and ethnic Albanian rebels. Javier Solana, the EU's security affairs chief, was to ask Prime Minister Ljbuco Georgievski to work harder at creating peace and forestalling war with rebels who insist they are denied equal rights under the country's constitution. Solana was to be joined Monday NATO's secretary-general, Lord Robertson. So far world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush, have backed Macedonia's adamant refusal to negotiate with the rebels, whom the government views as terrorists trying to seize territory and carve out an ethnic Albanian state. A state of war would give President Boris Trajkovski the ability to rule by decree and appoint a government of his choosing. Borders could be sealed, a nationwide curfew imposed and demonstrations banned. Extreme measures, though, could radicalize the country's sizable ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up as much as one-third of the population. EU officials fear such a move could destabilize Macedonia -- the only former Yugoslav republic to secede without bloodshed -- by pushing the country's ethnic Albanian population to support the rebel cause. The government tried Sunday to press its case on the battlefield. Heavy artillery fire intensified Sunday shortly before noon with shelling directed toward the villages of Vaksince and Lojane, located some five miles from the Kosovo border. The attack began just one hour after an 11 a.m. deadline expired for residents to the flee the area of fighting. The Red Cross local branch in the city of Kumanovo said it had registered so far 420 displaced people coming from three villages in the area of fighting, including 23 ethnic Albanian families. Many more have fled to Kosovo. Astrid Van Genderen Stort, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that more than 1,000 people had fled from Macedonia to Kosovo in the last few days, some trekking through the hills and others using the regular border crossing. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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