Gunfire erupts in volatile part of Macedonia

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Scattered gunfire rattled early Sunday through a volatile part of Macedonia the government has said it intends to eventually retake from ethnic Albanian rebels who seized control during a six-month insurgency, police and witnesses said.

A total of about 50 rounds were fired into the air in what a police official said appeared to be a rebel warning to government authorities to back off from rebel strongholds in suburbs and villages near Tetovo, Macedonia's second largest city. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The gunfire came at a delicate time for the Balkan country, where majority Macedonians and minority ethnic Albanians are gradually implementing a Western-brokered peace plan signed last month.

Last week, NATO troops collected more than 3,300 weapons handed in by rebels as part of the peace deal, mostly in the area where the shots were fired Sunday. The top rebel leader later announced that his guerrillas, known as the National Liberation Army, had disbanded.

On Saturday, Macedonia's government promised to use restraint in restoring control over areas that were in rebel hands during the fighting, which broke out in February and killed dozens of people.

The Macedonian-dominated government said it would not move into those areas until other provisions of the peace accord are fulfilled -- including its own obligation to implement legal reforms granting broader rights to ethnic Albanians who make up nearly one-third of the population.

But the authorities also say there is an urgent need to restore law and order in the contested areas and enable thousands of refugees displaced by the fighting to return home.