If we are serious about this we need considerable more manpower on the border. The guerrillas enjoy widespread support from ethnic Al banians, who constitute up to a third of the 2m population. Many say they have been treated as second-class citizens. Macedonia, which has one of the best human rights records in the Balkans, says ultra-nationalist Albanians are stirring ethnic hatred. Rebels interviewed near their temporary base in the village of Selce at the weekend said they intended to take over western Macedonia to form a federation within the country.
Sceptics say the real objective is joining an enlarged, independent Kosovo.
Leaflets have been delivered in the southern city of Struga demanding the enlistment of Albanian men. Political analysts say support for the Democratic Party of the Albanians, which has five ministers in the government, seems to be falling. Since the police in Tetovo were first fired on last Wednesday, relations between Albanian and Macedonian neighbours have deteriorated sharply. Macedonians, who make up about a fifth of the city's 200,000 inhabitants, feel vulnerable and are furious that many Albanians cheer the attackers. Several hundred families have fled, as have hundreds of Albanians and Turks, including busloads heading for Istanbul.