A tense calm descended on Macedonia's second city of Tetovo today after the government gave ethnic Albanian rebels until midnight to surrender or withdraw from hills above the town.
Cafés and some shops opened in the morning and there were people in the streets going about their business.
Macedonian forces have been firing at a hill overlooking the city of 70,000 since rebels moved in to the area a week ago and began shooting at police. But government forces did not advance up the hill. Army tanks started shelling rebel positions yesterday.
A rebel commander said the fighters would ignore the deadline and take the battle to the streets of Tetovo if the government did not negotiate on their demand for equal rights for Macedonia's estimated 600,000 Albanians.