President George W. Bush has not ruled out the possibility of sending US troops to Macedonia to help quell unrest there.
"I take no option off the table in terms of the troops. We're a participant in NATO", Mr Bush told reporters yesterday when asked if he saw any chance of committing US soldiers to Macedonia to prevent a civil war.
He pointed out that he had pledged during a trip to Europe earlier this month that the US would stick with NATO peacekeeping forces in the Balkans as long as they are there. Mr Bush also elaborated on an executive order he signed earlier in the day taking steps to stop ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia from being financed by US citizens.
A new European Union envoy yesterday urged Macedonia to talk to ethnic Albanian guerrillas. But the former Yugoslav republic, appearing keener to crush them by force, shelled a rebel stronghold.
"They have to speak with these guerrillas to try, with the leaders of this Albanian-speaking part of their country, to see that a consensus emerges and peace can be installed," the envoy, Mr Francois Leotard, told Europe 1 radio.
Western officials, desperate to prevent another Balkan war, have been trying to foster government talks with politicians representing ethnic Albanians, but have not said before that the armed rebels should be brought into negotiations.
EU and NATO officials said in Brussels that Mr Leotard's remarks did not reflect the official Western position, which rules out talks with the guerrillas, and he may have confused rebels with the Albanian political leaders. Prospects of the government listening to Mr Leotard looked dim.
Macedonian forces shelled one village held by the rebels and reportedly bombarded another area yesterday, a day after President Boris Trajkovski seemed to ease inter-ethnic tensions with an appeal for calm.
Skopje, where ethnic Albanians and members of the majority ethnic Slav population live side by side, appeared to be returning to normal. The capital was shaken by nationalist riots on Monday which seemed to be pushing Macedonia towards civil war.
The UN refugee agency said 1,800 more people entered Kosovo on Tuesday, bringing the total to 71,370 since fighting began in February.
A Reuters cameraman said troops reinforced a position near the village of Umin Dol, in the north-east, as heavy artillery and tank fire struck the neighbouring village of Nikustak which lies six 6 km from war-torn Aracinovo.
The United States plans to commit large amounts of money at a donors' conference tomorrow to help rebuild Yugoslavia, but it will not do so unless Belgrade continues to co-operate with the UN war crimes tribunal, a US official said yesterday.
Washington decided to attend the Brussels conference after Yugoslav authorities moved to transfer former president Slobodan Milosevic to the UN court at The Hague.