European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana flew into Hungary today to brief the NATO alliance on his latest crisis mission to Macedonia as tensions rose in the troubled republic.
Alliance foreign ministers arrived in Budapest for two days of talks - their first formal assembly behind the old Iron Curtain - with the five-month-old ethnic Albanian insurgency in the southern Balkans high on the agenda.
Mr Solana returned during the night from talks with political leaders in Skopje aimed at shoring up the unsteady national unity government as the Macedonian army blasted ethnic Albanian rebel hideouts in the north.
Mr Solana urged the Macedonian Slav and Albanian parties to stay together but acknowledged they still had differences to sort out.
The coalition was placed under severe strain last week when it emerged ethnic Albanian party leaders had met the rebels' political chief.
"I found good will in everybody -- and understanding -- but also some differences remain. I will keep in touch with all leaders," Mr Solana said after yesterday's talks.