The US envoy, Mr Richard Holbrooke, warned yesterday that the violence in Kosovo threatened to escalate into a "general war" in the Balkans, amid heightened diplomatic activity in European capitals.
Mr Holbrooke was speaking after talks with the Macedonian President, Mr Kiro Gligorov, and the Prime Minister, Mr Branko Crvenkovski. The talks were held in Skopje which, along with the Albanian capital, Tirana, is anxious about the trouble in neighbouring Yugoslavia.
"Fighting in Kosovo threatens to escalate into general war . . . and we are in the process of trying to prevent it," Mr Holbrooke said. Such a "goal will not be easy, but we will continue with the efforts," he said.
Mr Holbrooke, who has been named as the new US ambassador to the United Nations, added that the "level of violence is reduced, but this is not solving a whole problem."
Before heading to Belgrade, Mr Holbrooke met the ethnic Albanian leader, Mr Ibrahim Rugova, whose people form a majority in Kosovo and have been subjected to a violent Serbian crackdown aimed at thwarting their drive for independence. Mr Rugova is to travel later to Brussels for talks with the NATO Secretary-General, Mr Javier Solana.
The United States does not believe that the international boundaries can be changed by force, and considers Kosovo as part of Yugoslavia, Mr Holbrooke said after meeting Mr Rugova. He also warned of "great differences between Bosnia and Kosovo".
"Bosnia [at the beginning of the war in 1992] was an independent country recognised by all the world and the United Nations. The world does not regard Kosovo as an independent nation. Its status within Yugoslavia is an issue, but its status within Yugoslavia is accepted by the world," Mr Holbrooke said.
The US envoy's visit came amid a Russian diplomatic initiative, with two deputy foreign ministers visiting Yugoslavia, Albania and Macedonia.
In Athens, the foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia said yesterday they opposed NATO military action against Yugoslavia to end the conflict in Kosovo and believed diplomacy could still achieve a peaceful solution.
"We will gain the most out of a peaceful solution and the least out of war. Those in the comfortable capitals who like war games should be more modest," the Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, said after talks with Mr Blagoj Handziski of Macedonia. "Enough blood has been spilled (in the Balkans) from their amateurism."
Mr Handziski said Macedonia agreed with Greece that a diplomatic solution should be sought in the Serb province, where hundreds of people have been killed this year in clashes between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian separatists.
"Kosovo must be resolved within Yugoslavia. Any change of borders would bring a greater war in the Balkans," he said.
But in Vienna, a senior NATO military official said yesterday the alliance had not ruled out any military options for intervening in Kosovo, including air strikes within Serbia itself.