The United States announced today the appointment of a special envoy to Macedonia, beefing up international efforts to prevent a new war from engulfing the Balkans.
The US embassy in Skopje said Mr James Pardew would arrive on Sunday and work alongside European Union peace envoy Mr Francois Leotard who began work in the Macedonian capital on Thursday.
These two appointments reflect growing international involvement in Macedonia, where an ethnic Albanian rebellion, which government forces have been unable to quell, threatens to unleash all-out civil war and a wider Balkan conflagration.
Unlike Mr Leotard, Mr Pardew has Balkans experience as a senior adviser on the Balkans at the State Department.
He has been involved in pacifying Serbia's Presevo Valley where another ethnic Albanian guerrilla group had confronted Serbian troops before agreeing to disarm.
In March, Mr Pardew told an ethnic Albanian party in Kosovo to stop backing National Liberation Army rebels in Macedonia.
He has also advocated a decision, ordered by US President George W. Bush earlier this week, to impose a travel ban on ethnic Albanians from Macedonia and Kosovo supected of links with the guerrillas.