The renewed hostilities in Kosovo have once more brought the Balkans close to widespread conflict. A flurry of diplomatic activity by the United States, Russia, France, Holland and Greece in the past 24 hours serves to underline the seriousness of the situation. With its largely Albanian population, linked closely to compatriots in Macedonia as well as in Albania itself, the potential for fighting to spread to other Balkan states is obvious.
Despite efforts - mainly by Russia - to negotiate a peace deal by purely diplomatic means, the latest fighting has brought tension in the area to its highest since the current crisis broke out in February. On this occasion a 1,000-strong column of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was attacked on the Albanian border by the Serb-controlled Yugoslav army.
Serb shells landed on the Albanian side of the border raising the political temperature in Tirana, and claims by pro-government media in Serbia that soldiers from the Albanian army had crossed into Yugoslav territory have served to inflame opinion in Belgrade.
Assertions by politicians and media which support the Yugoslav president, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, should be distrusted. The State television service, and a section of the press, has in the past shown scant regard for the truth in matters of political importance in the region.
It is highly unlikely that Albania's government would take the dangerous course of intervening militarily in Yugoslavia. The country's prime minister, Mr Fatos Nano, has consistently stopped short of calling for territorial integration of Kosovo and Albania, and the horrific internal events of March, 1997, ended in the destruction of the Albanian army as an effective fighting force. The Yugoslav army, on the other hand is a battle-hardened and well-equipped force likely to deal more than effectively with any Albanian incursion.
The KLA is a different matter. Dedicated to the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia it is a purely military organisation. Having no political wing it is almost impossible to deal with it on a diplomatic basis and it also appears to have been involved not only in its mission in Kosovo proper but in attempts to destabilise Albania itself.
The region of Albania that borders on Kosovo is the political heartland for Mr Sali Berisha who was Albania's president when the country imploded 16 months ago. Close supporters of Mr Berisha are known to be involved with the KLA and a crisis in which the current Albanian government's lack of political and military strength is highlighted would serve Mr Berisha's purposes quite well.
The fact that Kosovo is also being used for domestic political reasons by Mr Milosevic shows how difficult it will be to achieve a resolution to the crisis. The talks yesterday between Mr Clinton's Balkan envoy, Mr Robert Gelbard, and Yugoslav opposition leaders in The Hague are to be welcomed. So too are the moves by the Greek foreign minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, to act as a mediator between Belgrade and Tirana. Greece, like Russia, is a traditional ally of Serbia but it also looks to a considerable ethnic-Greek population in southern Albania.
A concerted effort by the countries seen as friends of Serbia and Albania is needed urgently to defuse the current explosive situation.