NATO to collect surrendered weapons

SKOPJE, Macedonia – The United States will not abandon efforts to bring peace to Macedonia, a senior U.S. envoy said yesterday, part of a broader message to reassure Balkan countries that Washington will not turn isolationist after the terrorist attacks against it.

"The situation in Macedonia is not affected by the tragedies in New York and Washington," U.S. envoy James Pardew told The Associated Press, alluding to the attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon.

Pardew said Washington "remains focused on the situation in Macedonia," even as unprecedented resources are turned toward rooting out terrorism.

Pardew, a key architect of a peace plan designed to end this country's six-month rebel insurgency by granting concessions to the ethnic Albanian minority, restricted his comments to Macedonia.

But his message appeared designed to reach a broader audience of Balkan allies concerned the United States will turn into Fortress America and neglect international commitments in favor of a single-minded war on terror.

Thousands of U.S. troops serve in NATO-led peace forces in neighboring Kosovo and in Bosnia, and President Bush campaigned for election in part on pledges that he would reduce the American armed presence in the Balkans - promises he has moved away from.