SKOPJE (Islamweb & Agencies) - Macedonia waited on Tuesday for U.S. envoy James Pardew's first verdict on the prospects for kick-starting stalled peace talks after another night of army helicopter strikes on ethnic Albanian fighters. Diplomats warned against expecting miracles from the man Washington appointed at the weekend to intensify Western efforts to end an ethnic Albanian revolt for equal rights before it slides into civil war that could touch off a wider Balkan conflict. Leaders from across Macedonia's ethnic divide talked for two hours in secret on Monday evening after crisis meetings with Pardew and his European Union counterpart Francois Leotard. (Read photo caption below). But the tiny republic's politicians remain bogged down in discussions about how to restart formal talks on a peace plan they agree on in principle but dispute bitterly in practice. For a second night running, the Slav-dominated army sent Mi-24 gunships swooping in on Radusa, a village held by the Albanians whose four-month uprising for greater rights for minority Albanians has brought Macedonia to the brink. Last week's controversial NATO-backed evacuation of Albanians from a village on Skopje's outskirts sought to ease the pressure on peace talks. But the Albanians have since seized new ground and vowed to advance further while the politicians stand still. Monday night's meeting was only the second since police reservists stormed parliament a week ago, firing into the air in protest at NATO's intervention and sending politicians fleeing out of a back door. But diplomats say this in itself is progress. Observers said the detention of an Albanian academic over alleged links to the fighters will not help the search for compromise. Police picked up Fadil Sulejmani, the rector of an Albanian university which inflames passions because it is denied any official status. According to the sources, renewed fighting only increases the pressure further. A spokesman for the National Liberation Army (NLA), which is demanding international mediation and is sure to welcome U.S. involvement, said on Sunday they had advanced after repeated government shelling. Ethnic Albanian politicians are equally keen on a greater foreign role in the crisis. But their Macedonian counterparts have so far resisted formalized international participation in a process designed to extend more rights to the Albanian minority. About 100,000 mostly ethnic Albanian villagers have fled their homes since the conflict began. More than 70,000 of them have gone to live with Albanian families in neighboring Kosovo.PHOTO CAPTION:Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski holds a meeting with James Pardew, U.S. special envoy at the Parliament building in Skopje, July 2, 2001. Pardew was due to meet the country's top politicians after a helicopter gunship attack and heavy shelling shattered a weekend lull. (Peter Andrews/Reuter