Peace Mission to Yugoslavia Fails : Ethnic strife: The head of the EC delegation predicts that the disintegrating country is ‘facing tragedy and catastrophe.’ He blames Serbia for the impasse.

The head of a European Community peace mission withdrew in frustration from the Yugoslav crisis Sunday, announcing that mediation efforts had failed and predicting that the disintegrating country is “facing tragedy and catastrophe.”

After two days of meetings with leaders of the warring republics of Croatia and Serbia and with the collective Yugoslav presidency in Belgrade, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Hans van den Broek, in a grim mood, told reporters, “We have not succeeded. . . . At this very moment, there is nothing more we can do here.”

Van den Broek came to Yugoslavia accompanied by the foreign ministers of Portugal and Luxembourg. He said the EC had proposed establishing a truce, monitored by joint Croatian, Serbian and federal army units. But the proposal never got off the ground, he indicated.

“We have to conclude there is no unanimity here and that there is a lack of political will which would allow for a comprehensive cease-fire agreement,” he said.

Upon his arrival home in the Netherlands later in the day, Van den Broek laid the blame for the failure on Serbia, the Associated Press reported. He said that although the Croats realized “it was time to give up a number of frozen-in stand points for the greater good,” the Serbs refused to compromise on any point, AP reported.

The collapse of the talks was clearly a blow to the Croatian government. Since Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, it has found its way blocked by Serbia and has been locked in a territorial war with its neighbor, the largest republic in the federation.

With its poorly equipped national guard and police units under mounting pressure from Serbian guerrillas, often with the backing of a largely Serbian-led federal army, the Croats had hoped that an EC-brokered cease-fire would bring an end to the fighting.

The Serbian militias, on the other hand, have been gaining territory steadily and are in no mood to discuss a cease-fire.

The EC delegation met twice with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade, who made it clear that Serbia will not accept foreign forces in any peacekeeping role. Van den Broek said Milosevic failed to turn up for a third scheduled meeting Sunday. In fact, no Serbian representatives were present for the final session with the “troika,” as the three EC ministers were called in most of the Yugoslav news media.

“The discussions, in fact,” Van den Broek said in Belgrade, “are stagnating if not being stonewalled. We regret this, not because of our efforts, but very much for our common concern for the plight of the people here.”

In a reference to Serbian politicians, he said, “It is not difficult for those who followed our work here to recognize who stonewalled our mission.”

The foremost of those figures, Milosevic, has risen to power on a wave of nationalism. The same could be said of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, whose election last year on a nationalist program helped to set the two republics on a collision course.

In the wake of the failed peacemaking effort, German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher called for an emergency meeting today of EC foreign ministers.

The federal presidency in Belgrade said it was continuing efforts to impose a cease-fire, but its chances of success now seem no brighter than its past attempts.

Tudjman returned from his meetings in Belgrade to Zagreb, his capital.

Meeting with reporters, Tudjman said the EC delegation had pledged that “the problem of the Yugoslav crisis was so important for all of Europe that they would not abandon efforts” to find a way out of the impasse.

Tudjman said Croatia will approach the United Nations and the secretariat of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. “We will request a peace conference on Yugoslavia and peacekeeping forces,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Serb militia forces appeared to be preparing for further action in the Slavonia region of eastern Croatia, along the border with Serbia. Croatian national guardsmen said there were signs of tanks and armored personnel carriers moving in large numbers near the town of Osijek, on the Danube River.

There was heavy fighting in the region last week, with reports of 80 Croatian national guardsmen and police killed in the town of Dalj, near Osijek. That number still has not been confirmed. The hospital in Osijek reported Sunday that it has received 35 dead and 165 wounded in the last two days, most of them from Dalj.

Three Croatian police officers were killed and one was wounded in an ambush Sunday morning near Karolovac in western Croatia. About 200 people have been killed in Croatia since it proclaimed its independence.

Croatian authorities have accused the federal army of siding with Serbian nationalists, about 600,000 of whom live in Croatia and want their region annexed to Serbia.

Army officials have asserted that they are merely trying to separate the two sides. However, there appears to be close coordination between the army and the Serbian militia units, and when federal armored equipment moves into an area, it often signals a movement of Serbs, as well.

The Serbian militia units and their leaders said they are determined to have Serbia annex sections of Croatia where a high percentage of Serbs live. Among their goals is a strip of land called Krajina. Another prime target is Slavonia’s Serbian towns and villages.

The Serbian militiamen have been concentrating so far on small towns, first driving out Croatian police and national guard units, then falling back while the federal army moves in to help evacuate the villages.

Scores of villages in the region are virtually empty of both Serbian and Croatian residents, who have fled the fighting. Most of the villages have mixed populations, some with Serbian majorities, some with Croatian majorities.

The ultimate goal of the campaign, according to Serbian leaders, is to redraw the Yugoslav map, annexing parts of Croatia to Serbia, which would then dominate a new Yugoslav federation. The reduced Croatia would be free to go its own way as an independent nation.

On Sunday, the streets and parks in Zagreb were unusually quiet, and there were no obvious displays of a martial mood--no flags waving, no speeches or demonstrations.

There were only quiet conversations in sidewalk cafes, where a passerby could hear the names of Yugoslav political figures in the discussions.

“You would not believe the change from three months ago,” said Romana Matanovac, 17, who was selling ice cream on a downtown street. “It’s very sad. The difference in the city now is amazing. No one wants this.”