U.S. Envoy Holbrooke Holds ‘Grim’ Talks With Milosevic

As NATO continued to threaten military intervention in Kosovo, a tight-lipped U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke left Yugoslavia on Wednesday after “grim” talks with President Slobodan Milosevic on the conflict in the separatist province.

Holbrooke flew out of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia and Serbia, without talking to reporters about Wednesday’s meeting with Milosevic, and he declined comment upon his arrival in Brussels, where he was due to brief Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the crisis. But an American diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Holbrooke had “fulfilled his mission” here.

“Holbrooke came here for some very grim and sober discussions, to lay out where we are, what the NATO procedures are and what’s expected” in response to a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Milosevic, a Serb, end his crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, the diplomat said. “He’s gathered the Serb position, and he’s conveying that to Secretary Albright.”

Milosevic claims to have already met the U.N. demands. While the U.S. position has been that Yugoslavia, composed of the republics of Serbia and the smaller Montenegro, has not yet complied, the diplomat said he could not comment on whether Milosevic was in compliance or at least closer to it.

“The Serbs are claiming significant net outflow of forces” from Kosovo, the diplomat said. “I have not seen confirmation of that.”

Milosevic’s office issued a statement that gave no indication of any breakthrough in the talks with Holbrooke. The statement said Milosevic told the U.S. envoy that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s threats of airstrikes are “obstructing the continuation of the political process” toward finding a Kosovo settlement.

Albright was scheduled to attend a NATO meeting in Brussels today before a possible meeting in London this evening of the Contact Group, the six-nation consortium that coordinates peace efforts in the Balkans.

In other developments Wednesday:

* In Washington, President Clinton renewed his call for action if Milosevic does not comply with the U.N. resolution mandating a pullback. “It is absolutely imperative that there be a cease-fire, a withdrawal of troops, that the humanitarian groups get access to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced and that negotiations resume,” Clinton said. “I don’t think that the United States can be in a position of letting hundreds of thousands of people starve or freeze to death this winter because Mr. Milosevic didn’t keep his word.”

Clinton acknowledged the possibility of an international force to help keep the peace in Kosovo if a cease-fire is implemented. After any settlement, he said, “there might be some request for an international presence to help the parties to honor a peace agreement.”

* Intensive diplomatic activity was underway among NATO nations to build the consensus necessary to move toward airstrikes without a new U.N. resolution. Germany and Italy are known to be expressing reservations about moving ahead on the basis of the existing U.N. resolution.

“There is a consensus developing now--but that means we’re not there yet,” said a senior NATO diplomat.

* The United States has notified NATO that it is prepared to supply up to 260 warplanes for a Kosovo strike, including two B-2 Stealth bombers, 12 F-117A Nighthawk Stealth fighters, six B-52 bombers and 70 tactical fighters on the carrier Eisenhower and at European land bases, Pentagon officials said.

Some U.S. military leaders have been hesitant to use the B-2 bomber because of its huge price tag. If it was deployed in Kosovo, that would be its first combat appearance.

* The U.N. refugee agency said airstrikes would not help the 300,000 ethnic Albanians forced from their homes, and it called for a settlement.

“We have said and will continue to say that military intervention will certainly not assist our humanitarian operation there, but a political solution will definitely help,” said Eduardo Arboleda, the agency’s coordinator in Belgrade.

Many aid workers are leaving Kosovo after recent threats by Serbian officials, he added.

* Britain, France and Germany advised their nationals and nonessential diplomatic personnel to leave Yugoslavia immediately.

The U.S. State Department issued an advisory Friday against travel to Yugoslavia by Americans, and it urged those here to get out.

Times staff writers Paul Richter and Tyler Marshall in Washington contributed to this report.