Mediators Face Hostility at Kosovo Peace Talks

Foreign mediators accused Serbs on Friday of preventing progress at the Kosovo peace talks and denied Serbian accusations of blocking direct meetings between the two sides.

The chief mediator, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill, described the six days of negotiations so far between the Serbs and ethnic Albanians as “a very difficult process.”

“We are going to have to make a lot of progress in the days ahead,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was to come to the chateau outside Paris this weekend, and Hill said her intent was to assess whether enough progress had been made to extend negotiations into a second week.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies are moving ahead with plans for a peacekeeping force in Kosovo in the event the two sides agree on a political settlement.

President Clinton plans to announce today that the United States is prepared to contribute ground troops to such a force, a senior administration official said Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Clinton will discuss his plans in his weekly radio address, the official said.

Hill and the other two mediators, Wolfgang Petritsch of the European Union and Boris G. Mayorsky of Russia, said deep divisions between the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians persist on almost all important issues.

The warring parties came to the peace talks only under the threat of a NATO bombing campaign in the province in southern Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic. Kosovo’s population is 90% ethnic Albanian.

Earlier Friday in Paris, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic accused mediators of “playing games” and preventing the two delegations from meeting despite repeated Serbian demands for direct talks.

Milutinovic also continued to insist that the ethnic Albanian delegation sign a pledge that Kosovo remain part of Yugoslavia. The Albanians have refused because it would mean giving up their long-held goal of independence even before an agreement was reached.

Despite his complaints, Milutinovic said the Serbs were “not ready” to walk out. He also said Serbia will not allow foreign troops in Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanians are calling for an immediate cease-fire, a referendum on independence after a three-year interim period and NATO guarantees of any eventual interim settlement.