Minister Foresees Pullout of Peace Force From Kosovo

France’s defense minister has raised the specter of a pullout by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of all peace monitors from Kosovo if fighting there escalates.

Minister Alain Richard blamed recent renewed fighting in the southern Serbian province mainly on ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA.

Speaking to reporters as he flew from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Macedonia for New Year’s visits with French troops Friday, Richard said it would become clear in about March whether the situation is headed for peace or war.

“The main destabilizing factor today is the KLA, not the Serbs, . . . and if the clashes continue and grow, the accords will no longer be valid and we will have to go back to the threats of military pressure which existed before,” he said.

Meanwhile, three people were reported killed Saturday in Kosovo, but monitors said a cease-fire seemed to be holding for a sixth day in an area where Serbian forces clashed with separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas last month.

“The cease-fire has been holding,” said Sandy Blyth, a spokesman for the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, or OSCE.

Fighting between Serbian forces and the KLA raged in late December in the northern part of the province. At least 18 people were killed in four days of clashes.

Richard said that, in a worst-case scenario, NATO’s newly created Extraction Force, based in Macedonia, would have to rescue from Kosovo all foreigners, including OSCE peace monitors.

He said the five-nation, French-commanded Extraction Force would have to grow from 1,850 to 5,000 members for the mission.

The force is setting up camp in Macedonia close to the Kosovo border. It will include British, German, Italian and Dutch troops with helicopters and armored vehicles.

Richard discussed the situation late Friday with Macedonian Defense Minister Nikola Kljusev.

Diplomats said Macedonia is increasingly uneasy about mounting pressure from Serbia, angry that Skopje had allowed the NATO force to set up in the country, which is a former republic of Yugoslavia.