• Serbian Secret Police Latest Two Victims
• Reinforcements of serbian troops in Përçevë
• Two OSCE Verifiers attacked and beaten at Kosova-Serbia border
• Local police arms local Serbs
• Anti-air missiles at highest point overlooking town
• Heavy fighting flares in northern Kosova as peace talks continue
• Milosevic's Tactics Hurting Talks
• "Albanians have an ace in their hands - America"
• How Saturday noon turned out to be Tuesday evening
• Peace talks turn violent?
• Russian troops may be key to deliver Kosova accord
• U.S. Claims Kosova Progress Amid Fighting
• End Game At Rambouillet (Irish Times Editorial)
• Weaving a web to net Milosevic a complex task
• Fury at Guards' Kosova Mission
• Kosova Deal Deadline Extended Three Days
• Kosova Peace Talks Extended; Group Chides Belgrade
• Serbs Win Reprieve In Kosova Peace Talks
• Kosova Albanians Accept Peace Deal In Principle
• Kosova Civilians Flee Serb Attack

Serbian Secret Police Latest Two Victims

Kaçanik, February 21 (Kosovapress) A father and his son, Gafurr and Driton Lahu, were killed today in front of their house, in the village Paldenic, Kaçanik, at around 21.15. This act was committed by an unknown people, from a car, the registration and a marke of which could not be determined. It is strongly suspected that these killings were committed by serbian secret police terrorist formations, who are killing ethnic Albanian citizens throughout Kosova in the same manner. Last night the same police have killed an ethnic Albanian youth in Gjakova.

Reinforcements of serbian troops in Përçevë

Klinë, February 21 (Kosovapress) Today in Përçevë, Klinë, have arrived 7 tanks, 3 praga, 7 armoured vehicles and a number of serbian infantry troops. The KLA forces are located in just 150 meters away from serbian lines and are ready to reply to any eventual provocation. On the hilltop of Tikvesh, above Klinë, serbian forces have stationed antiaircraft missiles.


Serbian police fire shots at a bartender

Gjakovë, February 21 (Kosovapress) According to eyewitnesses, yesterday in the restaurant "Renesansa" in Gjakovë, serbian police have fired shots at a restaurant’s bartender. He managed to escape the worst only due to his own agility. The restaurant has suffered large material damages. Lately, shop owners are being threatened to close their shops in the town of Gjakovë.

OSCE Verifiers have witnessed serbian attacks

Suharekë, February 21 (Kosovapress) After yesterdays serbian attack, KLA forces of Pashtrik OZ have gone in to a counter-attack and forced serbian forces in to a retreat. Because of this, serbian forces are regrouping towards Zoçishtë and Hoça e Vogël. From Suharekë there are also serbian reinforcements towards Rahovec but, KLA formations of this zone are of high moral and ready to operate whenever there is a need for that. Lately there is a large influx of volunteers asking to join the KLA. Pashtrik OZ Command is keeping close ties with OSCE verifiers. Yesterday they witnessed attack in Studenqan carried out by serbian forces.

Sporadic shootings in Majac and Godishnjak

Llap, February 21 (Kosovapress) Today, there were shelling and shootings towards Godishnjak and Majac, coming from serbian positions. There is still, no precise information on the scale of damages. KLA formations in this region are in the state of high alert.

Serbian army kidnapped a citizen

Kaçanik, February 21 (Kosovapress) Today at 09.00 at the Seçishte-bridge, in the vicinity of Hani i Elezit, 12 serbian soldiers have stopped the vehicle that was carrying bread and kidnapped the driver, bred-salesman from Kaçanik. We do not know the name of the driver. Serbian soldiers have taken him towards the Macedonian border and two shots were heard. There is a fear that the worst has happened. Serbian police, installed in Kaçanik, has increased the movements towards the army barracks there.

Two OSCE Verifiers attacked and beaten at Kosova-Serbia border

Sources from the field notify that movements of Serb forces were evidenced on Sunday as well, especially at the Dollc-Volljakë road axis, and the Sferkë region.

Heavy fighting flares in northern Kosova as peace talks continue

RAMBOUILLET, France (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Monday that Kosova peace talks are "continuing to move in the right direction" in advance of Tuesday's deadline.

As she spoke, tensions flared in Kosova, where heavy fighting was reported. Also, two international monitors were beaten by a Serbian policeman on Sunday.

In Rambouillet, near Paris, Albright met with Kosova Albanian leaders again early Monday, State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters. The Kosova Albanians continue to move toward an agreement, he said.

Although a drive to win agreement for a Kosova peace plan was making progress, officials conceded that neither Serbs nor ethnic Albanians had yet given an unconditional "yes" to the plan.

Before Monday's session, Albright said that if neither side accepts a proposed settlement, NATO cannot conduct threatened airstrikes against Serbia.

"If this fails because both parties say no, there will not be bombing of Serbia and we will try to figure out ways of trying to deal with both sides," Albright said on Sunday.

With a new deadline set for Tuesday, Serb negotiators were "not engaging at all" on the critical question of whether NATO peacekeepers would enforce the settlement, Albright said on Sunday.

Kosovar Albanians must still be persuaded to sign on with the entire plan giving them more autonomy in the Serb province, she added.

Monitors beaten in Kosova

On Monday, heavy fighting broke out between units of the Kosova Liberation Army and Yugoslav security forces northwest of the town of Vucitrn, a Western diplomat and international monitors said.

"There is very heavy fighting in the area, which began at about 9.45 (0845 GMT) this morning. MUP (Interior Ministry) and VJ (Yugoslav army) units are involved with infantry, armour and artillery," the diplomat said. Vucitrn is around 25 km (15 miles) northwest of Pristina, regional capital of the troubled Serbian province.

And tensions escalated further after two international monitors in Kosova were beaten by a Serbian policeman on Sunday afternoon near the town of Podujevo. The incident was reported by an OSCE source on Monday.

It occurred when a Ministry of Interior (MUP) special policeman approached the monitors' distinctive fluorescent orange vehicle and asked to see the driver's identity card.

"Two MUP pointed their weapons into the vehicle and when the driver rolled down the window and showed his ID he was ordered to get out of the car, which he refused to do," the OSCE source told Reuters.

"The MUP then opened the door, punched the driver, pulled the driver out and continued to punch him. The passenger tried to radio for help and then the MUP leaned across the driver's seat and punched him twice in the side of the head."

The monitors were then ordered to leave the area. Neither man had serious injuries but both were shaken, the OSCE source said.

OSCE sources said the OSCE monitor driving the car was Latvian and that his passenger was a monitor from Luxembourg.

"We object strongly and condemn this harassment and we will be informing (international mediators at Kosova peace talks in) Rambouillet (France)," said Beatrice Lacoste, spokeswoman for the OSCE in Kosova.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has more than 1,200 monitors deployed here as part of its Kosova Verification Mission (KVM).

Tensions rose as the second deadline on peace talks for the southern Serbian province approached at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Tuesday. NATO air strikes or NATO ground troop deployments into Kosova could be in the offing as a result of the talks.

Kosovar Albanians decry renewed violence

Advisers to the ethnic Albanian delegation said Albright had given them until midnight (2300 GMT) to say "yes" unconditionally. Rubin, denied a new deadline had been set, but said Albright had urged the Albanians to make up their minds quickly.

Hinting of a possible walkout, the head of the ethnic Albanian delegation said it was difficult to remain in France "at a time when fighting is raging in Kosova," Albanian state television reported Sunday.

Reports from Kosova on Sunday said four people were killed and one abducted in continuing violence, although international peace monitors said they were unaware of any combat.

Other U.S. officials said the renewed negotiations focused on the Albanians' quest for independence after the plan's interim three-year period, and the U.S. refusal to endorse independence.

Albright ruled out any independence referendum in the agreement, but said she was looking for a way "the voice of the people" could be expressed in Kosova.

Albright warns Serbia airstrikes remain option

However, Albright said that if the ethnic Albanians give their total endorsement to the complex plan -- which would give the majority Albanians significant autonomy but stop short of independence for Kosova -- and if the Serbs keep holding out, then the Serbs would be attacked.

"As far as the use of force is concerned, I think that the allies remain united if the situation is that the Serbs alone are responsible for cratering the talks," she told CNN.

More than 400 NATO warplanes are on standby to strike Serbia if Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic does not accept a NATO-led force to implement an accord on the ground.

Seven U.S. B-52 bombers with air-launched cruise missiles arrived in Britain on Sunday as part of the military build-up, British defense officials said.

Once a widespread six-republic nation, Yugoslavia has shattered since 1991 to the point of having only two republics, Serbia and tiny Montenegro.

While Kosova's 2 million people are about 90 percent ethnic Albanian, the Serbs consider the province the cradle of their culture and their Orthodox faith.

Civil conflict in Kosova the past year has killed at least 2,000 people left 300,000 homeless.

Serbs, Yugoslavs reject NATO troops

Albright met for three hours Sunday with Albanian leaders and then for nearly an hour with Serbian President Milan Milutinovic.

She told CNN that Milutinovic said Serbia would not agree to a NATO peacekeeping force, reiterating the position of the Yugoslav government.

Yugoslavia's army chief said the defense of Kosova was of utmost national interest and vowed to fight back if any international troops entered Yugoslav territory.

"If we lose Kosova, we'll lose Serbia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and our freedom, which should be sacred to us," Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic said in a speech to army officers

The six nations sponsoring the talks -- the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia -- agreed to extend the Saturday deadline for a peace agreement until 3 p.m. (9 a.m. EST) Tuesday.

Russia backs Yugoslavia's right to bar foreign troops from its soil and vigorously opposes any NATO use of force without a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Milosevic's Tactics Hurting Talks

By JEFFREY ULBRICH Associated Press Writer

RAMBOUILLET, France (AP) - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's tough tactics at the Kosova peace talks have driven a wedge between the United States and its European allies, seriously jeopardizing any prospects for agreement.

Serbian negotiators say they are prepared to sign a deal giving Kosova Albanians wide autonomy. But Serb President Milan Milutinovic on Sunday said Belgrade will reject any deal that requires a foreign troop presence on its soil.

``Our delegation will not in any form agree to the deployment of any kind of foreign troops on the territory of Yugoslavia,'' he was quoted as saying by the state-run Tanjug news agency, reflecting the views of Milosevic. ``That is our final stand.''

That stance is threatening the peace process, as the United States has insisted repeatedly that any accord must allow NATO to station troops in Yugoslavia to monitor the peace.

The two sides have until Tuesday to find a middle ground. So far, the Serb side is to blame for the failure to do that during two weeks of talks at a 14th century chateau outside Paris, said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Albright's press secretary, James P. Rubin, said she had telephone conversations today with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Albanian officials in Tirana and planned to call President Clinton.

But he reported no progress in the talks today.

The phone calls, he said, were to work up support for ``the emerging agreement'' from the ethnic Albanians. Their demand for a referendum on independence was still the major sticking point, he said.

There also are indications that the United States' European allies are less convinced that only the Serbs are to blame.

``At the moment we have on the Belgrade side a government that is accepting the constitutional settlement for a self-governing Kosova, but we don't have the Kosovar side that is doing so,'' British Foreign Minister Robin Cook said in a BBC interview.

An estimated 2,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes in Kosova in the yearlong conflict in Kosova.

Albright said both sides are risking serious consequences if the six-nation Contact Group's attempt to force the two sides to make peace with one another fails.

Earlier NATO threats to launch airstrikes against Yugoslavia pushed Milosevic to the negotiating table in February. The threat remains viable should the Serbs refuse to relent.

``If the talks crater because the Serbs do not say `yes,' we will have bombing,'' Albright said. ``If the talks crater because the Albanians have not said `yes,' we will not be able to support them and in fact will have to cut off whatever help they are getting from the outside.''

The proposed agreement was drawn up by the nations in the Contact Group: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy. It would give the Kosova Albanians wide autonomy but deny their aspirations for independence.

The Albanian side has demanded a referendum on independence at the end of the three-year autonomy period.

Jakup Krasniqi, a senior Kosova Liberation Army official and member of the ethnic Albanian delegation here, said in an interview distributed Sunday that the ethnic Albanians will not sign an agreement unless it includes NATO.

``We shall not sign any agreement without a third military party - NATO - which will be a guarantor of the implementation of an agreement reached in Rambouillet,'' Krasniqi told the KLA's Kosova Press.

Russia, an ally of Yugoslavia, has consistently opposed the use of force there. Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said today that foreign troops should only be sent to Yugoslavia if the country wants them.

If a peace deal is reached, the European Union is ready to gradually lift trade and other sanctions against Yugoslavia, officials said today. EU foreign ministers, wrapping up a two-day meeting, also agreed to help with the reconstruction of Kosova itself.

"Albanians have an ace in their hands - America"

Rambouillet, 21 February (ARTA) 2130CET --

Saturday 20th which was to be the closing day of the conference in Rambouillet was the most dramatic day since the start of the negotiations in the French chateau.

The five ministers of the Contact Group and Russian deputy Prime Minister held separate and direct meetings with the entire delegations of the Albanian side and the Yugoslav side. What really happened on Saturday inside the chateau?

Skeptics claimed that even the participants in intensive 12 hours long talks did not know about the course of discussions. The main efforts and strain was exerted aiming to make the Albanians sign the agreement proposed by the Contact Group unconditionally. All the meetings of the US State Secretary were directed at this point, to convince the Albanians that the signing of the agreement meant throwing the ball into the Serbian field and pressure which implies military strikes against Serbian targets if the Serbian side does not sign the agreement. In that case, the faces of six representatives of the Contact Group in front of about 600 journalists at the press conference would not be so "innocent".

However, despite the great pressure no special changes have occurred and the agreement was not signed. Journalists speculated all day long about the sides which was accountable for (not) signing the agreement. The blame was put on the Albanian side and Serbian side in turn. The fact that the press conference of the ministers of the Contact Group was put off for six hours speaks of the enormous efforts done to come out with a result.

"There was no result but we had some progress anyway and everything will be put off until Tuesday at 1500CET", Contact Group ministers said. Nevertheless, this date and this hour will most probably not be a final deadline. American experts with the Albanian negotiating team indicated they supported the signing of the agreement by the Albanian side because, according to them, the Americans would hardly give a (written) promise that the final status of Kosova would be reviewed after three years, possibly in an international conference. According to these opinions, there is no time now for political aspects in gross political lines and a political moment has come of a "timing" or enumeration of actions by the Contact Group. Moreover, this could be said for the fact that if Albanians were to sign the agreement then the Contact Group would mount the military pressure on Belgrade and in particular, the Italians, Russians and French would decline to the American attitude and German indecisiveness!

"The blame of the Albanians is minor while the Serbian fault is enormous", a senior American official said adding that "Americans will try, using the American strategy to work only with Albanians in reaching political points and the stand of Mrs. Albright today and tomorrow speaks of this fact, and in case of an absence of the Albanian "yes" we will be in a very difficult position to exert pressure on Milosevic".

"If Albanians say yes and Serbs no then, believe me, the Serbs know what they will be faced with", the official said literally.

Asked how the problem of Russian rejection of NATO troops deployment in Kosova will be solved, he said if Serbs accept then Russians will accept also, so that the pressure should be exerted on the Serbian side and not on the Russian side!

On the other hand, the Albanian strategy not to sign the agreement yesterday was that if they had signed it yesterday the Albanians would be left aside and in a way they would feel as in October 1998 when Richard Holbrooke discussed the fate of Albanians without their presence. For this reason, Albanians are making efforts to ensure the referendum and the complete structuring of KLA role.

A senior western official said "the last moments for the transitional fate of Kosova Albanians was coming now and they have a strong ace in their hands - the strongest one - the Americans. The Albanian must not exaggerate with their demands but they should also remain devoted to aspirations and demands of the people of Kosova".

How Saturday noon turned out to be Tuesday evening

Rambouillet, 21 February (ARTA) 2130CET --

"I am not happy with the decision, but we had to postpone the deadline because we got close to both sides accepting the solution", the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, said at the opening of a press conference in Rambouillet. She said it was her impression that "there must be more time for Albanians to get better acquainted with some political issues", claiming this to be the reason for pushing the deadline.

Albright held a separate conference following the joint Contact Group briefing. The French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrine, reviewed the Contact Group conclusions earlier.

"Very substantial progress was made in reaching an agreement on the framework and political chapters of the interim agreement for peace and self-government in Kosova", he said. That is the reason, he stated, why the parties were given more time.

The French Foreign Minister said that "the two sides have to work much harder now and be ready for compromise". "The military aspect cannot be left aside when it comes to the implementation of the agreement".

"The Yugoslav-Serb delegation is the one refusing to make concessions in the military aspect this time, and is thus obstructing the process", Vedrine was quoted as saying.

"We expect Yugoslavia to accept international grounds troops to implement the agreement, just as we expect Albanians to give up demands for a referendum and accept demilitarization", said Vedrine.

Cook: I cannot guarantee that there will be good news, but we will insist on acceptance for all issues

The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said he hoped the agreement would be reached by 1500CET on Tuesday. "We are very far from reaching a military agreement", Cook said, underlining that the Serb side is the uncooperative one in this aspect. Asked whether the Contact Group was considering deploying other forces rather than NATO troops in Kosova, Cook said: "We, NATO members, are for NATO sending in implementation troops to Kosova".

"The Contact Group will not give up efforts to convince Belgrade to accept the dislocation of NATO troops to Kosova".

Regarding the military aspect of the agreement and whether it could be changed based on Serb demands, Cook said there were no changes in the military aspect.

Regarding the status of Kosova, Cook reminded that they were now working "on an interim settlement, which would enable the people of Kosova to have self-administration, to build institutions, hold elections and have their government, their president, and many other things they should".

Although optimistic, Cook did say he cannot guarantee that there will be good news on Tuesday, at 1500CET.

Even though Cook put most of the blame for not reaching an agreement on the Serb side, he did say that "Belgrade was getting closer to the solution lately". He claimed that this shows that the "Serb delegation has now taken the conference quite seriously". Cook said that the greatest risk was further bloodshed in Kosova, stressing their "determination not to allow such a thing to happen and put an end to the conflict".

Albright: Albanians were very productive, while Serbs were the opposite, using every opportunity to obstruct talks

The American Secretary of State, in her separate conference, said that "Serbs expressed readiness to work on political issues only, refusing even to mention the deployment of NATO troops in Kosova".

"Albanians, on the other hand, were very productive, disciplined and ready to work out a settlement", Albright said.

She stressed that they will not accept anything short of the agreement, deeming the deployment of international ground troops, lead by NATO, as a necessity.

"Serbs lack the will to cooperate on security issues. They are unrealistic and unproductive", said the US Secretary of State.

Asked how long "Yugoslavia" would continue to call democracy a "persona non grata", Albright said that was a serious part of the problem.

"But I believe Milosevic will wake up to the smell of coffee one morning. Milosevic is very wrong is he misuses and misinterprets our goals", she continued.

Albright stated her disappointment with the length os talks, saying that it was proven essential to prolong talks in order to "explain some details of the political issues to the Albanian side".

She asserted that "Albanians should have their own respectful identity, which they can ensure through elections and creating their own institutions". According to Albright, "Albanians have to realize that we are trying to find an interim solution, that things can change in the whole former Yugoslav territory in three years' time. They will create their own police, regime, parliament, president and other institutions and that their relations to Belgrade will look very much different", she added.

"That is the reason why it is difficult to foretell and predict the final status", said the American Secretary of State.

She called the document for the temporary solution to the Kosova problem, "a very complex" one, adding that much work was invested on it.

Albright said Albanians were very much aware of how good the document was for them. As for Serb allegations that the document on the table violates "Yugoslavia's" sovereignty, Albright reminded that "West European countries also gave up part of their sovereignty to create a better future for themselves".

Albright claimed she had no plans to go to Belgrade and that there were no contacts from Rambouillet with Milosevic, the last couple of days.

Another Contact Group meeting after 1500CET on Tuesday?

According to some forecasts, another Contact Group meeting should be held on Tuesday, after the new deadline expires.

"Koha Ditore" sources notify that the NATO Council, which suspended its meeting while anticipating some results from Rambouillet, will assemble whenever there is a need to give an adequate reply to developments in Rambouillet.

As Albright said, "if an agreement is not reached, NATO Secretary General, Javier Solana, will make adequate decisions in the frames of his last authorization".

Peace talks turn violent?

Rambouillet, 21 February (ARTA) 2130CET --

The Head of the Albanian delegation at the peace talks in Rambouillet, Hashim Thaçi, accused the members of the Serbian delegation, Saturday, of threatening him with elimination if he does not sign the peaceful agreement.

Thaçi, Head of the Political Directorate of the KLA, told journalists: "They are blackmailing me, they have been putting pressure upon me and e few minutes a go they threatened me with execution...saying 'if you don't sign (the agreement) we will kill you'."

"They can kill me, but the people of Kosova shall walk on their own path. I am devoted to finding a peaceful solution. But I shall not sign everything", Thaçi said.

Thaçi added that the Albanian delegation shall continue with the negotiations and that they seek to find a political solution, appeasing both sides.

"We have worked and shall continue working towards a peaceful solution. We have now reached a critical stage', he said.

Russian troops may be key to deliver Kosova accord

By Lara Marlowe and Chris Stephen

The talks aimed at bringing peace to Kosova were stalled last night, but the Contact Group negotiators were hoping that a facesaving agreement on foreign troops, involving Russians being deployed, would persuade the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, to accept their terms.

The US Secretary of State, Mrs Madeleine Albright, conveyed the impression that the Albanians had been good colleagues, whereas the Serbs had not, when foreign ministers of the six-nation Contact Group decided - contrary to previous declarations - to extend the deadline for conclusion of the Rambouillet peace conference until 3 p.m. tomorrow.

"The Kosovar Albanians have negotiated with discipline and unity of purpose," Mrs Albright said. "The Serb refusal to even consider the presence of a NATO-led military implementation force in Kosova is largely responsible for the failure to reach full agreement."

Mrs Albright told CNN late yesterday that she had made no progress in an hour-long meeting with the Serbian President, Mr Milan Milutinovic. "The Serbs are not engaging at all on one crucial aspect, which is military. I have stressed to them that half a deal is no deal," she said.

The US is now putting pressure on the Kosovan delegation to accept unilaterally the proposed agreement in order to prepare the way for possible military action against Serbia.

Diplomats in Belgrade said that Mr Milosevic was closeted with Russian envoys yesterday, discussing a way out of the impasse. This would involve Russian troops being part of NATO troop contingent, to give the force a not-quite-NATO complexion. There were also unconfirmed reports that an IMF loan would be approved to ease Serbia's economic crisis to win Mr Milosevic's agreement to foreign troop deployment in Kosova.

Mrs Albright said yesterday that there were four possible outcomes to the negotiations. The best outcome would be acceptance by both sides, followed almost immediately by deployment of the NATO-led peacekeeping force. "If the Serbs crater the talks," Mrs Albright continued, "the result would be NATO bombing. If the Kosovars crater the talks, we would stop supporting them and use our efforts to stop them getting outside assistance." If both sides contribute to the failure of the negotiations, there would be no bombardment, only further efforts to foster an agreement. Agencies add: Seven B-52

bombers from the United States arrived in Britain on Sunday as part of a build-up of warplanes in Europe for possible air strikes against Yugoslavia, a British Defence Ministry spokesman said. Meanwhile, in the Kosovan village of Orohovac three ethnic Albanians were shot dead yesterday and a police convoy came under fire, Serbian sources said.

U.S. Claims Kosova Progress Amid Fighting

RAMBOUILLET, France (Reuters) - The United States said Monday that a drive to win agreement to a Kosova peace plan was making progress but conceded that neither Serbs nor ethnic Albanians had yet given an unconditional ``yes.''

While talks in Rambouillet, near Paris, limped into their 16th day, heavy fighting broke out between units of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) and Yugoslav security forces near the town of Vucitrn, northwest of Pristina, international monitors said.

A diplomat said Yugoslav army and police forces were using infantry, armor and artillery after Serbian officials reported that a police convoy was fired on by guerrillas.

State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Kosova Albanian leaders again at Rambouillet chateau: ``We believe we are continuing to move in the right direction.''

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic flew secretly to Belgrade for overnight consultations with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and returned to Paris determined to reject NATO troops in Kosova, Serbian sources said.

``We had some difficult consultations and we are definitely not accepting any foreign troops,'' one source said.

He said Milutinovic would return to Rambouillet Monday afternoon to meet Albright.

Rubin said the Albanian delegates ``continue to move toward agreement with the plan put forward here at Rambouillet.'' But asked if he expected them to accept the plan unconditionally Monday, he refused to predict the outcome.

The Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population of the southern Serbian province, have demanded a referendum on independence after three years of interim self-rule.

The six-nation Contact Group extended the deadline for an accord to 1400 GMT Tuesday after neither side was prepared to accept it unconditionally Saturday, the previous deadline.

Rubin said the Serbian side ``is still not prepared to engage seriously on the military piece'' of the plan, which calls for a NATO-led peacekeeping force to implement an agreement in Kosova.

The U.S. spokesman said Albright had spoken by telephone to President Clinton, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

In a move that might make it easier for Milosevic to accept an international military presence, Russia offered Monday to contribute troops to an implementation force if it had a U.N. mandate and was invited by Belgrade.

NATO has more than 400 warplanes on standby to bomb Serbia if the Kosova Albanians accept a peace agreement and the Serbs are judged to have blocked it.

Rubin again stressed that the Albanians must accept the document before effective military pressure could be brought to bear on Milosevic to yield.

While the European co-chairmen of the peace conference, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, were tied up negotiating about European Union reform in Luxembourg, Albright kept up the pressure for a Kosova deal.

Asked if she was optimistic, she told reporters on arriving at the chateau: ``That's the wrong question. I'm here to work hard. I'm going to be meeting as much as I can.''

In an incident Sunday, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said two international monitors were beaten by a Serbian policeman near the town of Podujevo.

The OSCE has 1,200 unarmed verifiers trying to monitor a shaky cease-fire negotiated last October.

Some 2,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, and more than 250,000 made homeless since Belgrade launched a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the province a year ago.

Yugoslavia's army chief said Sunday the defense of the southern Serb province was of utmost national interest and vowed to fight back if any foreign troops entered Yugoslav territory.

``If we lose Kosova, we'll lose Serbia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and our freedom, which should be sacred to us,'' General Dragoljub Ojdanic said in a speech to army officers.

End Game At Rambouillet

Irish Times Editorial

Diplomatic attempts to square the Kosova circle continue amid fresh hopes and signs that a settlement is possible in the next 48 hours without resort to NATO air strikes on Serbian targets. It is an unenviable, perhaps an impossible task of negotiation but an essential one. Neither the Serb nor the Kosovar sides will get all they want.

They must decide whether the balance of compromises and forces is favourable, in the knowledge that the passing of time will help to relieve some of the pressure. The same applies to the powers involved in the Contact Group, the United States, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, which are divided on methods but surprisingly united on objectives.

The Serbs are reported to have accepted the political terms set out by the Contact Group, but not the presence of a NATO force in Kosova to implement and police an autonomy agreement; the Kosovar delegation insists there must be provision to reopen the question of independence in three years' time, probably by a referendum.

For the Serbs a NATO presence would signal an end to their sovereignty over Kosova and would be tantamount to an occupation force; for the Kosovars an agreement to disarm and demobilise without some commitment to independence would be an acceptance of defeat.

The Serbs may be more willing to accept an international force if it is more flexibly defined, with a United Nations Security Council mandate and Russian participation, and if the agreement is larded with new loan facilities from the International Monetary Fund, which their economy desperately needs.

This would allow Mr Slobodan Milosevic to claim a victory of sorts against his international and domestic opponents. Many close observers of his strategy and tactics believe that is what he has been seeking all along in this latest crisis, following his loss of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. He may be holding out for a high-level visit to Belgrade led by the US Secretary of State, Ms Albright, to deliver on it.

For their part the Kosovar delegation is willing to accept a NATO presence and the prospect of NATO armed force against Serbia. But they understandably at the demand that their independence objective be effectively abandoned. They cannot accept Serb sovereignty over Kosova after the experience of brutal occupation and repression. The independence movement is relatively young, well-supported and financed. Its leaders do not see why strategic fears of a longterm regional escalation should be used to deprive them of their independence.

Such are the elements at play in the Rambouillet talks endgame. As always there are deep ambiguities involved. Russia, for example, is willing to endorse a NATO-led implementation force, but not unilateral military action by that alliance against Serbia. It makes good sense to seek a Security Council mandate for the force, but were the issue of NATO military action to go there Russia would probably veto it - despite the fact that Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary Gemeral, accepts the threat of force is necessary to reach a settlement. Such ambiguities can still be creatively orchestrated to reach a settlement if there is sufficient commitment from all concerned.

Weaving a web to net Milosevic a complex task

Irish Times

The Yugoslav President's refusal to accept NATO troops is a major sticking point for those wrestling with the Kosova question, writes Chris Stephen, in Belgrade

American and Russian delegations were last night labouring, in two palaces on opposite sides of Europe, to cobble together a Kosova peace deal in time to beat tomorrow's NATO air-strike deadline.

While US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met ethnic Albanians at France's Rambouillet chateau, Russian military officers were in Yugoslavia's presidential palace, Beli Dvor, with President Slobodan Milosevic.

The details of the Russian meetings are secret, but diplomats say they could hold the key to peace, by "customising" a form of peacekeeping force for the war-torn province that is acceptable to the Yugoslav leader.

"It was always envisaged there would be Russians," said one Western diplomat. "One option, if he [Mr Milosevic] wants to take it, is to persuade him to take it under another name. It would still be NATO - in all but name."

Sending Russian forces into Kosova alongside those of NATO would be more acceptable to Mr Milosevic, who could present it as a guarantee by fellow Slavs that Kosova's Serb minority would be protected.

Kosova's peace talks are stalled because of this single issue: Mr Milosevic refuses to consider a NATO force to police an agreement. NATO says that without such a force, there are no guarantees that Yugoslavia will stick to any deal.

"The Albanians are working very hard, I think moving towards a yes," said Ms Albright last night. "The Serbs, on the other hand, are refusing to engage on a basic part of the agreement, which is the military aspect of it."

Ms Albright said pressure cannot be brought to bear to get Yugoslavia to sign a deal unless the ethnic Albanians had already done so. But the ethnic Albanians, an alliance of the rebel Kosova Liberation Army and civilian leaders, are delaying agreement to the proposed peace deal because it would give them only autonomy, rather than the full independence they desire.

Talks were eased by the subsidence of fighting that flared in the province on Saturday, causing hundreds of ethnic Albanians to flee the village of Studencani after Serb forces opened fire on it. However reports yesterday said three ethnic Albanians had been shot dead in the village of Orohovac.

While the Kosova problem is a simple one - the deployment of peacekeepers - the solution has attained a mind-bending complexity. NATO is unwilling to commit itself to air strikes against the Serbs, despite hawkish talk from the Americans, until it sees whether all the diplomatic options have been exhausted. Yugoslavia, sensing NATO's indecision, is meanwhile unwilling to give a definite reply on what kind of peace deal will be acceptable.

Complicating things still further, the Russians say that any air strikes will mean an end to their co-operation on defence with NATO.

"What I think people need to understand is that this is a very complicated and very serious process, " said Ms Albright. "Some really earth-shaking decisions are being made: these are really decisions between war and peace."

Not surprisingly, confusion dominates the thoughts of ordinary Serbs and Albanians.

In Belgrade, Serbs remain stoic. They worried about NATO bombing back in October, only to see a diplomatic deal on Kosova forestall it. There has been no sign of the stocking-up of foodstuffs and candles that took place then.

"What do you think, will they bomb us?" asks a waiter at the Hyatt hotel, home to the Russian military delegation. "We don 't care really, we have had 10 years of wars here."

Kosova's Albanians are anxious. Without air strikes, they fear Yugoslavia will never accept NATO peacekeepers, leaving them free to go back on any peace deal as they did last October. But air strikes would bring their own problems, with fears that Serb police and paramilitary groups would wreak revenge on the ethnic Albanian population.

"Albanians are really afraid of air strikes. A lot of people are frightened to go out," said Bartha, a 20year-old student in Kosova's capital, Pristina. "Those armed groups are really dangerous."

Recently the army and police forces have been augmented by civilian militias, now patrolling the streets of many towns which echo at night to the sounds of machine guns fired in the air.

Belgrade's state-controlled media were yesterday triumphant, presenting the extension of Saturday 's deadline for three more days as a victory for Mr Milosevic.

Newspapers gleefully reported the indecision in the West's camp. "We must not have NATO, even if it means bombing," said one Belgrade man interviewed on television.

If there is still no agreement by the new deadline of 3 p.m. Paris time tomorrow, NATO is unlikely to unleash its bombers. Rather, there is likely to be a final flurry of diplomatic activity as the United States demands the alliance follow the American lead, or see the alliance split.

NATO generals are meanwhile wresting with the parameters of launching air strikes in an operation dominated as much by opinion polls as military success.

The air strikes need to be massive, simply to ensure that Yugoslavia's air defence system is destroyed in its entirety and to prevent casualties to NATO pilots.

The strikes, led by a wave of Cruise missiles fired from US navy ships and huge B-52 bombers that began arriving in Europe yesterday, would hit eight key communication sites, together with 50 to 60 antiaircraft missile batteries, plus fighter airfields and radar sites.

Another option being explored is to unfreeze the current block on loans to Yugoslavia from the IMF. The country is now on the brink of bankruptcy. Next month it must pay China and Russia $130 million for oil and gas used through the winter - a sum equivalent to its entire known foreign reserves. A loan to Mr Milosevic might be a powerful incentive to sign a Kosova deal. Diplomats say no formal talks on this issue have started.

The only thing that seems clear from the weekend confusion is the failure of Europe to solve Kosova on its own. Rambouillet was convened to kick-start what its co-hosts, Britain and France, hoped would be a common European foreign and security policy.

But after two weeks of fruitless haggling, the silky mandarins of Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office and France's Quai d'Orsay have made way for the blunter, but perhaps more effective, officials from the United States and Russia.

Fury at Guards' Kosova Mission

The mother of a Belfast boy shot dead by two Scots Guards says she is "disgusted" at plans to send the pair on a peace-keeping mission to Kosova.

Yesterday, US warplanes flew into Britain ready to strike at Serbia if peace talks fail.

But if a settlement is reached, James Fisher and Mark Wright will be among the ground troops heading for Kosova to police it.

Jean McBride's son Peter, 18, was shot dead by Fisher and Wright in 1992 as he ran away from an Army patrol.

The pair were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but last September they were freed after serving just six years. After their release, they were transferred to the Irish Guards and given their guns back.

Now they are in Germany with 8000 other troops on standby for a difficult peace mission in Kosova.

Mrs McBride, who has campaigned to have Wright, from Arbroath, and Fisher, from Ayr, thrown out the Army, said: "It is an absolute joke. I am disgusted. That country has enough problems without convicted murderers running around armed.

"When Peter was shot I was told it was because tensions were running high on the streets of Belfast.

"If those two could not keep their heads in Northern Ireland, how on earth will they keep them in Kosova?

"Maybe when they see the hardship and the bloodshed out there, they will think differently about things. They shouldn't still be in the British Army, never mind being sent on a difficult mission like this.

"I just pray that they don't cause the same sort of heartache in Kosova as they have caused here in Belfast.

"I am not going to give up my campaign to have them thrown out. After what they did, they shouldn't be wearing the uniform and certainly shouldn't be allowed to carry guns."

Wright's grandfather, 75-year-old Jim Wright, said: "They are in the Irish Guards and they are on standby, so I suppose they will be in there yet.

"They couldn't put them back into the Scots Guards for obvious reasons, in case they were put on guard at Buckingham Palace or somewhere like that.

"Like Lee Clegg, they will never be back in Northern Ireland. It seems like they give all the troops over there a blue beret and that's them in the NATO force. They will be helping the other boys out there and acting as a police force."

A Ministry of Defence spokes-man said: "If these two were to go to Kosova, there would be nothing unusual in that. As soldiers, they can be sent anywhere the Army chooses."

Mr Wright, who served in the Army from 1942 to 1947, said Mrs McBride's campaign would simply cause more suffering. He added: "This thing should be finished now.

"I know the McBrides lost a son, but what good is this going to do? They are just causing themselves a lot of unnecessary pain.''

When the Army Board ruled in November that Wright and Fisher could resume their careers, the move was attacked by civil liberties groups and publicly opposed by Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam.

Last night, warplanes were poised to strike Serbia if the Kosova peace talks fail.

Both sides must endorse the western peace plan by Tuesday, but the Albanian Kosovars have not signed up to a deal offering them limited self-rule and the Serbs will not accept a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosova.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the "lion's share" of blame for the failure to agree lay with the Serbs, and her government had ordered the continued military build-up to hit Serb president Slobodan Milosevic if needed.

At least six US B-52 bombers were sent to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, but Foreign Secretary Robin Cook warned that unless the Albanian side were fully on board with the peace deal, the threatened airstrikes would not go ahead.

He said: "We are saying to the Albanians that if you don't sign up to these texts it is extremely difficult to see how NATO could take action against Belgrade."

Kosova Deal Deadline Extended Three Days

By Crispian Balmer

RAMBOUILLET, France (Reuters) - The major power Contact Group Saturday extended the deadline for a Kosova peace accord until Tuesday after Serbs and ethnic Albanians neared a political deal but Belgrade continued to oppose a NATO role in policing it.

By the original noon (1100 GMT) deadline, both delegations fell short of totally agreeing with the plan, drafted by the six-nation Contact Group, that would establish ethnic Albanian autonomy in the Serbian province, French officials said.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told a press conference at Rambouillet castle outside Paris that both sides now had until 1400 GMT Tuesday to agree to the peace plan in order to avert NATO strikes on Serbia.

Vedrine said that the deadline was extended because ``very substantial progress has been made on reaching agreement on the framework and political chapters (of) the (three-year) interim agreement.''

But he said Belgrade was putting up the biggest resistance to the accord by objecting to the West's demand for a NATO peacekeeping force to implement it on the ground.

``It is still the Yugoslav delegation which refuses to take the decisions which seem indispensable to us.

``Until the whole deal is agreed, no part of the deal can be agreed,'' he said, adding that what the Contact Group was asking of Belgrade ``demands sacrifices.''

NATO had threatened to bomb Serbian targets if Belgrade was held responsible for blocking a final agreement. But diplomats said the results of the Rambouillet talks so far were not clear-cut and there was scope for further negotiation.

Earlier in the day, a European diplomat had said that the ethnic Albanian delegation was still holding out for a referendum on self-determination after three years of autonomy and had not budged.

``They are being very sticky,'' he said.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the Serbs bore the ``lion's share'' of blame for obstacles to an accord.

But she said she believed remaining disputes could be overcome and had no plans to fly to Belgrade for any last-ditch talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

``Let me stress that we expect nothing less than a complete interim agreement including Belgrade's acceptance of a NATO-led force ..., she told the news conference.

``Until the parties have accepted all provisions of the agreement, preparations for NATO military action will continue. And if that agreement is not confirmed by Tuesday, (NATO) Secretary General (Javier) Solana will draw the appropriate conclusions.''

Some 430 NATO warplanes -- including 260 U.S. jets -- were on alert for possible strikes against Yugoslavia.

A senior U.S. official earlier accused the Serbs of refusing to engage seriously on military issues. But other diplomats said a formula might be found allowing a neutrally named NATO-led force under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council.

Far from the byzantine diplomacy inside Rambouillet's 14th-century French chateau, fighting flared anew in Kosova Saturday when Serbian security forces shelled an ethnic Albanian village, sending hundreds of inhabitants fleeing.

Groups of Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas took cover as Serbian army and police units pummeled the village southwest of the provincial capital Pristina, with heavy mortar rounds and machineguns, witnesses and journalists at the scene said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

International monitors had reported heightened Serbian military movements Friday and a heavy exchange of fire Saturday with KLA guerrillas, who are fighting for independence for Kosova and have representatives at the peace talks.

In Rambouillet, Serbian sources said they were ready to sign the political document on autonomy but an international military presence was unacceptable unless Yugoslavia as a sovereign state invited NATO and Russia to send troops.

``The Russians are 100 percent behind our delegation in opposing any military deal. Some of the Europeans also have reservations,'' the source said as Serbian republic President Milan Milutinovic continued talks with Western ministers.

State Department spokesman James Rubin insisted there could be no separation of the political and military aspects of an accord. NATO wants to uphold any accord with 28,000 soldiers.

Underlining the gravity of the situation, Western governments began evacuating diplomats, aid workers and their families from Serbia, the main republic in federal Yugoslavia.

Kosova Peace Talks Extended; Group Chides Belgrade

RAMBOUILLET, France (Reuters) - The major power Contact Group extended Kosova peace talks until Tuesday to continue discussing peacekeeping arrangements opposed by Belgrade, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said Saturday.

``It is still the Yugoslav delegation which refuses to take the decisions which seem indispensable to us,'' he told a news conference. ``It should be over Tuesday at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Vedrine, co-sponsor with British Foreign Minister Robin Cook of the two-week talks, said the Serbian and ethnic Albanian delegations had made much progress on the political half of the deal foreseeing substantial autonomy for the majority ethnic Albanian province of Kosova.

But he added: ``Until the whole deal is agreed, no part of the deal can be agreed.''

What the Contact Group was asking of Belgrade ``demands sacrifices,'' he said.

The talks at a secluded chateau outside Paris were scheduled to end Saturday at noon (1100 GMT), with the threat of NATO airstrikes against Yugoslav military targets if Belgrade held up a deal.

Serbs Win Reprieve In Kosova Peace Talks

By Crispian Balmer

RAMBOUILLET, France (Reuters) - The major powers Saturday extended the deadline for a Kosova peace accord until Tuesday after Serbs and ethnic Albanians neared a political deal but Belgrade continued to oppose a NATO role in policing it.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic he should not misinterpret the three-day reprieve as a sign of weakness, stressing that NATO planning for military action against Serbia would continue.

By the original noon (6 a.m. EST) deadline, both delegations fell short of totally agreeing on the plan, drafted by the six-nation Contact Group, that would establish ethnic Albanian autonomy for three years in the Serbian province.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told a news conference that both sides now had until 9 a.m. EST Tuesday to agree to the peace plan and avert NATO air strikes.

Vedrine said the deadline was extended because ``very substantial progress has been made on reaching agreement on the framework and political chapters (of) the interim agreement.''

But he said Belgrade was putting up the biggest resistance to the accord by objecting to the West's demand for a NATO peacekeeping force to implement it on the ground.

``It is still the Yugoslav delegation which refuses to take the decisions which seem indispensable to us,'' he said.

Albright told reporters the Serbs bore ``the lion's share'' of the blame. But Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini, baring differences of emphasis even among the Western ministers, said: ``It would be wrong to blame only the Serbs.''

The Serbs had accepted the formula for autonomy presented by international mediators, while the ethnic Albanians were still holding out for a referendum after the three-year period of interim autonomy, he said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev said it was entirely up to Yugoslavia whether it wanted to have foreign troops on its soil, and NATO had no right to impose itself or take military action without a U.N. mandate.

NATO had threatened to bomb Serbian targets if Belgrade was held responsible for blocking a final agreement.

Albright said she believed remaining disputes could be overcome and had no plans to fly to Belgrade for any last-ditch talks with Milosevic.

``Let me stress that we expect nothing less than a complete interim agreement including Belgrade's acceptance of a NATO-led force ...,'' she told the news conference.

``Until the parties have accepted all provisions of the agreement, preparations for NATO military action will continue. And if that agreement is not confirmed by Tuesday, (NATO) Secretary-General (Javier) Solana will draw the appropriate conclusions.''

Some 430 NATO warplanes -- including 260 U.S. jets -- were on alert for possible strikes against Yugoslavia.

In the entire two weeks, the full Serbian and ethnic Albanian delegations only once sat in the same room. Hostility remains so deep that chief Albanian representative Hashim Thaqi accused the Serbs Saturday of threatening to kill him if he did not sign the political agreement.

A Serbian source said that at Saturday's final session after hours of ``proximity talks'' the delegation leaders were ushered separately into a meeting of the six Contact Group ministers and asked, almost as if they were in court, how they pleaded.

Diplomats voiced hope that a formula might be found allowing a neutrally named NATO-led force under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council.

Far from the Byzantine diplomacy inside Rambouillet's 14th-century French chateau, fighting flared anew in Kosova Saturday when Serbian security forces shelled an ethnic Albanian village, sending hundreds of inhabitants fleeing.

Groups of Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas took cover as Serbian army and police units pummeled the village southwest of the provincial capital Pristina, with heavy mortar rounds and machineguns, witnesses and journalists at the scene said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

International monitors had reported heightened Serbian military movements Friday and a heavy exchange of fire Saturday with KLA guerrillas, who are fighting for independence for Kosova and have representatives at the peace talks.

Underlining the gravity of the situation, Western governments began evacuating diplomats, aid workers and their families from Serbia, the main republic in federal Yugoslavia.

Kosova Albanians Accept Peace Deal In Principle

RAMBOUILLET, France (Reuters) - The ethnic Albanian delegation at Kosova peace talks in France told the six-nation Contact Group Saturday that it accepted in principle a proposed interim agreement, a European diplomat said.

``The Kosova Albanians have said 'yes' in principle. They sought two minor changes and we are going to try to accommodate them,'' the diplomat told Reuters after the Albanian delegation presented its formal reply to Contact Group ministers.

The diplomat said the Yugoslav and Serbian delegation had not yet given its reply on the proposals for far-reaching autonomy for Kosova to be policed by a NATO-led international force. They were due to meet the Contact Group ministers after the ethnic Albanians, he said.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's opposition to any NATO military presence in his country has been the main sticking point in two weeks of negotiations at a secluded chateau in Rambouillet, near Paris.

NATO has threatened to bomb Serbia if Belgrade blocks an agreement at the peace talks.

Negotiations continued for some five hours after a noon (1100 GMT) deadline and diplomats said the Serbian side had made significant progress on the political aspects of an accord. But State Department spokesman James Rubin stressed the political and military aspects could not be separated.

Kosova Civilians Flee Serb Attack

By Kurt Schork

STUDENCANE, Serbia (Reuters) - Hundreds of ethnic Albanian civilians fled the Kosova village of Studencane Saturday after it came under sustained Serbian artillery, sniper and small arms fire, witnesses said.

``What prompted what happened here today we don't know,'' said George Bordete, a Canadian monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), observing the battle from a hill above the central Kosova village.

The Serbian Media Center in Kosova's provincial capital Pristina said the fighting began when a police convoy came under attack shortly after noon.

Police returned fire and sporadic shooting continued until about 5 p.m., the media center said.

Bordete said the role of the verifiers at the scene was to try put an end to the fighting.

``All we're trying to do is stop it... In the heat of battle it's sometimes hard to get local commanders involved in directing troops to talk to you.''

As he spoke, waves of small arms fire could be heard from trench lines to the east and heavy mortar bombs, believed to be 120mm, crashed into Studencane from the Serbian side.

The OSCE monitor said that one of his men who had strayed too far from their signature day-glo orange armored vehicle had been shot at four times from Serbian positions.

He confirmed what reporters on the scene observed: heavy mortar bombs falling at a rate of one every five-to-seven minutes during the afternoon.

The fighting came as peace talks in Rambouillet, France, called to end fighting between separatist ethnic Albanians and Serbs, were extended until Tuesday after failing to reach agreement by a Saturday noon deadline.

A Reuters team entering Studencane late in the day found the battle still in progress.

Groups of KLA guerrillas were sheltering behind houses and walls, trading fire with Serbian forces.

Directing the KLA forces was Commander ``Drini,'' one of seven zone commanders for the guerrilla forces in Kosova.

Interviewed in a shop front stacked from floor to ceiling with bottled soft drinks and where plate-glass windows rattled in their frames with every mortar bomb impact, Drini said his lines around Studencane were stable after a day of attacks.

``They attacked in six different places this morning in my zone,'' the commander said.

``I've been an optimist about the talks in Rambouillet and I've been waiting for some good results but you can see for yourself what's going on here.''

Drini said thousands of civilians had evacuated Studencane. OSCE said they had observed hundreds leaving between noon and about 5 p.m.

Some of the refugees were headed south toward Prizren and others were spotted moving north in the direction of the Pagarusa valley, where thousands of ethnic Albanians sheltered from Serbian attacks over the summer.

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