FRANCE: KOSOVO TALKS: ALBRIGHT JOINS PEACE TALKS - UPDATE

(14 Feb 1999) English/Nat Ready to talk but not to bargain, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright flew into France on Saturday to join faltering Kosovo negotiations with a take-it-or-leave-it approach to rival Serbs and ethnic Albanians. Her intervention comes as President Bill Clinton announced as many as four-thousand U-S troops will go to Kosovo as part of a NATO peacekeeping force, if warring Serbs and ethnic Albanians reach a political settlement. The president's commitment of U-S personnel, which the administration had openly moved towards in recent days, was timed to strengthen the U-S Secretary of State's trip. Madeleine Albright intends to tell the two sides in back-to-back talks that "here is a document; do it," a senior U.S. official on Albright's flight to Paris said. The document is a plan for Kosovo designed to end a year long conflict that has taken more than 2 - thousand lives. It would give self-rule to ethnic Albanians, the Serbian province's overwhelming majority, but would not bestow the independence many of them seek. And it would compel the Serbs to withdraw their troops and police units, except for a small force to guard the border. If the Serbs do not accept the plan, they face the threat of NATO bombardment. If the Albanians balk, the Clinton administration has threatened an arms embargo. The official said Albright would tell the Albanians the most they can have is autonomy during a three-year trial period - control of their day-to-day lives in Kosovo - and not the independence they seek. As for the Serbs, Albright's position is they have lost all authority in Kosovo, which they consider the cradle of their civilization and religion. The brunt of Albright's message, the U.S. official said, is "that what we are talking about is diplomacy, backed by force," meaning the threat of NATO attack. In a briefing on Albright's airplane, an official said that despite the difficult negotiations underway in France, there's virtually no doubt the talks will be extended into next week. The official said progress this week "passes the reasonable persons' test." They are currently stalled, as Serb negotiators reportedly await instructions from President Slobodan Milosevic on whether to seriously discuss a U-S-sponsored plan for Kosovo, or stick to their hard-line position and face NATO strikes. Albright was met at the airport by U-S envoy Christopher Hill, who's leading the team of foreign mediators here. He says the Serbs are stalling the talks, demanding that Kosovo Albanians first sign a set of basic principles that guarantee Yugoslavia's territorial integrity. Madeleine Albright has planned separate meetings on Sunday with Serb and ethnic Albanian leaders, then with foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. Those countries and the United States comprise the so-called contact group that oversees Balkan trouble spots. Albright's trip comes as President Clinton announced that U-S troops will make up around 15 per cent of the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, if agreement is reached. The rebel ethnic Albanian army would be disbanded, and the NATO troops, including the Americans, would support a new Kosovo police force. The deadline for reaching a deal is set at February 20th. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...