FRANCE: KOSOVO PEACE TALKS SUSPENDED UNTIL MARCH

(23 Feb 1999) Eng/French/Nat The Kosovo peace talks were suspended until March on Tuesday to give both delegations time to return home for consultations. Representatives from the contact group which has been overseeing the negotiations say both sides have agreed to the three-year interim plan, designed to give the region a large degree of autonomy. But neither side has actually signed the agreement yet. SUGGESTED LEAD-IN: As Madeleine Albright and other negotiators arrived for what was supposed to be the final day of the Kosovo peace talks their mood was distinctly unoptimistic. The Kosovar Albanians were holding out for an agreement which would promise a referendum on independence for Kosovo after the initial three year period of self-rule had passed. For their part the Serbs remained steadfastly opposed to the idea of a NATO peacekeeping force, which the Western powers regard as necessary to implement any agreement, on what they regard as their soil. As the day wore on and the deadline came and went it was unclear exactly what was happening. Madeleine Albright was seen strolling the grounds of the chateau, possibly searching for inspiration. U-S officials claimed the Albanians had agreed to the peace deal, something the spokesman for the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army seemed to confirm. [SOUNDBITE: (English) "The situation inside is in one way they're working very hard, but things are giving me some impression that there will be some deal. That puts me in the position where I'm very optimistic today, and at last the war will not be originated to blame Albanians for all of it. And we haven't come here to put in a bad position the international community. We came here to work for peace in the Balkans and we try to achieve that. Hopefully the ball of the game will be on the Serbian side." SUPER CAPTION: Pleurat Sedjiu, Kosovo Liberation Army Political representative] But the Serbs claimed the U-S was preventing an agreement. [SOUNDBITE: (English) "We were ready to sign the political settlement today and Americans didn't allow that because that would have been the end of extremist Albanian terrorism and the project of ethnic Islam - and greater Albanian in the Balkans. That's incredible, Americans supported the soldiers of Osama Bin Laden against Christian Serbia." SUPER CAPTION: Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic] Eventually representatives of the six nation contact group which oversees the Balkans emerged. There were no actual signatures on an agreement yet. But there would be soon, both sides had promised to return to France for more talks in just under three weeks time. [SOUNDBITE: (French) "The efforts of the parties and the determined commitment of our negotiators - ambassadors Hill, Petritsch and Mayorsky - have led to an agreement on a substantial autonomy for Kosovo, regarding the mechanisms to allow for free and fair elections, the functioning of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights and of the rights of the national minorities as well as the setting of an impartial justice system. With the Rambouillet agreements, a political frame for autonomy is in place. We have put in place the basis for reaching the final phase of the agreement, especially regarding the implementation of the international civil and military presence in Kosovo." SUPER CAPTION: Hubert Vedrine, French Foreign Minister] [SOUNDBITE: (English) (Part Overlaid) SUPER CAPTION: Robin Cook, British Foreign Secretary] Albright refused to say if the Serbs remained under threat of airstrikes. [SOUNDBITE: (English) 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...