FRANCE: KOSOVO: TALKS: MEDIATORS ACCUSE SERBS OF SLOWING PROGRESS

(12 Feb 1999) English/Nat International mediators on Friday accused the Serbs of preventing progress at the Kosovo peace talks, and denied the Serbian president's charges that direct meetings with rival ethnic Albanians were being blocked. The chief mediator, U-S envoy Christopher Hill, described the six days of negotiations so far as "a very difficult process." U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will head to Paris on Saturday to assess peace talks between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, who must reach agreement before NATO troops can be deployed in the area. 200 to 300 Serbs protested outside the chateaux in Rambouillet where western mediators are holding talks with Serb and ethnic Albanian delegations in an attempt to reach a peace agreement in the embattled province of Kosovo. The protesters held signs and banners and shouted slogans which put forth their belief that Kosovo is and will remain sovereign Serb territory. Inside international mediators briefed the media on the process of talks. They accused the Serbs of preventing progress at the Kosovo peace talks, and denied the Serbian president's charges that direct meetings with rival ethnic Albanians were being blocked. Earlier, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic charged the mediators with "playing games" and preventing the two delegations from meeting face-to-face despite repeated Serb demands for direct talks. Wolfgang Petritsch of the European Union said deep divisions between the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians persist on almost all important issues. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I would just like to report to you that there is progress on political issues on the talks that been made over the past couple of days there is enough progress so that we are about to hand out the next annex which is the economic annex to the two parties and in the up coming days more annexes will come. I'll be honest with you there are and there remain deep divisions on some of the very important parts of the text and things move on some times quite slowly but we're inching ahead" SUPER CAPTION: Wolfgang Petritsch, International Mediator SOUNDBITE: (English) "This is not to say that we have wrapped up the political elements by any means, we have a long way to go but the process within the chateau continues to move ahead." SUPER CAPTION: Christopher Hill, International Mediator The chief mediator, described the six days of negotiations so far as "a very difficult process." Since the talks opened last Saturday, the mediators have been shuttling between the delegations. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We have agreed there will be an assessment in the contact group on how the progress is and whether to continue the talks so this assessment has not yet been made but Secretary Albright is planning to come here and take a first hand look and see how the situation is going." SUPER CAPTION:Christopher Hill, International Mediator Hill said Albright's aim was to assess whether enough progress has been made to extend the negotiations into a second week. The NATO allies are moving ahead with plans for a peacekeeping force in Kosovo in the event Serbs and ethnic Albanians agree on a settlement. A U-S Pentagon official said on Friday that about 2-thousand 200 Marines would be sent in the first stage if there's a need to move quickly. Security issues, such as the possible deployment of tens of thousands of NATO troops, were expected to be the most difficult topics at the talks, and there was no sign that issue could be taken up soon. Its population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian. 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...