The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has ordered all of its monitors to leave Kosovo. The evacuation will be complete within the next 24 hours. International aid agencies have already withdrawn their staff.
The Kosovo peace talks in Paris were called off this morning after the Serbian side refused to accept international proposals for a settlement. In a joint statement, the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and the French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, said that the Yugoslav delegation had failed to grasp the opportunity for peace presented by the Rambouillet peace accords.
They said that the negotiations had been adjourned and would not resume unless the Serbs expressed their acceptance of the accords. The co-chairmen of the talks also warned Belgrade not to launch any new military offensive and said any action would be met with the gravest consequences.
Yesterday, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership signed an internationally brokered deal that would grant political autonomy to its majority population. However, the Serbs refused to sign, describing the agreement as a fraud and saying it would never give in to threats of force. It is thought that the Yugoslav authorities might be given a week to reconsider signing the accord before the threat of military action would be implemented.
Washington said that the crisis over the Serbian province of Kosovo has entered a decisive phase and that the prospect of NATO air strikes against Yugoslav targets has increased. The American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, warned President Slobodan Milosevic of the gravity of the situation.
