Albright

ZAGREB, Croatia (Reuters) -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrived Saturday in Croatia for a two-day visit to the Balkans showing support for September's general election in neighboring postwar Bosnia.

But she will not go to Serbia, where fighting continues in its Kosovo province.

In Zagreb, Albright is scheduled to hold meetings Sunday morning with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and her counterpart Mate Granic.

She will also meet opposition and Roman Catholic leaders and representatives of independent media.

Albright is expected to discuss human rights, particularly refugee returns, and further democratization of the state forged in the 1991-95 war that followed the breakup of former Yugoslavia.

Croatia's "key role" in the regional peace process will be the main topic of talks in Zagreb, state radio reported.

According to U.S. officials, Albright will insist that Croatia -- a patron of Bosnian Croats -- show unqualified support for the Dayton agreement, which in late 1995 ended a 42-month conflict in Bosnia between its Serb, Muslim and Croat communities.

Albright also will visit U.S. troops serving with the NATO-led peacekeeping force in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla. She will tour a U.S.-backed power project in the Serb town of Bijeljina before meeting Croat and Muslim representatives in Sarajevo later Sunday.

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