Albanian children wearing Albanian flags demonstrate with about 2,000 ethnic Albanians outside the Chateau de Rambouillet on Saturday  ALSO: Mediators: Serbs causing 'very serious difficulties' at Kosovo talks

February 13, 1999
Web posted at: 7:15 p.m. EST (0015 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrived in Paris Saturday night to begin an "on-the-ground assessment" of stalled Kosovo peace talks -- and to turn up the pressure on Serb negotiators being blamed by the West for lack of progress.

After talks with American and French officials, Albright is scheduled to travel Sunday to nearby Rambouillet, where Serb and ethnic Albanian negotiators have been holed up in a historic chateau, negotiating for the past week.

Foreign ministers of the other Contact Group countries -- France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia -- will join Albright at Rambouillet, where they will decide whether to extend the talks another week. The Contact Group monitors conflicts in the Balkans.

In a briefing on Albright's plane, an American official told reporters that despite the difficult negotiations, the talks are almost certain to be extended.

Talks stall over Serb sovereignty demands

Kosovo is a province in Serbia, one of two republics that make up the Yugoslav federation. About 90 percent of the people living in the province are ethnic Albanians, who have been pushing for greater autonomy and even independence.

More than 2,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes in clashes between separatists and Yugoslav forces.

The two sides came to the negotiating table in France under threats by NATO to launch military action if they didn't comply. But the talks have stalled over Serb insistence that the main negotiating document be shelved until both sides first agree on 10 principles, including Yugoslavia's sovereignty over Kosovo.

Serb stubbornness on this point is considered a delaying tactic by the United States and others.

United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, left, sits with Kosovo peace talks mediator Christopher Hill of the U.S. prior to a meeting in a Parisian hotel Saturday

The deadline for reaching an agreement is just seven days away, which those chaperoning the talks hope might concentrate minds.

"It continues to be a very difficult process," said U.S. mediator Chris Hill. "We are making some progress, but there are still a lot of difficulties, a lot of divisions."

Correspondent Jim Bittermann and Reuters contributed to this report.

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