March 9, 1999
Web posted at: 5:22 a.m. EST (1022 GMT)

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Rebel Kosovo Liberation Army leaders have approved the terms of a proposed peace plan for Kosovo and are prepared to sign it, the U.S. State Department said Monday.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said following several hours of talks with U.S. Kosovo envoy , KLA leaders "asked him to tell Secretary (of State Madeleine) Albright that they have approved the agreement as negotiated at Rambouillet and that they have authorized its signature."

But Rubin was guarded in his reaction to the KLA announcement, saying it was important for the rebels to actually sign the document, not merely promise to do so.

"What we need to do is get maximum clarity from the Kosovar Albanian side ... The point is that until an agreement is signed, it's not signed," he told reporters.

Kosovo Albanians and Serb leaders agreed in principle to the political aspects of the peace agreement after more than two weeks of talks in Rambouillet, France, last month. But the Serbs have adamantly opposed allowing NATO peacekeepers into Kosovo to guarantee the peace, as specified in the proposal.

The international draft peace plan for Kosovo would give the majority ethnic Albanians wide-ranging regional autonomy but would leave the Serbian province an integral part of the Yugoslav federation.

The Balkan Contact Group -- which brings together the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy -- hopes that a final peace accord can be signed at a second round of Kosovo peace talks scheduled for March 15 in France.

The State Department also announced Monday that U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, who brokered an October cease-fire between Serbs and ethnic Albanian rebels, would travel to Belgrade on Wednesday to pressure Yugoslav authorities to accept the deal.

In a written statement, Rubin said Holbrooke accepted a request from Albright to encourage the Serbs "to accept the Rambouillet accords, including both their political and civilian, and military implementation elements."

"Ambassador Holbrooke will convey to the authorities in Belgrade the necessity for full compliance with all of their commitments to the international community and for maximum restraint in the period leading up to the March 15 conference in France," Rubin said.

Meanwhile, Serbian police and Yugoslav army forces attacked suspected ethnic Albanian separatist positions west of Vucitrn on Tuesday and reporters in the area north of Kosovo's capital Pristina could hear tank, small-arms and mortar fire.

International monitors on the scene said combat-ready special police from the Serbian Interior Ministry, backed by armoured personnel carriers and at least one tank, were deployed from the village of Mialic northeast to Bukos.

Stretching further northeast from Bukos to Pantina were troops and armored units of the Yugoslav army. The area is around 25 km (15 miles) north of Pristina.

Monitors said the entire police and army line had advanced west towards the Cicavica mountain between 500 meters and one km (0.3 mile and 0.6 mile) during shooting and shelling on Monday.

Civilians from the village of Brusnik and perhaps other settlements in the area were believed to be fleeing west towards the mountain and safety.

Vucitrn is an ancient Roman town about 30 km (20 miles) north of Pristina. Government police and army forces have been active in the foothills just west of Vucitrn, beyond the rail line that runs south to Pristina, for several weeks.

Reporters saw a train full of soldiers running south on the track on Tuesday.

The ethnic Albanian Kosovo Information Centre reported on Tuesday that the village of Ivaja in southern Kosovo near the Macedonian border was being shelled by Serbian forces and that 1,500 residents were surrounded in the area.

Ivaja is near Kacanik, an area where Serbian forces and units of the KLA have clashed sporadically for nearly two weeks.

The United Nations reports more than 5,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the area recently, including 1,200 who fled across the border into Macedonia.

Correspondent Tom Mintier andReuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.