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Ethnic Albanian delegates (seated, Ibrahim Rugova, left, and Hashim Thaci) sign the Kosovo peace accord Thursday RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jim Bittermann reports on the Paris treaty Windows Media 28K 80K What is Milosevic's strategy? CNN's Brent Sadler investigates Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Chris Burns reports on the plight of residents fleeing the fighting in Kosovo Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Matthew Chance reports on NATO intelligence-gathering on the borders of Kosovo Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Talks continue in Paris with no sign of an agreement Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  MESSAGE BOARD: Conflict in Kosovo  ALSO: State Department inviting Kosovar Albanians to Washington

March 18, 1999
Web posted at: 9:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- With an accord bearing fresh signatures from ethnic Albanians but only blank space where the Serbs were to sign, Kosovo peace talks in Paris appeared poised to end without agreement.

Ethnic Albanians unilaterally signed a U.S.-drafted peace plan Thursday that would grant them significant autonomy, though not independence, for a three-year interim period.

"We have signed an agreement to bring peace to Kosovo," said top ethnic Albanian negotiator Hashim Thaci. "We hope that the force of the international community will make Yugoslavia sign. We say: The violence must stop."

Serb leaders denounced the accord as a fraud, calling it an "Albanian document" drawn up with U.S. help. Serbian President Milan Milutinovic said his delegation had signed its own plan for Kosovo autonomy and was ready to discuss it with ethnic Albanians.

The Serbs have rejected a key provision of the proposal that calls for some 28,000 NATO troops to enforce it. Milutinovic balked at NATO's threat to bomb Yugoslavia if the Serbs fail to sign the accord.

"They tried to impose on us something they knew wasn't acceptable to us," he said. "They can't force us to sign under threat of bombs. We will have great damage, but that will be the responsibility of those who issued such orders."

Nine Yugoslav delegates from non-Albanian ethnic minorities in Kosovo angered the mediators Thursday by accusing them of bias and saying they had fallen for ethnic Albanian propaganda.

They later sent a letter to the French and British foreign ministers saying the peace proposal would make them second-class citizens in an ethnically cleansed Kosovo.

In a somber, low-key ceremony, four ethnic Albanian delegates approved the plan at the Paris conference center near the Arc de Triomphe. It was also signed by two of the three mediators -- Christopher Hill of the United States and Wolfgang Petritsch of Austria.

But the Russian mediator, Boris Mayorsky, did not sign. Russia is an ally of Yugoslavia, although Thursday the Russian foreign minister urged Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to give in and sign the deal.

A senior Russian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mayorsky didn't sign because Russia is against two attachments to the 81-page accord dealing with military force to implement a deal.

The United States underlined that even though only one party signed the peace document, the event sent an important signal to the world.

"I think that will make clear for all to see that the Kosovo Albanians have made the courageous decision to choose peace even while their people are being attacked and killed on the ground today," said U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin in Paris.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the co-chairmen of the Paris peace talks, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and his British counterpart Robin Cook, may now ask the Yugoslav delegation to return to Belgrade to reconsider the proposal.

The Kosovo Albanian representatives said they were leaving after the signing, some home to Kosovo, some to Washington and others to Brussels, Belgium, site of NATO headquarters.

and were to be briefed by mediators Thursday night, then report back to the rest of the six-nation Contact Group sponsoring the talks.

A decision on the future of the peace conference was expected to be announced Friday morning.

In Kosovo, Yugoslav forces appeared to be consolidating their positions around the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) stronghold of Drenica, and civilians were fleeing by the thousands to escape an expected onslaught, witnesses said.

Yugoslav army and Serbian special police forces backed by armor and artillery have been grinding their way toward Drenica for three weeks, moving west from the main highway that connects Pristina and Vucitrn.

U.N. refugee officials said about 5,000 people had fled nine villages in the area over the past 48 hours out of fear that fighting was about to erupt.

But allies in the Contact Group, made up of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, said any offensive would draw a swift and tough response.

"There should be no doubt in the minds of the Serb military and police leaders that should NATO act, their military and police forces would be devastated," Supreme NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark told a news conference in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

Correspondent Tom Mintier, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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