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In this story: Talks break down Clinton: Hesitation to strike a 'license to kill' Ethnic Albanians delay Washington visit Yugoslav forces to 'guard and defend' their nation RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- After Friday's collapse of Kosovo peace talks in Paris, international diplomats and cease-fire monitors packed up and prepared to pull out of Yugoslavia, as NATO leaders warned the "clock is ticking" toward military strikes.

A handful of bright orange Kosovo Verification Mission vehicles crossed the border into Macedonia late Friday, while other employees packed or shredded documents at the mission's headquarters in Pristina.

William Walker, head of the monitoring group charged with overseeing a cease-fire between Serbs and ethnic Albanian rebels, said his team of nearly 1,400 observers would leave Kosovo within "the next 24 hours."

"This mission that came in here unarmed, to try and bring about the stability, the time that was necessary for the negotiation process to take place in France, has obviously not brought about the results that were intended, and it's probably time for other methods to be tried," Walker said.

In the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, at least six embassies -- the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, Austria and France -- began evacuating their staff and families.

"This is the third time we've done this," said U.S. Head of Mission Richard Miles as nonessential diplomatic staff drove away. "Each time we've done it, it's serious. But if I can say so, this one is maybe more serious."

Talks break down

Earlier Friday, international mediators adjourned Kosovo peace negotiations, faced with a Serb refusal to sign a proposed accord that would grant ethnic Albanians significant autonomy.

"There is no purpose in extending the talks any further," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said in a statement. Cook and Vedrine said the talks would not resume unless the Serbs accepted the U.S.-drafted plan.

Kosovo Albanians unilaterally signed the accord Thursday, ending weeks of international pressure to win their endorsement.

Serb leaders, however, labeled the peace plan a "fake" and again rejected a key provision to allow 28,000 NATO troops into Kosovo to guarantee the peace. Serb officials blasted the accord as an "American-Albanian attempt to secede part of Serbia" and vowed to defend Yugoslavia against threatened NATO airstrikes.

Military action is "very visible, very clear for our people now," said Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic. "But what is the alternative: to capitulate by signing that wrong settlement or to allow others to commit crimes against us?"

Clinton: Hesitation to strike a 'license to kill'

In Washington, U.S. President Bill Clinton sent a warning to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that NATO will strike if he "stands in the way of peace."

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe vehicles line up at a Pristina gas station preparing to leave Kosovo

"NATO has warned President Milosevic to end his intransigence and repression or face military action," Clinton said. "Make no mistake that if we and our allies do not have the will to act, there will be more massacres. In dealing with aggressors in the Balkans, hesitation is a license to kill."

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Friday bombings could be imminent unless Serbs back down.

"We are very close. The behavior of the Serbs' party in the conference in Paris has been really appalling," Solana told BBC television.

"The military clock is ticking. It can be stopped, of course, if a change in behavior of the Serbian side is produced in a very short period of time."

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered seven additional warplanes to Europe to prepare for possible airstrikes on Yugoslavia. More than 200 U.S. planes are already in the area.

Some 12,000 NATO troops are stationed in neighboring Macedonia to evacuate peace monitors if necessary.

Ethnic Albanians delay Washington visit

Vedrine told French radio that consultations on airstrikes began Friday morning, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, visiting Paris, said that "from now on Mr. Milosevic alone ... will assume the responsibility for what happens."

Russia, a traditionally ally of Yugoslavia, reiterated its opposition to using force and said the talks could still be salvaged.

A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told the Interfax news agency on Friday that Russia may cut off all contacts with NATO if airstrikes are launched.

Meanwhile, ethnic Albanian delegates have postponed indefinitely a visit to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"Given the critical situation at the moment," they decided to go directly home to Kosovo, said deputy State Department spokesman James Foley.

A spokesman for Kosovo's leading ethnic Albanian moderate politician, Ibrahim Rugova, said that since the talks have collapsed, NATO should send in forces immediately to protect civilians from Milosevic's forces.

Yugoslav forces to 'guard and defend' their nation

The Serb-dominated Yugoslav army continued its buildup Friday, possibly driven by not only the NATO threat but also plans to crush the outgunned Kosovo Liberation Army once the monitors leave.

A drive past the Podujevo airfield revealed tanks, howitzers, armored personnel carriers and anti-aircraft weapons among the dozens of vehicles being guarded on the tarmac.

Rebels in Lapastica, the village near Podujevo serving as northeastern headquarters of the KLA, said they were braced for attack in the next few days.

Serb police reported late Friday that the KLA attacked two police precincts and a patrol in the northern Kosovo towns of Srbica, Glogovac and Luzane, all heavily contested areas.

Lt. Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic, commander of the Third Army and the provincial Pristina corps, was quoted by the state-run Tanjug news agency as saying his units were prepared for attack.

"Now is the time to guard and defend Serbia and Yugoslavia," Pavkovic said. "America and NATO want us to hand over (a piece) of our state so that they can do as they please."

"This is unacceptable," he said.

Correspondents Brent Sadler, Chris Burns and Jamie McIntyre, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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