The agreement calls for new peace talks in Kosovo.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was briefed on the results of the talks by Mr Milutinovic in Belgrade on Thursday, at a meeting also attended by other senior government officials.

The Yugoslav president hailed the accord, calling it "the first joint victory of the Serbs and Albanians in the struggle for peace", Serbian TV reported.

"Regardless of war circumstances, it is our duty and most important aim to fight for common confidence and peace that should ensure an equal and dignified life for all citizens of Kosovo," President Milosevic was quoted as saying.

"Any political solution to Kosovo implies the joint existence of Serbs and Albanians, Turks, Romanies, Muslims, Egyptians, Gora people, all citizens of Kosovo," he said.

"All those people in the world who wish to help reach a political solution to Kosovo have the opportunity to politically support the process already begun, to advocate peace and an end to aggression against Yugoslavia, whereby the greatest obstacle that makes a political solution impossible would be removed," President Milosevic said, according to the TV.

Draskovic's departure

Vuk Draskovic: In the news at last

In other Serbian media reports on Thursday, there was limited coverage of reaction to Tuesday's sacking of Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic - an event which had previously been all but ignored.

The Serbian news agency Beta quoted a spokesman for the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the party led by President Milosevic, who described Mr Draskovic's dismissal as "a logical step".

Spokesman Ivica Dacic said the government could not be represented by a man who was undermining its reputation.

"No one can undermine national unity," Mr Dacic said, adding that anyone who did this to further their own political ends would "have this on their conscience" .

Everyone in Yugoslavia was entitled to his own opinion, he said, but anyone who held a different view from the state leadership could not expect to take part in the government.

"No one has the right to detract the attention of the nation from the defence of the country," Mr Dacic said.

The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Seselj, said that Mr Draskovic had always been "a nonentity" .

The Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA quoted Mr Seselj as saying that Mr Draskovic's name "has never meant anything significant in Serbian politics and it is pointless to mention him in serious political debates" .

'Free expression in Serbia'

In a separate report on Thursday, Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic was quoted as saying that "almost total freedom of public expression" still prevailed in Serbia, despite the state of war.

According to the Beta news agency, Mr Vucic said that it was within the power of the state to curtail certain media freedoms during a state of war, but this had not been done.

A Nato strike on a transmitter on Mt Avala, south of Belgrade, on Thursday night caused Serbian TV broadcasts to be interrupted during a news bulletin at 2240.

The TV returned for a time between 0127 and 0319 on Friday, then was out again until 0900 gmt, when it was received again broadcasting news, including an item showing President Milosevic chairing a meeting.

'Nato hits Kosovo economy'

State television, radio and Yugoslav news agency reports continued to give prominence to Nato's latest air strikes on Serbia, Montenegro and in Kosovo itself.

The Yugoslav state news agency, Tanjug, reported that Nato had twice bombed the Feronikl metals plant near Glogovac, north of the Kosovo capital Pristina, on Thursday afternoon.

The agency said the plant was "one of the pillars" of Kosovo's economy and employed nearly 3,000 mainly Albanian workers. An administrative building, workshops and other buildings in the compound were completely destroyed, it said, adding that there were no details of casualties.

BBC Monitoring http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.