BBC News Online: World: Europe

Kosovo monitor stays on

The decision to allow William Walker to stay temporarily came after a week of tension and the build up of Nato forces in the wake of the Racak massacre of more than 40 ethnic Albanians in the province.

However, US State Department spokesman James Rubin said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic must do more, and Nato was continuing to consider further action against Belgrade over Kosovo.

Speaking after the US's Kosovo envoy held four hours of talks with Mr Milosevic, Mr Rubin said: "We do not consider this problem resolved. On the contrary, we continue to consult with Nato allies about next steps."

It has also emerged that President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair have agreed in a telephone conversation that more had to be done to find a political solution to Kosovo - even if it means using force.

"They agreed that Slobodan Milosevic must be brought back into line," a government spokesman said in London.

"They reviewed the preparations on the military side, should the military option prove necessary," the spokesman said.

Belgrade said that Mr Walker - head of the OSCE's (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's) mission in Kosovo - would be allowed to continue his work subject to the outcome of an investigation.

He was ordered to leave after accusing Serb forces of killing the villagers in Racak in cold blood.

The agreement was clinched by OSCE head Knut Vollebaek after the unsuccessful meeting between Mr Milosevic and the US team.

The US talks ended with President Clinton's special envoy James Pardew saying that Mr Milosevic remained "inflexible" on all demands, including that he sharply reduce the Serb military action against the Kosovo Liberation Army - the ethnic-Albanian rebels seeking independence.

The US is sending a representative to London for a meeting of the six-nation Contact Group which is leading diplomacy in the Balkans. The group is made up of the US, the UK, Russia, France, Italy and Germany.

An independent team of Finnish forensic scientists is carrying out post-mortems on the Racak dead in an effort to establish whether they were victims of a gun battle, as Yugoslav authorities have asserted, or were killed in cold blood.

Their work, expected to take up to 10 days, comes after Serb pathologists said their examinations had revealed no evidence of torture or summary execution.

The OSCE has blamed Serb security forces for the Racak killings, but it has also accused the KLA of knowingly firing on its vehicles, wounding two monitors.

Nato on alert

Nato aircraft are on 48-hour alert, while UK and US warships, including the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, are moving in to the Adriatic Sea off the coast of the former Yugoslavia.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has warned that the Racak massacre "had brought tensions to a razor's edge".

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged Belgrade to defuse the crisis and allow the chief prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, access to Kosovo.

Relevant Stories

The forensics of investigating war crimes (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Racak killings: Who says what? (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Kosovo: Echoes of Iraq (21 Jan 99 | Europe)
Analysis: Nato's Kosovo options (19 Jan 99 | Kosovo)
Scenes from hell (20 Jan 99 | World)
Analysis: OSCE hostages to fortune? (20 Jan 99 | Kosovo)
Pathologist: 'No Kosovo massacre' (19 Jan 99 | Europe)
Slobodan Milosevic: President under siege? (09 Mar 98 | Kosovo)

Internet Links

Serbian Information Ministry
Kosovo Information Centre
International Crisis Group
Nato
Yugoslav Federal Government
OSCE

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

In this section

Violence greets Clinton visit
Russian forces pound Grozny
EU fraud: a billion dollar bill
Next steps for peace
Cardinal may face loan-shark charges
Vodafone takeover battle heats up (From Business)
Trans-Turkish pipeline deal signed
French party seeks new leader
Jube tube debut
Athens riots for Clinton visit
UN envoy discusses Chechnya in Moscow
Solana new Western European Union chief
Moldova's PM-designate withdraws
Chechen government welcomes summit
In pictures: Clinton's violent welcome
Georgia protests over Russian 'attack'
UN chief: No Chechen 'catastrophe'
New arms control treaty for Europe
Mannesmann fights back (From Business)
EU fraud -- a billion-dollar bill
New moves in Spain's terror scandal
EU allows labelling of British beef
UN seeks more security in Chechnya
Athens riots for Clinton visit
Russia's media war over Chechnya
Homeless suffer as quake toll rises
Analysis: East-West relations must shift