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G8 seeks boost to Kosovo peace

The foreign ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) countries are meeting near Bonn on Monday in an attempt to keep up the momentum towards a peace settlement for Kosovo.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, will be present.

Their main aim is to finalise the text of an urgent United Nations Security Council resolution on an end to the crisis.

The breakdown of direct talks between Nato and the Serbs on implementing a peace accord presents a severe challenge to this meeting.

The ministers had hoped to conclude the detailed text of a UN resolution on Kosovo, which would clearly spell out all of Nato's original demands and which the Yugoslav government would also accept in full.

Now the Yugoslav authorities say the UN resolution must be passed before they will sign an agreement to withdraw their forces.

One key point on which the others will be looking for Russian cooperation is that Nato should be given the key role in the command of the planned international peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

This cannot be taken for granted, since the new Russian Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, is on record as saying Nato has been calling the tune too much over Kosovo.

The foreign ministers' meeting is scheduled to start at lunchtime and be completed in less than three hours.

But with Nato again stepping up its bombing and the Serbs stalling over the terms for peace, the talks are unlikely to be trouble-free.

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Internet Links

Kosovo Crisis Centre
Serbian Ministry of Information
Nato
Eyewitness accounts of the bombing

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