YUGOSLAVIA: US PEACEMAKER RICHARD HOLBROOKE CONFERS WITH YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

Record ID: 350289

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: US PEACEMAKER RICHARD HOLBROOKE CONFERS WITH YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
  • Date: 9th May 1998
  • Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 9, 1998) (RTV) 1. SV HOLBROOKE WALKS TO CAMERA 0.18 2. SCU HOLBROOKE SAYING, "WE HAVE COMPLETED FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF TALKS WITH PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC WHICH WAS PRECEDED BY AN HOUR AND A HALF WITH HIS FOREIGN MINISTER. AMBASSADOR GELBAR, AMBASSADOR HILL AND I WILL GO TO PRISTINA TOMORROW MORNING TO TALK TO MR.WE HAVE COMPLETE
  • Embargoed: 24th May 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JRL0NMILBPREJ2E1AR3TZY7R
  • Story Text: U.S.peacemaker Richard Holbrooke has conferred with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on ways to break the deadlock in the Kosovo crisis which is threatening war in the southeast Balkans.

    The two men, partners in the negotiations that ended the Bosnian conflict in 1995, spent Saturday evening together in talks without reaching agreement, according to Tanjug news agency.

    Tanjug's report indicated that Milosovic rebuffed Western demands that he accept foreign mediation in talks with Kosovo Albanians who want independence from Serbia.

    Holbrooke, a Wall Street banker since leaving government service, emerged as a go-between on Saturday after the West stepped up sanctions against Belgrade.

    He flew to Belgrade for talks with Milosevic and said he will go to the Kosovo capital of Pristina on Sunday to meet ethnic Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

    The new sanctions block foreign investment in Yugoslavia and follow a freeze on its foreign assets last month.

    Authoritative Serb sources said the measures could inflict serious damage on the Yugoslav economy Holbrooke's intervention indicated fear in Western capitals that fighting in Kosovo between Serb police and ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) could grow into a full-blown war.

    Holbrooke, who earlier this month failed to broker a peace agreement in Cyprus, underlined the dangers posed by the Kosovo conflict but was careful not to apportion blame between the two sides.

    He told reporters the situation, in which at least 150 people have died this year, was "serious enough to merit close attention" and added: "One might say it has elements of extreme danger and volatility and if not reversed or checked could spread across the national border and risk a wide conflagration.
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