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ETHIRAJAN ANBARASAN
PARIS, MARCH 19: Western powers involved in the Kosovo peace talks today suspended negotiations as Yugoslavia refused to sign the accord prompting NATO allies to warn of air strikes. ``The negotiations are adjourned. The talks will not resume unless the Serbs express their acceptance of the accord. We will immediately engage in consultations with out partners and allies to be ready to act,'' a statement by co-chairmen France and Britain said.
Kosovo Albanians signed the peace accord earlier in the day along with international mediators while the Serbs walked away from the conference hall here expressing dissatisfaction over the agreement. Russia, one of the six contact group countries, also refused to sign the agreement.
The accord gives autonomy to the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, but rules out independence. The three-year transition period will be monitored by 28,000 NATO troops, according to the agreement.Meanwhile, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, told a pressconference here today that the peace document was fake. ``You need two parties for agreement. The document signed by the Albanian delegation was a fake document. They signed their own document. They never discussed it with us, we never saw them at the same table,'' he said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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