Rambouillet - The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, said yesterday that Serbian delegates were blocking the Kosovo peace talks. Mr Cook emerged from a meeting with President Milan Milutinovic of Serbia to blame Belgrade's team for the delay by sticking to its demand that ethnic Albanians sign a joint statement of principles including respect for existing frontiers.
The Serbian delegation unilaterally signed the list of 10 principles that the six-nation Contact Group imposed as the non-negotiable basis for the talks in this town south-west of Paris. But the ethnic Albanian side refuses formally to sign the list, fearing it could prevent Kosovo's eventual independence. As a counter-demand, it wants Belgrade to sign a formal ceasefire.
The British Defence Secretary, Mr George Robertson, said Britain would send troops as part of a NATO presence to the Serb province of Kosovo if a peace deal between the warring sides is struck. Contingency plans are already under way with Challenger tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery to be sent to the region next week, he told parliament.
Meanwhile, up to 10,000 ethnic Albanians thronged the Kosovan village of Racak yesterday to bury 40 massacre victims whose burial was delayed by three weeks of bureaucratic wrangling.