U.S. Eases Demand of Immediate Serb Pullback in Kosovo

WASHINGTON —  Easing its demand for an immediate pullback of Serbian forces in Kosovo, the Clinton administration said Wednesday that there will probably have to be a cease-fire before Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic withdraws the units that have cracked down on secessionists and civilians.

The shift, signaled by State Department spokesman James P. Rubin, was the second major move by the administration in the past week to try to revitalize its diplomatic approach to the conflict between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

The other step was opening talks with armed Albanian insurgents who had been denounced previously as acting like terrorists. The contacts are expected to intensify next week when U.S. mediator Robert Gelbard goes to Europe for a meeting with German, British, French, Russian and Italian diplomats in Bonn.

In an effort to get peace talks started, Gelbard and others are proposing a seat at the table for the Kosovo Liberation Army alongside Ibrahim Rugova, the pacifist moderate who many ethnic Albanians look to as their leader.