Sunday, January 31, 1999 Published at 13:34 GMT
Nato prepares for Kosovo air strikes
Mr Cook received no definitive answer from Mr Milosevic
After eight hours of negotiations, the Atlantic alliance on Saturday gave Secretary General Javier Solana the authority to order military action if the six-nation Contact Group deems it necessary.
Dr Solana's authorisation means he can call air strikes on Serbian targets after a final telephone "consultation" with the six countries of the Contact Group, effectively shortening the decision-making process.
Nato's message was backed by Britain and the United States. In a joint statement, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and visiting US Vice President Al Gore warned that both countries were prepared to use force to prevent further humanitarian disasters.
Nato has 200 aircraft on stand-by in Italy and on aircraft carriers in the Adriatic Sea, should the Contact Group and the Atlantic alliance give the go-ahead for air strikes.
No-one said 'no'
On his flying visit to Yugoslavia on Saturday as chairman of the Contact Group, Mr Cook did not receive immediate positive responses from all sides.
However, Ibrahim Rugova, the moderate "president" of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo and influential publisher Veton Surroj told Mr Cook they would attend talks.
But Western diplomats have described Mr Rugova as increasingly irrelevant, while the key players in Kosovo are now the rebels of the KLA. Their representative, Adem Demaci, has, like the Serbs, decided to take several days to consider his answer.
Western diplomats said it was encouraging that no side had given an outright "no", but they have underlined that the participation of key players should not be taken for granted.
The Contact Group's proposals, which would form the basis of any peace talks in France, suggest "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo.
A deal would give Kosovo its own elected assembly, a local security force and an international armed presence to police the peace settlement.
But all the warring factions still have to agree to come to the peace table, and while the major powers engage in diplomacy, violence is continuing on the ground.
On Friday the bodies of 24 ethnic Albanians were discovered in the village of Rogovo, a bomb exploded in a café frequented by Serbs in Pristina, and on Saturday Yugoslav army tanks fired on rebel KLA positions near Ljupce in northern Kosovo, sending Albanian villagers fleeing in terror.