BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke emerged from daylong negotiations with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic yesterday admitting he had failed to win any change in the Serbian leader's opposition to the international peace proposal for Kosovo.

Amid reports of renewed intense fighting in the Yugoslav province, Holbrooke prepared to return to the United States today to brief Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

"They were very engaged, very intense talks," Holbrooke said. "There has been no change in the Yugoslav position during the day nor in our position."

"We're in a very difficult situation," Holbrooke told CNN-International last night.

In Washington, the issue of sending U.S. troops to enforce a peace settlement in a foreign civil war was heading for a House vote today, despite Albright's appeals that it could harm negotiations and "be taken by both sides as a green light to resume fighting."

With international negotiations set to resume in Paris on Monday, Albright asked Congress to hold off any debate or vote "at this critical time in our negotiations and in our attempts to secure a settlement."

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert insisted that the House would proceed with a vote on a nonbinding resolution.

Holbrooke, who brokered the Dayton accords that ended the war in Bosnia and who negotiated the tattered cease-fire in Kosovo, had been brought in to press Milosevic toward an agreement before peace talks resume in Paris.

The main sticking point remains Milosevic's refusal to accept a NATO-led military force in Kosovo to enforce a political settlement. Holbrooke had been expected to use his personal relationship with Milosevic and his forceful style to achieve movement.

But despite an atmosphere described by one American official as "businesslike," there was no hint that Milosevic was ready to compromise.

Milosevic told Tanjug, the Yugoslav news agency, that any attempt to make the presence of foreign troops in Kosovo a condition of the political agreement was "unacceptable."

Milosevic said the U.S.-sponsored peace plan is "a good basis" for a political settlement of the crisis. But he continued to reject the key provision -- deploying NATO troops to police the region.

His government-run television outlets denounced "aggressive" U.S. policies and called for the defense of Kosovo. During the 10-minute program apparently aimed at preparing Serbs for an armed showdown with the West, a Yugoslav army officer declared that "the defense of Kosovo has no price," and that Yugoslavia "must deal with domestic traitors who say we cannot fight against the whole world."

Wide autonomy

The U.S-sponsored deal calls for wide autonomy for Kosovo Albanians but not the independence that some separatists seek, and for 28,000 NATO troops -- including 4,000 Americans -- to safeguard a settlement.

Western mediators had hoped the talks would produce a deal ready for signing by both parties, but it appears the Serbian and ethnic Albanian delegations are likely to reassemble only for negotiations.

There was an underlying sense of urgency, as the consequences of heavy fighting in southern Kosovo emerged yesterday. Reporters who reached the smoldering village of Ivaja found at least four dead in the abandoned village, along with dead animals and scorched farm buildings.

Serbian forces seized control of the village Tuesday after some fighting. Much of the village was destroyed, and the houses were burned. Villagers had fled, some to the nearby village of Kotlina, but aid agencies were searching for an estimated 400 refugees hiding in the wooded mountains above.

Warning of greater tragedy

Holbrooke had warned on his arrival in Belgrade Tuesday that Kosovo was heading for a greater tragedy and that Belgrade was on a collision course with the West. After the talks, he reiterated that the threat of NATO airstrikes hangs over Milosevic and that the Yugoslav president was aware of it.

But Holbrooke said the fighting in Kosovo, while reprehensible, is part of the process and does not entirely disable the negotiations.

Although Holbrooke will leave Belgrade today, the steady stream into Belgrade of foreign officials from the six members of the Contact Group overseeing the region will continue. Little change is expected before Monday when the talks resume.

The view in Belgrade is that Milosevic will agree to an international peacekeeping force in Kosovo but that he is not ready to compromise.

Bratislav Grubacic, editor of the independent VIP news service in Belgrade, said this was not the end of the discussions, but rather a few steps before the end. "It will be a transfer of messages, and seeing what are the limits of the other, what can be the bargaining chips," he said.

Grubacic suggested that a peace agreement is several weeks away.

Milosevic was looking for some guarantees from the West, he said, namely that his position of power not be attacked, that he not be pursued by the international tribunal's investigation into war crimes, and that he win some lifting of trade sanctions.

Wire services contributed to this report.

Pub Date: 3/11/99