Allies pile pressure on Serbs

AS the major powers tightened pressure on Yugoslavia yesterday, relatives of the ethnic Albanians killed by Serbian police in Kosovo last week refused to claim the bodies for burial, accusing President Slobodan Milosevic of trying to hide evidence of atrocities.

In response to the outcry over what is widely feared could turn into a new Bosnia, the six countries of the Contact Group - Britain, the US, France, Italy, Russia and Germany - moved to have the UN Security Council impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia, and threatened to freeze assets held abroad by Yugoslavia and Serbia, its main remaining member republic.

Robin Cook, Foreign Secretary, who chaired yesterday's foreign ministers' meeting at Lancaster House, London, called the measures "very tough". Russia was reluctant to accept the full package.

In Kosovo, families in Srbice refused to bury some 60 victims, said to including 14 women and 12 children, and are demanding that foreign pathologists be allowed to conduct full and independent post-mortems. In the capital Pristina, at least 50,000 ethnic Albanians marched in a peaceful rally against President Milosevic.

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