By JEFFREY ULBRICH Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- The chief monitor in Kosovo warned Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic on Monday that the observer force won't tolerate intimidation, but seemed to back off

statements that his people were fired on by Yugoslav soldiers.

William Walker, the American who leads what eventually will be a 2,000-strong unarmed civilian force

that is monitoring a Yugoslav troop pullback, met with Milosevic and other officials for 90 minutes.

Walker said he was sent to see Milosevic ``to express our concern with the perception that security in

Kosovo has deteriorated.''

The monitors, who are being overseen by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,

eventually will spread out throughout Kosovo, a province in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia where

ethnic Albanians are fighting for independence.

He said the OSCE won't ``tolerate any intimidation from either side.''

But Walker appeared to back down from statements Sunday that a Yugoslav army convoy fired weapons

over a car carrying diplomatic observers.

``Our people heard noises and thought they saw flashes from muzzles,'' he said. The Yugoslavs claim

the noises were three vehicle backfires.

Walker said the incident is being looked into. He said the Yugoslav army vehicle definitely turned and

pointed a gun turret at the observers. ``That in itself is unacceptable,'' he said.

Asked if the Serbs are in compliance with the agreement Milosevic signed with American negotiator

Richard Holbrooke, Walker said: ``We have a difference of opinion on the question of full compliance.''

Faced with NATO intervention, Milosevic on Oct. 12 agreed to reduce his security forces in Kosovo,

end a crackdown on the ethnic Albanian rebels and allow international verifiers to observe his

compliance.

``Yugoslavia sticks to the agreement,'' Milosevic said in a statement after meeting Walker. He blamed

any post-agreement violence on the ethnic Albanians.

Walker's meeting with Milosevic came as ethnic Albanian officials in Kosovo rejected a new initiative

by Serbian authorities for long-sought direct talks.

Xhemail Mustafa, a spokesman for Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, denounced the latest offer

as a ``propaganda'' move, and said any negotiations must be held under United States and European

mediation.

Serb President Milan Milutinovic had proposed chairing face-to-face talks with the ethnic Albanians in

Pristina, with international officials in attendance as guests but not as active mediators.

Three violent incidents were reported in Kosovo on Monday, and the Kosovo Information Center,

which is close to the province's ethnic Albanian leadership, reported two ethnic Albanian women were

wounded in one of them. The center said the two were wounded by Serb police on a road about 16

miles north of Pristina.

Serb officials reported bouts of shooting by ethnic Albanians, but no casualties.

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