PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - U.S. Kosovo

mediator Christopher Hill is calling a halt to

months of shuttle diplomacy, leaving ethnic

Albanians and Serbs to try to hammer out a

peace settlement, a source close to the

mediation process said Friday.

``We think that it's now maybe time for the

two sides to try to talk to each other. The

basis should be the two latest versions of

our negotiating paper,'' said the source, who

asked not to be named. The move came

after the negotiating process in Kosovo

appeared to be deadlocked, with both sides

condemning Hill's latest draft autonomy plan

for the Serbian province.

The source did not rule out the possibility

that Hill might resume his shuttle diplomacy

if need be, but said he was not expected in

either the Kosovo regional capital Pristina or

Belgrade before sometime in January.

``We always said that the process was that

of the two sides', not ours. We've only been

giving assistance,'' the source said by

telephone.

Yugoslavia has been calling for direct talks

for months, saying international participation

jeopardizes its sovereignty. But Kosovo's

majority ethnic Albanians rejected the idea

after just one round was held in June. They

said a summer offensive by Yugoslav

security forces in made negotiations

impossible.

U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke,

backed by a threat of NATO airstrikes,

persuaded Belgrade to pull much of its

forces from Kosovo in October, halting eight

months of fighting which had killed 1,500

people and created 250,000 refugees.

Ethnic Albanians still insist on international

mediation to press Serbia, which stripped

Kosovo of its autonomy in 1989.

Reut05:20 12-11-98

(11 Dec 1998 05:19 EST)