By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, June 3, 2001; 8:06 p.m. EDT

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia –– Yugoslav pro-democracy officials hit a deadlock late Sunday in efforts to nudge Slobodan Milosevic closer to trial by the U.N. war crimes tribunal – failing to agree on a draft law for the former president's extradition.

The new authorities in Belgrade who replaced Milosevic's autocratic regime have been working on a draft that allows the extradition of war crimes suspects like the former Yugoslav president to the tribunal, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

But at talks late Sunday in Belgrade, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and federal government members from Serbia failed to reach a definite agreement with their Montenegrin coalition partners, the Socialist Peoples' Party. Serbia and Montenegro are Yugoslavia's two republics.

Instead, talks adjourned shortly before midnight, with Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic telling reporters that no deal was made, and that further consultations among Serbian and Montenegrin coalition partners were expected in the coming days.

"I am very disappointed," said Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic.

Earlier in the day, the Montenegrin party's top leadership convened in the smaller Yugoslav republic to come up with their own position on the extradition law before the Belgrade meetings. They signaled a move away from the party's rigid opposition to the law, toward a compromise.

Predrag Bulatovic, head of the Montenegrin party, said his side wants to cooperate with The Hague tribunal but doesn't want to just hand over Yugoslav citizens.

Zoran Zizic, Yugoslav prime minister and himself from the Montenegrin camp, said the Montenegro side was willing to agree to the draft – but with a change: that the two republics would be able to design their own clause dealing with extradition.

He expressed hope that this face-saving measure would eventually be accepted by Serbian partners.

Kostunica said the Montenegrin offer should "be carefully reviewed."

The Montenegrins were once allied with Milosevic but joined Kostunica's government after the former Yugoslav president's ouster last October. They have persistently agreed that the country needs a law on cooperation with The Hague tribunal but has resisted the hand-over of Yugoslavs to the court, saying it is biased.

Montenegrin consent is crucial for the law to be passed in the federal parliament.

The United States and its partners have tied further financial aid to cooperation with the U.N. tribunal.

Failure to adopt the law would trigger a federal government crisis and undermine Belgrade's efforts at building democracy in the post-Milosevic era. It could also jeopardize future relations with international donors.

Milosevic now is in a Belgrade prison, pending criminal investigations on a wide range of alleged wrongdoings. The U.N. tribunal wants to try him for Kosovo war crimes, and Serbian police recently announced they have widened their investigations to include accusations that Milosevic ordered the systematic destruction of evidence of Kosovo atrocities, including the 1999 dumping of a truck with the bodies of ethnic Albanians into the Danube River.