Washington, 16 December 1996 (RFE/RL) - The leader of Serbia's Kosovo province, Ibrahim Rugovo, met Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Rugovo, self-styled president of the mostly ethnic Albanian province, told reporters after Friday's meeting with Christopher that he is urging the United States to increase pressure on the regime of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to make Belgrade "more flexible."
Rugovo was scheduled to have talks later with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights John Shattuck and then leave Washington for Europe.
A leading American human rights group, the New York-based Human Rights Watch, last week released a report detailing incidents of persecution, torture and killings of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The province has been trying to win independence from Serbian rule.