Richard Holbrooke came to Belgrade Tuesday with what could be a final warning for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before NATO takes steps to try to end the fighting in Kosovo.

The visit by Holbrooke, a troubleshooter for the region and the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is seen as a last diplomatic effort to get Milosevic to stop his crackdown on ethnic Albanians in the secessionist Serbian province."Our goal is to prevent the fighting from escalating into general war," Holbrooke said in Skopje, capital of neighboring Macedonia, before flying to Belgrade for talks with Milosevic.

Western nations, which sent NATO jets buzzing over the region in a warning to Milosevic earlier this month, have been considering what measures they will take if Milosevic refuses to back down.

Holbrooke was to meet with Milosevic later Tuesday. Earlier in the day, he held talks with ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, who supports a peaceful settlement but has limited, if any influence, over the Albanians' Kosovo Liberation Army.

The West fears the Kosovo conflict could spread to Macedonia, which borders on Kosovo and also has a sizable community of ethnic Albanians.

Holbrooke is credited with getting Milosevic and other Balkan leaders to sign the Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia. But he has made no progress in months of efforts to get the autocratic Yugoslav leader to halt his campaign to crush militants in Kosovo. Continuing clashes between Serb and KLA forces have been reported this week.

More than 300 people have died since fighting in Kosovo escalated earlier this year.

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