The United Nation's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda was established in 1993 and is the first of its kind since World War II. Tribunal judges tried their first case for Yugoslavia war crimes in 1996, when Bosnian Serb camp guard Dusko Tadic was convicted of beating and torturing prisoners and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In July 1998, 120 U.N. members voted for a permanent International Criminal Court, to be based in The Hague, which can try suspected war criminals and perpetrators of genocide in other countries beyond Rwanda and Yugoslavia. The United States — one of six nations assigned to keeping peace in the Balkans — was among the seven nations rejecting the measure, citing concerns that U.S. troops should not have to stand trial outside the United States. The court has yet to be ratified by 60 nations, which could take years.

Alija Izetbegovic: Muslim representative for Bosnia, head of the hard-line Party of Democratic Action and president of Bosnia since 1990. Izetbegovic, 73, is a Muslim intellectual and former political prisoner under Communist rule who was jailed in the 1940s, and again in the 1980s for spreading Islamic propoganda. His Islamic Declaration called for the moral renewal of Islam throughout the world. In a step seen as fulfilling a key obligation of the peace accord, Izetbegovic and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic — once bitter enemies — agreed in 1996 to exchange ambassadors. The move signaled Milosevic's support of the existence of an independent, multiethnic Bosnia, and gave no encouragement to Bosnian Serb nationalists' hopes of seceding and merging their half of Bosnia into Serbian-led Yugoslavia.

Ante Jelavic: Croat representative and member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union. Jelavic is a nationalist backed by Croatia. In 1998 elections he defeated the more moderate Kresimir Zubak, a Croat logistics officer who broke with the ruling nationalist party to embrace the Dayton accord. The party is led by ethnic separatists and has long had a stranglehold on political and economic life in Croat-held portions of Bosnia. The party is widely regarded as a pawn of Franjo Tudjman, the wartime Croatian president who still favors annexation of such Bosnian areas.

Zivko Radisic: Serb presidential representative and chair of the presidency, which rotates every two years. Radisic, a member of the Socialist Party, is a relative moderate and ally of Biljana Plavsic, the Western-backed candidate defeated by hardliner Nikola Poplasen in the 1998 race for president of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Diplomats say Radisic favors a stronger Bosnian state. His political party is the Bosnian branch of the one controlled by the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and it is not clear how much control Milosevic will exert. Radisic replaces Momcilo Krajisnik, the ultranationalist Serb businessman and a close friend of Radovan Karadzic, the notorious former Bosnian Serb leader indicted by the U.N. tribunal for war crimes. A controversial March 1999 ruling allowing Muslims and Croats to jointly govern the Serb-held Bosnian city of Brcko inflamed Radisic, who has threatened to boycott meetings of the collective presidency to protest the decision.

Clark was born on Dec. 23, 1944, and raised in Little Rock, Ark. He graduated first in his class from West Point and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Clark's distinguished Army career includes a combat command in Vietnam, where he won Bronze and Silver stars; a White House fellowship; early promotions as major and later lieutenant colonel; and service as assistant executive officer to Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr. when Haig was chief of NATO.

Stance: Clark has said that Serbians and ethnic Albanians are equally responsible for the ongoing civil war in Kosovo, but he blames Serb authorities for sparking the conflict by intimidating and repressing ethnic Albanians. In March 1999, he repeated warnings that NATO would not allow Milosevic to terrorize the population. "I think Milosevic has to understand that NATO does have the capability and means to make a very devastating series of attacks against him should that be required. He is not going to be given a free rein to smash the civilian populace and their villages in Kosovo," he told Britain's BBC radio.

Stance: Britain, the United States, Russia, France, Italy and Germany form the Contact Group in charge of negotiating peace in the Balkans. Among the Western allies, Britain has been the staunchest supporter of airstrikes against Yugoslavia. But Britain has expressed doubts about the effectiveness of bombing and what it would solve if the Kosovo Albanians do not drop their demands for a referendum on independence by the end of a three-year interim period provided for in the draft accord. Unless the ethnic Albanians endorse all aspects of the peace deal, Cook said, "airstrikes on Belgrade are not going to help."

Stance: Hill and the Clinton administration favor an accord that would give Kosovo wide autonomy, but not independence from Serbia. "The beauty of the interim [Kosovo peace] accord is that no one has to give up their dreams," Hill said. The underlining idea of Hill's plan is that Kosovo's attainment of independence could spark a broader conflict in the region by raising new questions about the formation of a larger ethnic Albanian entity composed of Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and parts of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro.

 Holbrook's career as a diplomat stretches back as far as the Carter administration, when he served as assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs. During President Clinton's first term, Holbrooke was assistant secretary of state for European affairs. He left that post to return to investment banking, but continued to take diplomatic assignments from Clinton.

 Holbrooke served as Cyprus envoy and traveled to Yugoslavia in early 1998 to pressure Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to temper his crackdown against Kosovo's separatist Albanian guerrillas. In October, Holbrooke negotiated a cease-fire agreement with Milosevic.

 His U.N. nomination, announced in June 1998, was delayed as the Justice and State departments investigated conflict-of-interest allegations. In February, he agreed to pay $5,000 to settle the matter. His nomination has since been forwarded to the Senate.

Stance: Russia, a member of the Contact Group, in charge of negotiating peace in the Balkans, has centuries-old religious and cultural ties with the Serbs and firmly opposes airstrikes and any NATO intervention in Kosovo. Echoing the sentiments of President Boris Yeltsin, Ivanov said the conflict should be solved through negotiations. "Airstrikes cannot ensure human rights," he said. "A peace brought about through the use of force will not be durable." Although Russia is not a NATO member, it is considering contributing troops to a peacekeeping force if talks succeed.

Karadzic was born on June 19, 1945, in Petnjica, an impoverished hamlet in the mountains of Montenegro where his father joined other Serb nationalists to fight Marshal Tito's communist forces. Karadzic, who studied medicine in Sarajevo and worked as a psychiatrist, founded the Serb Democratic Party in 1990 and became president of the self-declared Bosnian Serb Republic two years later. In 1992, with the help of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic and his party started the Bosnian war and oversaw the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs.

Milosevic, 57, launched a military offensive against the rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army in February 1998. Since then, the embattled leader, known for his fiery rhetoric and defiance, has engaged in characteristic brinkmanship under the threat of NATO airstrikes. In October 1998, for example, NATO threatened punitive airstrikes against Yugoslavia after the discovery of the slaughter of 19 ethnic Albanians by Serbian police units. Milosevic finally agreed on an accord that allowed 2,000 international inspectors into Kosovo and regular overflights by NATO surveillance aircraft as a deterrent to further violence.

Stance: Milosevic refuses to allow NATO peacekeeping troops in Yugoslavia. He has said he will consider Kosovo autonomy, but rejects any move for a referendum on independence for Kosovar Albanians.

Stance: Milutinovic reviewed work of the government delegation at the Kosovo peace talks in Rambouillet, France, on behalf of Milosevic. He has reiterated Milosevic's position that Belgrade will reject any deal that requires NATO troop presence on its soil, saying in a recent interview that any NATO deployment would "badly damage our sovereignty." 

Stance: While all ethnic Albanians favor independence, the means by which to obtain it has caused a rift in Kosovo politics. Rugova at first refused to recognize the KLA and has scorned the rebel group and its violent methods. He is committed to full independence and believes Serbs and ethnic Albanians can resolve their differences peacefully. 

After an acrimonious debate among the 16 NATO members over the next secretary general, the Spanish prime minister was named to NATO's highest civilian post in December 1995. Solana's familiarity with Bosnia helped him cinch the nomination, which came on the eve of NATO's deployment of 60,000 peacekeeping troops to the war-torn region. He initially opposed Spain's entry into NATO in 1982, but later became an ardent supporter of the alliance. Solana, described as a consummate diplomat with a sunny disposition, studied in the United States and has written more than 30 books. Since 1977, he has been member of Spanish parliament and is credited with helping Spain emerge from the isolationism imposed during Francisco Franco's dictatorship. 

Stance: During a February press conference, Solana reiterated his support for a political solution to the conflict in Kosovo, which many have called Europe's most grave security crisis since the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict. He added: "But if the political solution is not reached, then we say very clearly that NATO knows very well what it has to do." Questions over what bombing will accomplish has weakened Western allies' initial zeal for bombing. If carried out, airstrikes would mark the first direct assault in NATO's 50-year history against a sovereign nation.

Hashim Thaqi, right, and Adem Demaci.

Thaqi commands great respect within the ranks of the KLA and is regarded by some as first among equals within the five-man KLA team that was part of the Albanian contingent at the February peace talks in Rambouillet. In the summer of 1998, Thaqi was a regional commander in the rebel army and was convicted in absentia by Yugoslav courts and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Stance: Thaqi vows the KLA will fight to the end for Kosovo's independence. He was reluctant about signing the accord presented at the France talks. It included a three-year period for autonomy but did not provide for a referendum on independence. Thaqi led the ethnic Albanian delegation and tried to convince his delegates to reject the agreement. U.S. officials blamed Thaqi's stance on Adem Demaci, the 63-year-old KLA hard-liner and a political spokesman who boycotted the talks and had been encouraging Thaqi to reject the draft accord. Demaci announced his resignation from the KLA on March 2, expressing his disgust for the current peace process. 

The West viewed Croatia as an ally and credits Croatian forces in helping to end the Bosnian war with a decisive 1995 military offensive in Serb-held territory of Krajina against the Bosnian Serbs in Krajina. But for years, human rights groups have been critical of Croatia's treatment of its Serb minority in Krajina, where lootings and burnings of Serb homes continued a year afterward. Tudjman's government has also been accused of suppressing the media — a factor, along with its abysmal human rights record, that has been a major obstacle in Croatia's effort to join the European Union and NATO's Partnership for Peace program.

Of the gruesome killings, Walker said at a press conference: "Although I am not a lawyer, from what I personally saw, I do not hesitate to describe the crime as a massacre, a crime against humanity. Nor do I hesitate to accuse the government security forces of responsibility." Enraged, Milosevic ordered Walker's expulsion from Yugoslavia. The order was later postponed. 

Walker is a career diplomat, having served much of his career in Latin America and forged a reputation as a champion of human rights. While serving as the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador during the 1980s, however, Walker was criticized for his reluctance to mete out responsibility for the brutal 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, an act committed by military troops of the U.S.-backed government.