Sunday, January 17, 1999 Published at 22:53 GMT

The following is the text of a statement issued by Nato Secretary-General

Javier Solana following an emergency meeting of the North Atlantic Council,

Nato's top policy-making body, on Sunday.

The council condemns the massacre of Kosovar Albanians that was carried out in

the village of Racak last Friday. This represents a flagrant violation of

international humanitarian law.

The council calls on the Yugoslav authorities to co-operate fully with the

ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia) in accordance with UN

resolutions, including by granting immediate and unrestricted access to Chief

Prosecutor Arbour, and international investigators including Finnish forensic

experts.

We also call on the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) authorities to ensure

the security of the ICTY personnel.

The council demands that the government of the FRY take immediate steps to

ensure that those responsible for this massacre are brought to justice.

The names of those who participated in the killing and those who gave the

orders must be divulged and they must be handed over to the ICTY for

prosecution if requested.

Milosevic must comply with all his commitments to Nato and to the OSCE which

are based on UNSC Resolution 1199.

The FRY must bring VJ (Yugoslav army) and MUP (special police) force levels

and posture into compliance with its commitments to the alliance last October.

As the signatory of this agreement, President Milosevic is responsible for

ensuring that these force levels are respected. He is also personally

responsible for the behavior of his security forces.

The NAC received briefings from the chairman of the Military Committee and

Saceur (Supreme Allied Commander in Europe) on the military situation and on

the status of Nato planning.

It reaffirmed that the ACTORDS (activation orders) for air operations remain

in effect.

The NAC has decided to send the chairman of the Military Committee and Saceur

to Belgrade to impress upon the Yugoslav authorities the gravity of the

situation and their obligation to respect all their commitments to Nato, and

to report back to the NAC.

The chairman of the Military Committee and Saceur will also reaffirm Nato's

support to international efforts to bring peace to the region, including by

the United Nations, OSCE and the European Union.

The council fully supports the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission and its head,

Ambassador Walker.

It expresses its strong condemnation of the attack against two members of this

mission last Friday and calls for those responsible to be brought to justice.

The council insists that the FRY authorities respect their obligations to

ensure the security of the verifiers. Both sides must refrain from actions

that put OSCE verifiers in danger.

Finally, Nato condemns all acts of violence. It calls on both sides to cease

hostilities immediately and to begin negotiations toward a lasting political

solution which provides greater autonomy for Kosovo and which preserves the

territory integrity of the FRY.