Note: Placenames rendered primarily in Serbian spelling
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"The main worry is the population still in Kosovo: up to 800,000 people, without international aid, trapped in a country devastated by the conflict, with huge parts of the population delivered to a vengeful military and
paramilitary." UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski
Quoted by Agence France Presse, April 24 Geneva
"There are some [groups] inside Kosovo who are unarmed and are trying to get to regions where the KLA is in control, and they are being shot. That is why we are asking NATO to give us arms." Kosovo Liberation Army spokesman Gani Sylaj Quoted by Associated Press, April
25 Kukes, Albania
"Standing against ethnic cleansing is both a moral imperative and a practical necessity. In order for this strategy [of bombing without intervention on the ground] to succeed, we need two things: vigorous execution and patience." US President Bill Clinton April 25 Washington
"NATO's leaders must address the question: What if bombing alone fails to defeat Mr. Milosevic? If they do not, Mr. Clinton risks being remembered as the architect of the downfall of the most successful alliance the world has ever seen." Winston Churchill III
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, April 26 London
"There's a permissive environment and there's a non-permissive environment. There's a lot of other terminology that is being used. I've looked all
those words up in the dictionary; I don't find them. We will participate in a multinational force with NATO at its core, if that is part if an agreement or if there is acceptance by Milosevic of such a force. But we do not favor participation under other circumstances. We have indicated that we would participate in a force in a permissive environment. A 'permissive environment' would be 'one in which the government in Belgrade either would
accept its presence or acquiesce to its presence.' And that is pretty straightforward." US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger April 23 Washington
"The difficulties of a land force invasion of Kosovo against undegraded Serb resistance remain. But Milosevic has no veto over NATO's actions. It was agreed at the Summit that the Secretary General of NATO and the
military planners should now update their assessments of all contingencies. Meanwhile the buildup of forces in the region continues."
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair April 25 London
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I. TODAY'S DEVELOPMENTS: NEW MASSACRES, EXPULSIONS DESCRIBED; DRASKOVIC FIRED
* Agence France Presse reported today that "refugees swarming into northern Albania [from the Djakovica area of western Kosovo] have given accounts [that]... describe one of the worst episodes of killing in the Kosovo
crisis. Those said to have been slaughtered were all men, some as young as 15, with eyewitness accounts testifying to 'piles of bodies' on the ground or in ditches. [United Nations High Commission for Refugees - UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said] 'Some people talked about more than 100 [killed] and several mentioned a figure as high as 200'... Dozens of people interviewed by UNHCR staff said they had been thrown out of their homes on Tuesday morning by Serbian forces mixture of police, military and
paramilitary units. Throughout Tuesday single men were taken off the departing tractors and many were later killed."
* UNHCR reported today that "the situation in Prizren, now apparently a main transit point for refugees fleeing to Albania, is said by the new arrivals to be deteriorating sharply, with shortages of food reported.
Electricity and water services are said to be sporadic and the residents only leave their houses to search for food. Several refugees from the town said that men had been systematically rounded up in the last few weeks to
be used as forced laborers, as blood donors or as 'human shields.' "
* Reuters reported today that "Serbian special police killed 53 ethnic Albanian civilians on April 17 then burned the bodies and buried the house they were huddled in, according to the Kosovo Liberation Army's Kosovapress
news agency. The agency listed the full names, gender and age of the dead, who ranged from six months to 75 years old. It said most of the victims were women. Kosovapress said the slaughter occurred in the village of Poklek, near the town of Glogovac in central Kosovo. Kosovapress quoted witnesses as saying the villagers were herded together in a house by policemen with headbands who were looking for "terrorists." They were kept inside for a whole day, until a Serbian policeman threw a handgrenade among them, then opened up with automatic fire, it said. Police checked to see if anyone was left alive, and three hours later returned to burn the bodies.
Kosovapress quoted witnesses as saying they had seen "the bones" of the burned corpses two days after the killing. But when they returned a day later, the [population of the] entire house was buried. The agency said there were living witnesses to the massacre but their identity was being kept secret."
* The Financial Times reported today that "large groups of ethnic Albanian refugees yesterday started to arrive in Macedonia, for the first time from areas of Serbia outside Kosovo. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees estimated around 2,000 people had arrived by foot, mainly from the town of Presevo, about 9km from the Macedonian border, inside the main republic of Serbia. While some had found their way to an unofficial border
crossing near the village of Lojane, refugees said several hundred women and children had last been seen heading into the mountains. Presevo may have been targeted by Serb security forces because it had become home to some Kosovar refugees. Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UNHCR, said: 'The Serbs clearly reckon that, since they are doing this work, they might as well clear them out of there as well.' Four men who had arrived in Lojane
overnight or early yesterday morning told of security force harassment as the army suddenly sought to serve call-up papers on 800 Albanian men. Around 80 men had been taken by the army, and were being held in a school
in the town. Three other refugees backed up this account."
* Reuters today reported that " Maverick Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic was fired Wednesday, dashing hopes that President Slobodan Milosevic might be preparing to reach a compromise to end the Kosovo crisis. The official news agency Tanjug said Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic had relieved Draskovic of all duties in the government 'because of his recent public statements in contradiction with the positions of the federal
government.' The previous day, Draskovic, a former opposition leader and political maverick, had called for the stationing of foreign troops in Kosovo under U.N. control. The Daily Telegraph (London) had today reported
that Yugoslavia's Prime Minister Draskovic " 'in an apparent reference to Slobodan Milosevic, said 'Look at the West. Are there any cracks in NATO? So-called patriots are lying to the people by claiming that in a few days we will celebrate victory. The people should be told that NATO is not facing a breakdown, that Russia will not help Yugoslavia militarily, and that world public opinion is against us.' " Reuters noted today that
Draskovic "in later interviews insisted he was not targeting Milosevic but criticizing hardline nationalists grouped around the other deputy prime minister, Vojislav Seselj." Reuters Sunday cited Serbia's Democratic Party
chief Zoran Djindjic on Draskovic's new tack: "It's a role in a play written by Milosevic." However, Reuters Monday quoted Miodrag Vucic, chairman of Montenegro's ruling anti-Milosevic party: 'It is a sign that a
different, democratic Serbia is coming out of the basement.' "
* Reuters reported today that "five or six Kosovo refugees were killed and seven injured when they strayed into a minefield while trying to cross the Macedonian border, [Macedonia's] information ministry said, quoting
eyewitness accounts."
* Reuters reported today that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and leaders from the US and Germany said after a round of meetings in Berlin Wednesday they saw no imminent diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis." Reuters in separate reports quoted US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) chairman-in-office Knut Vollebaek saying they saw "no signals from Belgrade" that Yugoslavia would accept the five points set out by NATO during its Washington summit last weekend.
*Reuters reported today that "the arrival of up to 4,000 more ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo in Macedoniia on Wednesday further swell already desperately overcrowded camps in the poor Balkan country." The Los
Angeles Times today quoted UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini before the new influx: "We are really in trouble. What we don't have is space, it's getting completely out of control here.' "
II. MASS RAPES, MORE ATROCITIES REPORTED
* Associated Press reported April 25 that "international monitors, war crimes investigators and NATO are all reporting numerous accounts of rapes in Kosovo atrocities. Witness testimony so far indicates the rapes in Kosovo are 'neither isolated nor incidental,' said Patricia Sellers, a UN war crimes prosecutor at The Hague, Netherlands, whose workers are gathering the first accounts. NATO, also citing refugee accounts, contends there have been several instances of mass rapes, well-organized on at least a local level: At Djakovca, near the Albanian border, Serb soldiers allegedly took women from their families and sent them to an army camp where they were held for repeated rapes. In Pec, a local Serb commander allegedly held ethnic Albanian women at a hotel, organizing a schedule by which his soldiers could come to spend an evening. At an ammunition factory and nickel plant at an unspecified site in Kosovo, 100 women allegedly were still being held as of mid-April."
UNHCR reported today that "on Monday, nearly 500 persons crossed the Albanian border at Morini. Some arrived in cars, others said they had been taken by bus to Prizren and were dropped off near the border. A group of the men who crossed yesterday told UNHCR staff that a new wave of arrests was underway in the villages near Prizren. They reported that men between the ages of 15 and 65 had been rounded up by Serbian forces and told that they would have to do physical labor for the government."
Deutsche Presse Agentur April 26 reported that "UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said there were a growing number of reports that paramilitary forces are committing
atrocities in Kosovo. A group of bearded, masked men shot more than 50 civilians in three villages around Lipljan, south of Pristina, on Sunday, according to one report. In the village of Ribar Ivogel, five women were first raped then shot to death."
* The Chicago Tribune reported April 26 that "some refugees reaching Macedonia on Sunday said Serb paramilitary forces had detained 20 of the wealthiest residents of Hallac i Vogel a week ago, robbed them and then opened fire, killing at least 11. At the neighboring village of Ribar i Vogel, the refugees said the same paramilitary groups killed 19 people.
They also said Serbian forces surrounded the town of Sllovi on April 16 and killed 15 people." Agence France Presse reported April 25 that "one refugee from the village of Sllovi told the UNHCR a Serb paramilitary unit arrested between 170 and 189 men in his village on April 16. The Serbs beat the men, ordered them to run toward hills, and opened fire, killing 16, he said."
* Agence France Presse reported April 26 that "Kosovar refugees arriving at the Albania-Montenegrin border Sunday, confirmed rumors about recent Serbian killings in Montenegro. Isuf Kelmendi, who said he taught history
at Pec in Kosovo, said nine refugees were killed a week ago by Serbian paramilitary forces who raided villages overlooking Roxhaje. Six Kosovars were killed in the village of Husaj and three more in Bukel, he said. His
account was confirmed by several other refugees."
* The Guardian (London) reported April 26 that "refugees [arriving in Albania] yesterday provided eyewitness testimony which corroborates reports of one of the most horrific mass executions by Serbian troops since the
ethnic cleansing campaign began. Izbica is now little more than a cemetary for 152 of its inhabitants who were cut down by Serb machine guns on March 28."
* Deutsche Presse Agentur said April 25 that "refugees [from near Urosevac] reported that they had been driven from their homes by paramilitary Serb units, UNHCR spokeswoman Judith Kumin said. The soldiers reportedly
gathered all the men from a village, beat them, and told them to run into the mountains. The refugees charged that Serb officers opened fire on the fleeing groups of men, killing several."
* Agence France Presse reported April 25 that a doctor from the Pristina hospital now living as a refugee in the Stankovec camp in Macedonia "told AFP of treating, in a tent clinic, a young Albanian mother and her sons, ages six and eight. 'The youngest child was missing two fingers. His mothers told me a Serb policeman cut them off, in front of her, because of her husband's resistance activities.' The other child bore marks of beatings, said the doctor."
* Human Rights Watch reported April 26: "Refugees now arriving in Macedonia report that Yugoslav military forces chased them from village to village in Kosovo during the preceding three to four weeks. Refugees explained they were sometimes directed by Yugoslav troops toward a particular town, only to later be forced to flee that town. Many refugees from Urosevac, for example, fled their homes soon after the NATO air strikes began on March 24, seeking shelter in the nearby village of Sojevo. They were later forced to flee Sojevo as well when Yugoslav army troops entered the village on April 6, joined by paramilitary soldiers on April 7, and began burning houses and firing weapons. One man told Human Rights Watch that when he fled with his wife and children he had been forced to leave his paralyzed father and elderly mother behind in their home. He had believed they would be safe because '[paramilitaries] wouldn't touch a paralyzed man.' However, when he returned several hours later, he found both his mother
and father shot dead in their home, his mother's body had been mutilated, and that there were dozens of empty bullet casings on the ground. At least two other elderly people were also killed in Sojevo, according to three of the villagers interviewed by Human Rights Watch who buried them."
* Associated Press reported April 26 that "an ethnic Albanian rebel commander, contacted by satellite telephone from Austria, said Serb troops are now hiding in villages where NATO knows ethnic refugees are staying, forcing the civilians into basements while taking over the rest of the houses."
The Independent (London) reported April 26 that a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) representative "appealed to NATO yesterday to send weapons, Apache helicopters and ground troops into Kosovo at the first press conference held by the Kosovo Liberation Army." Associated Press reported KLA spokesman Gani Sylaj "called the situation inside Kosovo 'horrible' and accused Serb forces of mass murder, rape and other atrocities. 'The Serbian war machinery makes Kosovo one very big concentration camp.
We call for the KLA to be armed by NATO. We have to take into account that the KLA is the only force fighting inside Kosovo territory.' " Reuters reported that "Albania Monday urged NATO to send ground troops to Kosovo as soon as possible to end Milosevic's crackdown."
* British Army officer Major Jerry Williams told a Ministry of Defense press briefing Saturday: "In the border regions, particularly the Kosovo Albania border where antipersonnel mines were extensively employed to block possible infiltration routes. Some, but not all, of these minefields are marked and it is worth remembering that these infiltration routes are the same routes now being used by Kosovan refugees crossing the borders.
Antipersonnel mines are also reported to have been laid on the border with Macedonia. Additionally, Serb forces operating throughout the region have employed localised protective minefields, again consisting mainly of antipersonnel mines, thus both current and past Serb positions are likely to be mined. These smaller protective minefields generally display no mine marking signs. This will have significant implications for any post-conflict humanitarian clearance operations. Recent Serb activity on the border with both Macedonia and Albania suggest the implementation of a more conventional obstacle plan. This obstacle plan will include additional antitank minefields and enhancements to existing minefields. Recent refugee reports suggest extensive mining in the border areas extending in the case of the Macedonian border approximately 25 kilometres west from the main Skopje/Pristina road. The potential destructive power of such obstacles was brought home vividly at the end of last week when we saw newspaper pic
tures of this family car destroyed by an antitank mine on the Albanian border. As you have already heard, the majority of the occupants were killed in the explosion. It is possible that the incident was caused by this mine the TMA5. This is the mine that has been seen on recent news footage of Serb troops conducting mine laying operations on the borders of Kosovo as recent experience worldwide has shown, these types of low technology antipersonnel mines will continue to cause a significant humanitarian problem for many years to come."
* A correspondent travelling with a KLA unit inside Kosovo reported April 25 for The Times (London): "On two days last week the Serbs fired shells that emitted white smoke. It seemed to be some kind of chemical. Those who breathed it suffer red eyes, an inability to breathe, small pupils and disorientation. Doctors do not know what it is. A few gas masks have now arrived." British Army General George Guthrie April 26 told a Ministry of Defense briefing that "as far as chemical weapons are concerned, certainly Yugoslavia did have chemical weapons. It is a possibility that Serbia has the remnants of a stock which Yugoslavia had. There have been reports of people going to doctors and being seen in casualty areas with blisters. It is far too early to say what caused those blisters, it may not be chemical weapons, it could be something like phosporus which is in certain kinds of grenades and I would be very remiss to say it was chemical weapons yet. We will investigate and if it is, it is absolutely monstrous."
* NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark said April 26 that "the Yugoslav military, now, we believe, number along with the police at least 40,000. They have been reinforced in the last three or four days by an influx of newly mobilized reservists to replace combat casualties."
* Reuters April 26 reported that International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief Cornelio Sommaruga today "said Milosevic had promised him during a one-hour meeting on Monday that Red Cross staff would have full protection from Yugoslav authorities." Reuters also noted that ICRC general delegate Angelo Gnaedingere "said they asked if they would be allowed to visit prisons, and he quoted Milosevic as replying they could see any prisoner they wanted." Reuters also reported that the delegation "visited three US servicemen held since March 31. It was the first visit the Red Cross had been allowed to make, despite repeated representations to the Yugoslav authorities."
III. NEW REFUGEE WAVE SWAMPING MACEDONIA; CAMP CONDITIONS WORSENING IN ALBANIA
* Reuters reported today that "busloads of ethnic Albanian refugees flowed into Macedonia on Tuesday at the main border crossing point." UNHCR reported today: "A total of 3,500 new refugees arrived in the FYR of Macedonia on Monday. Around 2,800 came by train and more than a dozen buses which arrived at the Blace border crossing at midday. The train departed from Kosovo Polje and made several stops along the route, including at Lipljan, Rubovce, Babljak and Urosevac. Refugees reported that the train picked up very few additional passengers at these spots, since it was already overcrowded. The buses arrived from Urosevac. Another 800 refugees entered the FYR of Macedonia late Monday night through the border crossing at Lojane. Most of these arrivals were accommodated by local host families. Many new arrivals from Lipljan recounted stories of atrocities in and around the town. The new arrivals at Blace April 26 were squeezed into whatever remaining space could be found in the camps, which are now seriously ove
rcrowded. The new transit site at Blace is nearing capacity, with 2,200 already registered at the facility as of Monday morning. Capacity at the transit camp is around 2,500." Reuters today noted a report by Macedonia's state radio that "as many as 30,000 refugees are heading towards the Macedonian border. 'The whole population of Urosevac and the neighboring villages is moving towards Macedonia,' it said, quoting newly arrived refugees. The report could not immediately be confirmed."
* The Financial Times reported April 26 that "concern is growing among international relief agencies that Slobodan Milosevic will soon expel a fresh wave of up to 100,000 refugees. [NATO Supreme Commander] General Wesley Clark. yesterday said the international community had to prepare for 'the next wave of refugees,' a number that could be 50,000 to 100,000 people, according to the UNHCR."
* The Independent (London) reported April 26 that deportees "in the Macedonian camps are having to endure more squalid conditions, with 48,000 crammed into spaces intended to house only 30,000 and surviving on a diet of donated fish and bread. Aid workers said there was 'incredible anxiety' over the deteriorating conditions at the two camps called Stenkovac 1, and 2, outside Skopje. 'I don't think we can underestimate the appalling conditions,' said one."
* The Guardian (London) reported that US Secretary of State Albright in an interview on BBC "said she hoped the refugees could be home before the winter: 'But we haven't put any dates on this. We have objectives, not deadlines."
* Agence France Presse reported April 25 that UNHCR "has asked Macedonia for permission to build more refugee camps, to cope with the constant influx of Kosovo Albanian refugees, a spokeswoman said Sunday. 'We are beyond capacity limits in the existing camps,' UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini said. 'We have requested authorization for setting up three new camps with a total capacity of 30,000 people,' she said."
* The Daily Telegraph (London) reported April 26 that "humanitarian aid for Kosovo. was yesterday being blocked from entering Albania because of corruption and bureaucracy. Inefficient and fraudulent officials at Durres, the country's largest port, are causing chaotic scenes at the harbor where dozens of [trucks] have been trapped for days."
* Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported April 25 that despite having evacuated more than 200,000 Kosovo deportees from the border town of Kukes in the past month, Albanian authorities and international organizations say "there are still 130,000 refugees in [Kukes] [Although] the evacuation has been decided due to the poverty of Albania's northeastern regions and the worsening security situation in the area... Many refugees refuse to be evacuated from Kukes, saying they wanted to stay close to the border, and be ready to return to Kosovo as soon as possible."
* DPA April 26 noted a report from Albania's Interior Ministry that "Serb and Albanian border forces engaged in an exchange of fire in a new incident Sunday night. A group of Serb soldiers had entered a few meters inside Albanian territory. in the northeastern region of Has [the Ministry] said Serb forces had used submachine guns and mortar rockets during the protracted confrontation." DPA also reported April 25 that a group of 60 men pushed out of Kosovo last week by Serb paramilitaries refused to leave [the Albanian border town of] Morina, saying they were waiting for their wives and children, who had been forced to stay behind."
* The Washington Post reported April 26 that the KLA "has forcibly recruited men among ethnic Albanian refugees in northern Albania, according to refugees and foreign workers based here. Armed rebels maintain roadblocks and halt traffic on main roads used by arriving Kosovo refugees, the sources say, and have pulled an unknown number of men from their cars or farm wagons as conscripts. An official of the rebel movement's political wing said Saturday that force has been used only in isolated cases and that an order had been issued to halt the practice. Nevertheless, forced recruitments have aroused concern among international organizations. The conscription reports also add to NATO's doubts about aligning itself more closely with the KLA."
* Agence France Presse reported April 25 that "several days of.rain [have] turned the camp [at Kukes] into a quagmire. The agencies want the refugees to move south, so they discourage anything that gives the camp a sense of permanence. Toilets are simply cubicles suspended over trenches. There are no washing facilities, and even cooking on fires in frowned on."
* Agence France Presse reported that "around 3,500 Kosovars were cooped up in [a] spartan disused cigarette factory in [Shkoder, Albania] Saturday, growing more desperate day by day. The impression of being in a prison, or a concentration camp was overwhelming. Little daylight filtered through the windows and the interior of the factory was plunged into gloom. Conditions at the factory were unlikely to improve with the arrival late on Saturday of 300 more refugees bused in from the Yugoslav border."
* Agence France Presse reported April 25 that Italy's Civil Defense Minister Franco Barberi "sharply criticized NATO's operation to aid Kosovo refugees in Albania, saying it was strangling in bureaucratic red tape. 'Operation Allied Shelter has been much talked about in the media but has scarcely become operational,' Barberi told Corriere della Sera, which interviewed him in the Albanian capital Tirana. Condemning the 'unthinkable delays' in the organization of aid to the refugees, which he said were due to bureaucratic complications, he accused international bodies in Albania of trying to palm off responsibilities on each other. He said 'it is unthinkable that, given the situation, we are talking about delays of two to three weeks before NATO's aid mission is operational. For the well-being of the Kosovar refugees, we have to stop mincing words and get down to action.' "
IV. NATO SECURITY FOR FRONTLINE STATES, DIPLOMACY PRODUCES LITTLE
* The International Herald Tribune Tuesday noted that "if Serbian forces seek to enter Montenegro to overthrow the government, [an unnamed senior] U.S. official said, NATO airpower will attack the troops and their supply routes. His statement was the most specific threat yet to Belgrade about NATO intervention to protect countries supporting the allied campaign. Macedonia, another frontline state that has been unhappy about a conflict that has brought tens of thousand of ethnic Albanian refugees onto its soil, left the meeting gratified at receiving a new degree of recognition from the alliance, the official said. Continued and perhaps growing cooperation can be expected from the Macedonia authorities, the source indicated, because they apparently came away more confident about the aid and political recognition they can expect if Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav president, is defeated."
* NATO heads of state and government April 23 released a communique in Washington saying that Milosevic "must:
* Ensure a verifiable stop to all military action and the immediate ending of violence and repression in Kosovo;
* Withdraw from Kosovo his military, police and paramilitary forces;
* Agree to the stationing in Kosovo of an international military presence;
* Agree to the unconditional and safe return of all refugees and displaced persons, and unhindered access to them by humanitarian aid organizations; and
* Provide credible assurance of his willingness to work for the establishment of a political framework agreement based on the Rambouillet accords."
The communique also noted that "there can be no compromise on these conditions. As long as Belgrade fails to meet the legitimate demands of the international community and continues to inflict immense human suffering, Alliance air operations against the Yugoslav war machine will continue. We hold President Milosevic and the Belgrade leadership responsible for the safety of all Kosovar citizens. We will fulfill our promise to the Kosovar people that they can return to their homes and live in peace and security."
* The communique also noted that "NATO is prepared to suspend its air strikes once Belgrade has unequivocally accepted the above-mentioned conditions and demonstrably begun to withdraw its forces from Kosovo according to a precise and rapid timetable. This could follow the passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution, which we will seek, requiring the withdrawal of Serb forces and the demilitarization of Kosovo and encompassing the deployment of an international military force to safeguard the swift return of all refugees and displaced persons as well as the establishment of an international provisional administration of Kosovo under which its people can enjoy substantial autonomy within the FRY. NATO remains ready to form the core of such an international military force. It would be multinational in character with contributions from non-NATO countries."
* Associated Press reported that US diplomats Friday began drafting a UN Security Council resolution Friday calling for the demilitarization of Kosovo and an international peacekeeping force." Associated Press reported today that "the United States believes any international peacekeeping force for Kosovo should be led by NATO, US Defense Secretary William Cohen said Tuesday, in response to a senior Yugoslav officials call for a UN-led force. 'It must be an armed, international peacekeeping force,' Cohen said. 'We believe it must be led by NATO.' " Associated Press reported NATO Secretary General Solana said April 24 that "there must be a 'robust force,' and that means having NATO troops at its core." When asked whether the West was creating an "UNPROFOR II," National Security Advisor Sandy Berger said "we believe NATO ought to be at its core, although there could be other elements of it, is because we believe for the United States that there has to be an effective force, and we have to have confidence, if
we're going to put American soldiers in that force, that there is a command and control competence and integrity that we have in NATO and that we believe we could trust. We would not go into a situation which, even if permissive, would be not without risks, unless our own people this is something we owe to our own people and to the American people our own forces were in a coherent, workable, effective force, and that is not my recollection of UNPROFOR."
* The Times (London) reported today that "Foreign Office sources said yesterday that Britain now accepted that any future Security Council resolution covering a peace force for Kosovo could not emphasize the role to be played by NATO if Russia was to give its official backing. That concession, however, did not change the view, approved by all alliance governments, that the force for Kosovo should still be led by NATO and that NATO troops should form its core."
* The Washington Post reported April 24 that "the allies debated whether to demand the removal of all Serb forces from Kosovo. In the final statement, the word 'all' was deleted in the call for 'the withdrawal of Serb forces.'
" However, when NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana was asked following the release of the communique whether NATO would require the "withdrawal of all" Serb forces, he replied: "Yes, all." Britain's Prime Minister Blair said April 25 that "there's no question at all, his troops have got to get out, all of them. And there's no doubt whatever that is a condition of the NATO campaign. Because otherwise, the reason for that, let me just explain to you, it's not a demand that we make just for the sake of it. The Kosovar Albanians that have been driven by these forces out of their homes, women raped in front of their children and the young men murdered and so on, they can't stay there to protect the Kosovar Albanian people. Their absence from the scene is a necessary part of allowing people to go back safely."
* The Washington Post noted April 24 that "White House officials strenuously denied that the troop pullout language was a softening of NATO's position. 'At the insistence of the United States, [NATO] not only required that the [Serb forces] begin withdrawing, but that they demonstrate by a precise and rapid timetable that their promises are backed up,' said White House deputy national security adviser James Steinberg, adding that the new language 'toughened the NATO position' by clarifying what Milosevic needs to do." Asked whether the language precluded a force in Kosovo without United Nations approval, US National Security advisor Berger noted Friday that "that doesn't mean that if we don't get [UN approval], we won't go ahead."
* Reuters reported today that "Russia's Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin is going to Bonn on Thursday for talks with German leaders. A European diplomat said the intensive courting of Moscow had valuable internal alliance management benefits for NATO at a time when Western governments need to prepare their publics for the possibility of a long, drawn-out and messy war. 'Using Germany to help bring Russia on board kills two birds with one stone. It shows Belgrade that it can't play Russia off against the West and it reassures peace-loving parts of a European public opinion that we are doing our best for a solution,' he said. 'The more the Russians see Milosevic is losing, the more they're likely to come across to our side because they want to be key players in getting the settlement,' a NATO diplomat said."
* Reuters reported today that "US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott met Russia's special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin on Tuesday and said the two countries would work together to resolve the Yugoslav crisis. 'There is no question that Russia and the United States are working together on this problem,' Talbott told reporters after his longer than planned talks with Chernomyrdin. Talbott did not say whether Chernomyrdin had given him details of new proposals which the Russian envoy said his team had formulated on Monday." The Financial Times reported today that the visit followed an hour-long telephone call on Sunday [between Russia's President Boris Yeltsin and US President Bill Clinton] towards the end of a three-day NATO summit. A senior US official said the message from this call was: 'Yeltsin wants to work with NATO.' " Agence France Presse noted Sunday that Chernomyrdin [had] traveled to Belgrade Thursday for talks with Milosevic that the envoy said yielded an accord on the deployment of a military f
orce to Kosovo. Yugoslav authorities however denied that they had agreed to such an intervention, stating that only an observer force would be allowed."
* The New York Times reported today that Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov "said that [Milosevic] was ready to reduce his forces in Kosovo to the level they were at in October, before the Serbian military began preparing for its offensive against ethnic Albanians there. Ivanov said that Milosevic had also agreed in very general terms to allow an international presence to police a settlement in Kosovo, though crucial details remained to be worked out. Negotiations to bring the fighting look to be at a very early stage and it remained far from clear that Russia would prove to be the successful mediator the West is hoping for." The Financial Times reported today that "the Russian media has reported growing tensions between the foreign ministry and Mr. Chernomyrdin over Yugoslavia, and Russia's diplomats are still smarting over the former premier's appointment." Agence France Presse reported that Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder "urged Russia Sunday to put more pressure on Belgrade to bring about a pol
itical solution to the Kosovo conflict. Schroeder urged Russia 'to possibly go in even harder, putting pressure on the Serb side so that we do come to a political solution of this conflict.' "
* As reported in Kosovo Briefing #5, Russia's Prime Minister Primakov last summer negotiated a joint Russia-Yugoslavia agreement on Kosovo signed by Presidents Yeltsin and Milosevic formally announced June 16, 1998. Under the agreement, Yugoslavia agreed in part that "no repressive measures will be undertaken affecting the civilian population full freedom of movement on the whole territory of Kosovo and Metohija is ensured [and] depending on the degree of cessation of terrorist activities, the security forces will reduce their presence outside locations of their permanent bases."
* The Financial Times reported today that "European Union foreign ministers yesterday decided to toughen sanctions against Yugoslavia. The sanctions partly targeted the family and associates of Slobodan Milosevic. and partly closed loopholes in measures agreed last year to halt export credits and investment flows to Yugoslavia... Mr. Milosevic, his associates and senior officials of the Yugoslav and Serbian governments are also subjected to a travel ban. An existing freeze on Serbian and Yugoslav funds abroad was extended to cover individuals linked to Mr. Milosevic and companies linked to the two governments. In a further loophole-closing measure, the ministers agreed a 'comprehensive flight ban between the EU and Yugoslavia."
* Agence France Presse reported April 25 that "Milosevic stands firm in his refusal to allow a NATO force in Kosovo, according to a Greek politician who held talks with the Yugoslav leader in Belgrade. Milosevic 'accepts only observers from non-NATO countries,' said the honorary president of the Greek communist party, Harilos Florakis. 'The only exception Milosevic will make is to allow Greek observers in, once an agreement is reached, said Florakis." Agence France Presse reported that President Milosevic's brother Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia "[said April 23] that Yugoslavia was 'ready to accept a mission of the United Nations... without the participation of the aggressor countries.' "
* Newsday (New York) April 26 described as "unsettled... the question of whether, when and under what circumstances ground forces would be sent into Kosovo. Alliance leaders tried to finesses that controversy the day before the summit opened by ordering [NATO Supreme Commander General Clark to draft] a new contingency plan for deploying such troops... But major differences remain below the surface. At one pole is Germany, whose governing coalition could break apart if NATO moves to send ground forces to Kosovo under any conditions other than a security force following a diplomatic settlement of the conflict. At the other pole is Britain, whose leaders have indicated a willingness to send in troops without such an agreement so long as Milosevic's forces have been sufficiently bloodied that they could not offer significant resistance... Washington's position is that ground troops should be sent only into a 'permissive environment,' but their definition of 'permissive' has softened somewhat. Thursday, White Hou
se spokesman Joe Lockhart defined it as a situation in which Milosevic had agreed to the troops' presence. One day later, Berger said it might also encompass an environment in which Milosevic would merely 'acquiesce' to the force." The Financial Times reported today that "a senior US administration official said the US remained 'less interested than some of our allies' in exploring the feasibility of putting forces in Kosovo before a final peace deal." The Washington Post reported Monday that "so, at a three-hour meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton appealed to Mr. Blair that 'this is not the time to be talking about ground troops,' a White House official Sunday recounted. At the summit meeting, this official said approvingly, 'Blair didn't mention it once.' That the White House would trumpet its success in keeping the public focus away from ground troops, precisely the weapon many military analysts say offers the only reliable way to victory in Kosovo, underlines a larger point about the we
ekend war council."
* The Financial Times reported today that "Tony Cordesmann of the Center of Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said he saw no sign of 'the dedicated forces required for offensive operations' with adequate air support, heavy artillery and armor, or of 'the logistics and combat engineers needed for the expansion of ports and airfields that would be required."
* Associated Press reported Monday that Yugoslavia's Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic "said Monday his government was ready to accept a peace deal calling for a UN presence that could include troops from NATO countries if possible." However, Associated Press reported today that Draskovic, when asked today "if he and Milosevic specifically talked about whether such a force should be armed, said: 'We did not discuss this.' "
* Newsday reported April 26 that "on the final day of the summit, NATO leaders offered new security assurances to the seven "front-line" nations bordering Yugoslavia, declaring that any attack on them by Yugoslav forces would elicit "a very strong response" from the alliance. Those states are Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia. 'The nations of the region have risked, and even faced, armed confrontation with Serbia by facilitating and supporting our campaign,' President Bill Clinton said at a meeting with representatives of those seven nations. 'If Belgrade challenges its neighbors as a result of the presence of NATO, we will respond.' NATO officials said the assurances stopped short of the ironclad commitment contained in Article Five of the original NATO treaty, which obligates all members to respond to an attack on any of them with unlimited military resources - presumably including nuclear weapons. But British Defense Secretary George Robertson warned that 'anyone planning
' an assault on a front-line state 'would be ill-advised to make assumptions about what we would or would not do.' During the meeting, NATO also pledged to aid those countries in coping with the flow of refugees from the combat zone and the economic hardships imposed on them by the conflict. In return, NATO officials said, the alliance secured permission from Romania and Slovenia to use their airspace for the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria is expected to follow suit... And Macedonia agreed to allow the alliance to send an additional 4,000 troops, most of them British or German, to augment the 12,000 NATO soldiers already stationed there."
V. CRACKS ON BELGRADE FRONT
The New York Times today reported that Goran Matic - a minister without portfolio and member of the Yugoslav United Left party of Mirjana Markovic, the influential wife of President Slobodan Milosevic -- in an interview "maintained that Yugoslavia, under more than a month of NATO air attacks, would like to see them stopped, but not at any price.' We have a national interest in this,' he said in an interview Tuesday. 'But it's in America's interest as well, and at one point our interests will intersect.' While much work remains to be done to bring the two sides together, he said, Yugoslavia would insist only on two things: ' We won't give up Kosovo or allow armed troops into Kosovo. Everything else we'll give NATO for their victory.' But even on the question of armed troops, Matic was careful. 'That is our official position,' he said when pressed, but conceded that any peace settlement would have to involve negotiation and compromise. Asked about the idea of some form of international protectorate for Kosovo
, as NATO is now proposing, Matic said flatly: 'No one can sign an agreement that allows the secession of the territory.' "
* The Times (London) reported April 26 that "two army officers entered [former Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic's] controversial television station, Studio B, yesterday evening. Staff were informed that they had to begin broadcasting state news, and that their new editor-in-chief would be an army colonel." Reuters reported that "German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping said on Tuesday three non-state Belgrade broadcasters including Studio B had been placed under a military censor. Scharping told journalists that the three private broadcasters were placed under the government's control on Monday. Two of the three directors from the three stations had 'gone underground' to avoid reprisals, Scharping said."
* Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told a British Ministry of Defense press briefing April 26: "Desertion is now running at several hundreds per week, the response of the reserves to mobilisation has been so poor that the special police are now going from door to door as press gangs. Morale in the army is made even worse by the frequent failure of the bankrupt government in Belgrade to pay their inadequate wages, and a key part in that poor morale of the Yugoslav Army has been the impact of 5 weeks of our military campaign."
* When asked April 25 if the Kosovo crisis could be "resolved without the defeat of Slobodan Milosevic," ex-Yugoslav National Army General Vuk Obradovic, chairman of Serbia's Social Democratic Party, said during an interview with Hungary's state radio that Slobodan Milosevic's "political mission has basically ended. When he disappears from the political arena is only a question of time now.' " The Guardian (London) noted April 26 that "British officials claimed yesterday that 18 senior Yugoslav military commanders had been placed under house arrest."
