NATO Delegation Heads to Yugoslavia
Saturday, 24 October 1998
B E L G R A D E , Y U G O S L A V I A (AP)
WITH TIME running out for Yugoslavia to comply with its peace promises,
NATO dispatched its top generals to Belgrade to demand that the
government step up troop withdrawals from embattled Kosovo province.
NATO says its jets could still attack Serbian military targets if Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic doesn't back up all his pledges from an Oct.
12 agreement by Tuesday.
Gen. Wesley Clark, the alliance's supreme military commander, and
German Gen. Klaus Naumann were traveling to the Yugoslav capital today
seeking more pullbacks of police units and equipment from the separatist
province, where scattered skirmishes between Serb forces and ethnic
Albanian rebels continue.
In a statement published today in Kosovo's Albanian-language daily Koha
Ditore, the rebels said they would take no "offensive action" against
government forces which are leaving the province under terms of the
agreement.
"But any movement towards (Albanian-populated) villages or our positions
will force us to self-defend ourselves," the rebels said.
With Western nations only beginning to organize a 2,000-strong group of
unarmed monitors to verify Yugoslavia's actions in Kosovo, the deadline is
widely expected to be pushed back for a second time. But no official
action by NATO is expected until Monday.
A NATO official, briefing reporters in Brussels, Belgium, on condition of
anonymity, said Friday that "we have seen great progress but we are far
from adequate compliance."
The Serb-led Yugoslav government reiterated claims that it has fulfilled its
terms of the agreement with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke and that ethnic
Albanian rebels are responsible for continuing violence.
Serbian Premier Mirko Marjanovic said it was time the West realized that
the crisis in Kosovo was caused by "terrorism of Albanian separatists."
While fighting in Kosovo effectively halted in late September, there is
sporadic gunfire and almost nightly shelling in different locations - evidence
the conflict has not ended.
Under the agreement, Milosevic pledged to withdraw special police and
army units sent to the province after he launched his crackdown on the
KLA Feb. 28. Hundreds of people have been killed and an estimated
300,000 driven from their homes.
Milosevic also agreed to allow refugees to return home safely and enable
international relief agencies to bring them aid. He also pledged to negotiate
with ethnic Albanian leaders on the future of Kosovo, a province of the
main Yugoslav republic Serbia.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of the province's 2 million
inhabitants, and most favor independence or self-rule.
The KLA issued a statement Friday reiterating that it is keeping to a
general cease-fire but saying it would respond and defend villages if Serb
and Yugoslav forces move on them.
U.S. envoy Christopher Hill traveled to neighboring Albania on Friday to
brief government officials and urge them to support the U.S.-led peace
effort. Albania had permitted rebels to set up sanctuaries in the north.
"We are looking for full compliance," Hill told reporters. "We'd like to see
full compliance. I don't want to predict when exactly we'll see it but we are
working very hard to ensure it."
At the United Nations, the Security Council was planning to vote this
afternoon on a resolution endorsing the Kosovo peace accord, despite
potential opposition from China and Russia over language that would allow
NATO to "take appropriate steps." to enforce the agreement.
The council is under pressure to adopt a resolution enshrining the accord
so the verifiers can begin Kosovo.
The American head of the Kosovo ground verification mission, William
Walker, arrived in Kosovo after meeting Milosevic on Friday, vowing to
improve conditions for refugees and help guarantee success of the peace
agreement. |
