NATO front cracks as members raise doubts
By Sheryle Bagwell, Berlin
Cracks were beginning to appear in NATO's united front
against Yugoslavia on Friday with a call by the Italian
Prime Minister, Mr Massimo D'Alema, for a return to
diplomacy after the first wave of allied air strikes.
Greece, a NATO member with strong religious ties with
Yugoslavia, was also showing signs that it was prepared
to break ranks and oppose continuing raids.
One of the four neutral members of the European Union,
Austria, was also reportedly refusing to allow NATO
planes to fly through Austrian airspace.
But a spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony
Blair, dismissed suggestions that European leaders were
no longer united in continuing their offensive against
Yugoslav military targets. "Our sense is that NATO is
absolutely united on this," he said.
Mr D'Alema, whose country is the main land base for
NATO air forces participating in the campaign, told
journalists at a European Union summit that the first wave
of bombing had forced the Serbs to halt a crackdown in
Kosovo.
"Based on the information we could receive, the first
military action by NATO had significant results because it
has weakened the Serb military potential and, it seems,
has forced the Serbs to suspend the military offensive
they were conducting against the civilian population of
Kosovo," he said.
His statement, however, was at variance with NATO
reports that the Serbian crackdown was continuing on
Thursday.
Mr D'Alema said the time for a diplomatic initiative on
Kosovo was approaching and praised a Russian call for
a meeting of the big-power Contact Group in charge of
Balkan diplomacy. "We think that the time to give politics
and diplomacy their say is approaching," he said.
"This will be our commitment in the next hours."
However, NATO planes took off from bases in Italy a
few hours later for a second night of strikes on Yugoslav
targets. |
