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To: CIMA who wrote (21421)	10/11/1998 9:06:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116906

Well done article! Of course same goes for Greece-Turkey, Israel-Arabs, Turkey Syria and so on.....Attempt to untangle this can have catastrophic consequences and who knows what kind of weapons Russian opportunists/nationalists would smuggle to Belgrade...

To: CIMA who wrote (21421)	10/11/1998 9:40:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116906

Kosovo Talks End, NATO Lines Up Guns 09:19 p.m Oct 11, 1998 Eastern BELGRADE (Reuters) - NATO lined up warplanes for possible air strikes on Yugoslavia as U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke ended another marathon session trying to pull a diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis out of a hat at the last minute. There was no immediate word on the outcome of talks between Holbrooke and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic which ended at about 1:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) Monday or whether the two men would meet again before a NATO meeting Monday expected to produce a fateful ''activation order'' for air action. Holbrooke, Washington's troubleshooter in Balkan hot spots, had warned Milosevic that U.S.-led NATO was poised to swoop from the skies unless he accepted a package of U.N.-mandated steps to defuse the Kosovo conflict. There was no official comment from either side on the obstacles to agreement as the talks -- meant to end Belgrade's bloody subjugation of majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of Serbia -- stretched into a fourth day. But sources close to the Yugoslav side said one sticking point was Serbian opposition to a proposal for a new Kosovo police force staffed to reflect Kosovo's ethnic makeup, which is 90 percent Albanian. The sources said the Serbs wanted the new police force to be 50 percent Serbian and 50 percent Albanian. The current force is entirely Serb in a province that was stripped of its autonomy in 1989 and placed under apartheid-like rule from Belgrade. That bred Kosovo Albanian unrest that exploded into a guerrilla uprising last March. Serbian security forces have largely crushed the rebellion, demolished ethnic Albanian towns and put over 250,000 people to flight. Earlier, a U.S. source said Holbrooke was prepared to continue negotiations as long as there was a hope of persuading Yugoslavia to back down in its standoff with the major world powers over Kosovo. As diplomacy neared a frantic climax in Belgrade, NATO girded for a meeting of member states' ambassadors Monday afternoon expected to produce authorization for air strikes. The ''activation order'' would set a timer running for the launch of phased air strikes, giving diplomacy a last chance, but without indicating how long the clock would have to run before the planes take off. The political green light for military intervention in the Kosovo crisis has already been given by most members of the 16-nation alliance. While political upheaval in Germany and Italy has delayed their individual decisions, approval from Bonn and Rome is now seen as a constitutional formality. If Holbrooke's mission fails, NATO air strikes would start after a timed delay set in the activation order expected to be issued Monday. This would give Milosevic a final pause for reflection while NATO's Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe (SACEUR), General Wesley Clark, arrayed his weaponry. Holbrooke said he could keep talking during the ultimatum phase, and NATO could rescind the order any time it becomes convinced the Yugoslav leader is ready to agree on irreversible and verifiable moves to settle the Kosovo conflict. The province's ethnic Albanian majority want NATO air strikes to proceed, believing only force can break Milosevic's will to keep them under Serbian domination. Western powers do not favor an independent Kosovo, which they fear could inspire further guerrilla wars for a Greater Albania, dragging in Macedonia and other neighbours. They are therefore anxious not to tip the military balance in favor of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) insurgents. Yugoslavia's neighbours Bulgaria, Albania and Romania have pledged to open their air space to the fleet of warplanes NATO expects to use if a decision to exert force goes ahead. Over the weekend, NATO methodically marshaled hundreds of warplanes for what would begin as a limited strike but could broaden into phased, escalating bombardments unless Yugoslavia agrees to heed U.N. directives. At Aviano air base in Italy, A-10 Thunderbolt ground-attack ''tankbusters'' were the latest to arrive, among 260 aircraft the United States is deploying in an overall NATO force of some 430 planes. The A-10s arrived in Italy at about the same time that six formidable U.S. B-52 bombers were landing at a base in Fairford, England, from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. NATO also has seaborne missiles and planes in theatre. Yugoslavia has warned it will defend itself, and has some aircraft and a Soviet-designed air-defense missile system which NATO military planners say they are treating with respect. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited