US To House Kosovars in Cuba
By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States today rejected Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's unilateral cease-fire in Kosovo. President Clinton said the only way for the Serbs to end NATO bombing is by withdrawing from Kosovo, accepting a peace accord and allowing hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians to return to their homes.
Defense Secretary William Cohen said the cease-fire idea is ''not only completely unacceptable but it's absurd.'' Accepting it would be an ''abdication of responsibility by NATO,'' Cohen told the Voice of America broadcast service.
Reciting the terms spelled out by Clinton, National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said of the proposed cease-fire, ''NATO operations will continue until these conditions are met.''
Meanwhile, the Clinton administration announced that its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be a temporary ''safe haven'' for up to 20,000 Kosovar refugees in the coming days. ''We fully intend the Kosovars will ultimately return to their homes,'' said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
The NATO campaign in Yugoslavia continued with ''a productive and aggressive'' round of bombing, Lockhart said.
While U.S. military personnel scrambled to prepare the Guantanamo Bay facility for Kosovar refugees, Lockhart said they would be evacuated only a volunteer basis.
''This action is intended to, in combination with our NATO allies, to assist front-line states such as Macedonia in dealing with tremendous burdens they have incurred in recent days with the flow of refugees out of Kosovo,'' Lockhart said.
Cohen said he was flying to NATO headquarters in Belgium today to consult with alliance military and political leaders. He said he was taking some members of Congress with him to show them ''what is going on, what the plans are, to solidify support for the administration and just stay the course.''
''I want to say again, the United States would never choose force as anything other than a last option,'' the president said in a Roosevelt Room ceremony where he urged Congress to expand federal hate-crime laws to include offenses based on sexual orientation.
Briefly addressing the crisis in Kosovo, Clinton laid out terms that he said Milosevic must accept to end the allies' airstrikes.
''Mr. Milosevic could end it now by withdrawing his military police and paramilitary forces,'' Clinton said. Further, he said Milosevic must accept the deployment of an international security force ''to protect not only the Kosovar Albanians, most, not all of whom are Muslims, but also the Serbians minority in Kosovo. Everybody. We're not for anybody's hate crimes. And by making it possible for all the refugees to return. And to move toward a political framework based on the accords reached in France.''
The United States continued to express opposition to sending American ground troops to Kosovo. ''I can tell you once again that he has no intention of introducing ground troops,'' Lockhart said. ''If people are confused, they should not be.''
The United States is sending 2,600 troops into Albania to support attack helicopters, but none are destined for Kosovo.
Today, 1,200 Marines aboard ships in the Aegean Sea prepared to move ashore at a Greek port and will establish a refugee camp for displaced Kosovars in northern Macedonia, possibly near the village of Cegrane, a U.S. defense official said. The official, speaking anonymously, said the Marines received their orders Monday and soon will be providing food, water, medical services and shelter to thousands of refugees. The Marines are from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has been in the Aegean for weeks.
''We believe a sustained air campaign can accomplish the objectives we have laid out,'' Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said today.
Meanwhile, Albright and the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia agreed to meet in Brussels, Belgium, within a few days to assess the NATO campaign and reaffirm their determination to forge a settlement for Kosovo.
The Clinton administration gave no sign of backing away from its demands on Milosevic.
''A commitment to cease killing and a Kosovo denied its freedom and devoid of its people is not acceptable,'' Clinton said Monday.
Speaking at Brookings Institution, Albright said: ''We are going to continue in this intensive air campaign and we will do so until all the Serb forces are out'' of Kosovo, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees are returned to their homes and Milosevic consents to a peace plan that would station a NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
The administration demands that the ethnic Albanians be allowed to return goes beyond NATO's original goal of keeping more from being forced out of Kosovo.
Albright ticked off the U.S. demands in a speech Monday night honoring Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, who is president of the war-crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia.
Albright said Milosevic must pull military, police and paramilitary forces out of Kosovo, return all refugees to their homes, accept the deployment of an international security force in the province and create a democratic political framework in Kosovo.
Strongly hinting that Milosevic would be held accountable for war crimes, Albright said: ''There can be no question that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Kosovo. Nor can there be doubt that the orders to carry out these acts are coming from the top.''
With an estimated 800 people an hour fleeing the Serbian province, which is part of Yugoslavia, the State Department now estimates close to 400,000 more ethnic Albanians have been routed, often by Serb troops -- or even Serb neighbors -- since the NATO attack began March 24.
Clinton called for private donations to Kosovar refugees and offered haven for up to 20,000 at the outset. Pentagon officials said a refugee camp likely would be set up at the U.S. base at Guantanamo, Cuba, which the United States considers U.S. territory and has been used to care for Haitian and Cuban refugees.
Other NATO countries are offering to take in up to 80,000 more.
Appealing directly to Americans to help the victims of Milosevic's ''expulsion policy,'' Clinton announced a toll-free number, 1-800-USAID-RELIEF, that people can call to donate money to nongovernmental relief efforts for ethnic Albanians expelled from Kosovo.
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