Yugoslavia Reports Massive Bombing
Tuesday, 27 April 1999
B E L G R A D E , Y U G O S L A V I A (AP)
A RED Cross team, including a doctor, was allowed to visit three
captive American soldiers Tuesday, leaving with letters for their
families. NATO jets pounded Serb forces in round-the-clock attacks,
and one struck a civilian community in southern Serbia.
Local authorities in Surdulica, 200 miles south of Belgrade, said at
least 17 people were killed and 11 wounded when NATO missiles
struck the agricultural community Tuesday afternoon. The dead and
injured included women and children. Officials said about 50 houses
were destroyed and 600 others were damaged.
An Associated Press reporter, taken to the scene by Serb police, saw
dazed rescuers trying to retrieve body parts from the wreckage as
bulldozers cleared huge mounds of concrete rubble searching for
more victims.
Most of the dead had been blown apart, and rescuers were trying to
assemble body parts for identification. Rescue workers said 11
people, including five children, were believed trapped in the
basement of one house.
Serbian state television, itself the target of an attack last week that
killed at least nine station employees, accused NATO of a "barbaric
and destructive bombing" on the town of 15,000.
Residents said a military garrison about 500 yards away has been
abandoned since a NATO attack early this month. It was unclear if
that was the intended target.
In Belgrade, air-raid sirens went off early Wednesday and a series of
explosions could be heard. The state-run Tanjug news agency said
"planes of the enemy NATO alliance, in a massive onslaught,
bombed the wider regions of Belgrade" but gave no details.
The private Beta news agency said NATO jets attacked a military
barracks in Belgrade's Topcider residential district, on the capital's
southern edge. Residents of the nearby Dedinje district, where
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and other senior officials live,
said the explosions shattered windows in their homes.
In Moscow, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott met
Tuesday with Russian officials to determine whether the Russians
made progress in brokering a settlement to the five-week
confrontation.
But former Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia's chief mediator on
the Yugoslav crisis, said NATO must halt airstrikes to clear the way
for talks, a condition rejected repeatedly by the alliance.
Chernomyrdin said Belgrade would accept an "international
presence" in Kosovo with Russia's participation, but acknowledged
that such a group, which would be unarmed or only lightly armed, fell
far short of what NATO is demanding.
Allied terms include the key demand of international peacekeeping
troops in Kosovo, an end to atrocities against ethnic Albanian
civilians, autonomy for the majority Albanian province and the return
of all refugees.
The American soldiers, when seen on Serbian television after their
March 31 capture in Macedonia's border area, had cuts and bruises
on their faces. After Tuesday's private meeting in Belgrade, officials
of the International Committee of the Red Cross refused to discuss
their conditions.
ICRC chief Cornelio Sommaruga said only that the men were
examined by a physician and allowed to hand over letters to their
families.
Sommaruga also saw the three briefly on Monday. The visit Tuesday
was the first "official" contact as provided for under the Geneva
Conventions for prisoners of war.
The ICRC also conducted a second visit with a Yugoslav officer
captured by Kosovo Albanian rebels and held at a U.S. military base
in Mannheim, Germany.
The Americans - Christopher J. Stone, 25, of Smiths Creek, Mich.;
Andrew A. Ramirez, 24, of Los Angeles; and Steven M. Gonzales,
21, of Huntsville, Texas - were seized in disputed circumstances
along the Yugoslav-Macedonian border on March 31, seven days
after NATO launched its bombing campaign.
In Los Angeles, Ramirez's family released a statement saying it had
received its first message from him, adding that "the news came after
a doctor was allowed a 30-minute-plus private visit with each of the
three American POWs."
"Vivian Ramirez said it was a relief to finally hear from her son," the
statement said. "She said that Andy wrote that the messages from
home brought him much happiness and that he was happy to know
that so many people are supporting the family."
Chris Bowers of the ICRC said the Red Cross was promised regular
access to the prisoners - seen as a possible sign Belgrade was
seeking a way out of the crisis and the widespread destruction of
bridges, factories, oil depots and other key infrastructure.
In another possible overture, Yugoslav Deputy Premier Vuk
Draskovic urged the government to admit it cannot defeat NATO.
Draskovic, a former opposition leader with a reputation for maverick
stands, said he believed Milosevic was prepared to accept a U.N.
force in Kosovo.
Draskovic pulled back in his comments Tuesday, acknowledging he
had not discussed the issue with Milosevic.
But Draskovic then denounced Milosevic's Socialist party and the
Party of the Yugoslav Left, led by Milosevic's wife, accusing them of
putting their party interests ahead of "our fatherland."
Also Tuesday, the Party of the Yugoslav Left, part of Milosevic's
ruling coalition, endorsed calls for a U.N.-supervised "international
presence" in Kosovo but made no mention of "armed troops" as
demanded by NATO.
It said an end to the NATO air campaign was a precondition for a
settlement, something else the Western alliance rejects. But the
Serbian Radical Party, also part of the coalition, rejected any foreign
troops and denounced "careerist politicians," a clear reference to
Draskovic.
The possibility of cracks in the Yugoslav government has raised
hopes for a diplomatic settlement, with Russia expected to play an
important role.
"We believe that possibilities for finding a way out of (the Kosovo
crisis) are available," Russian Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov said after
meeting U.S. envoy Talbott. But he gave no details.
The allies have promised to intensify their bombings until Milosevic
accepts a peace plan for Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's main
republic Serbia. On Tuesday, President Clinton also authorized the
call-up of as many as 33,000 U.S. reservists.
NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark contended Tuesday that the
air campaign is eroding the morale of Yugoslav forces, leading
soldiers to desert.
"Dissent is growing louder and louder," Clark said. |
