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LETTERS OF SUPPORT

SERBIAN MASSACRES

 Updated at 3:50 PM on April 11, 1999

US Official Says Milosevic Must Go

By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Looking beyond NATO's military campaign, President Clinton's top aide said Sunday that Yugoslavia must replace Slobodan Milosevic as its leader if the nation wants to join a democratic Europe.

Several lawmakers said the Yugoslav president should be tried for war crimes. ``I don't think we can negotiate with him,'' said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. ``I think he is a war criminal.'

Administration and Pentagon officials, under pressure by lawmakers to consider using ground troops, again defended the current air campaign, saying it was inflicting real pain on Serbian troops in Kosovo.

John Podesta, the White House chief of staff, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' that Yugoslavia must attain a measure of democracy and respect for human rights if it were to become a viable member of Europe.

Ultimately, he said, ``for them to create a stable situation, it looks to me like they are going to need a new leader.'' But he said the NATO airstrikes were not intended to oust Milosevic.

Defense Secretary William Cohen, on ABC's ``This Week,'' said it may be difficult to work with Milosevic even if he agreed to pull Serb troops from Kosovo and allow NATO peacekeepers to safeguard Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

``Every day that goes by we see more and more evidence of the kind of grotesque brutality that he or his forces have engaged in,'' Cohen said. He could not confirm a report of evidence of mass graves in Kosovo.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Biden, appearing on NBC, said Milosevic should be treated as a war criminal. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, on CBS' ``Face the Nation,'' said Milosevic would be held responsible for his acts by the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.

More members of Congress are saying NATO may have to use ground forces in Kosovo. The subject is expected to be debated as lawmakers return this week from a two-week vacation.

It's ``foolishness to say that you are not allowed to exercise any option or at least threaten,'' McCain, a presidential hopeful, said on NBC.

McCain said he wants Senate leaders to offer a bipartisan resolution expressing support for all military options, including ground troops.

But military officials said the air war is succeeding.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Henry Shelton, speaking on ABC, said recent bombing had dispersed units of Yugoslav's 3rd Army, which has led the ``ethnic cleansing'' campaign in Kosovo. He also showed a photo of the destroyed headquarters of the special police in Pristina, the provincial capital.

It was ``an uplifting experience for those aware of what those special police have been doing throughout Kosovo,'' Shelton said.

NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark said NATO planes on Saturday hit reinforcing forces north of Kosovo and others inside the province. He said on ``Fox News Sunday'' that if Milosevic does not give in, ``he's going to lose the instruments of his power and authority and what keeps him in power there.''

But Clark, on CBS, cautioned that Yugoslav troops are ``pretty much battle-hardened'' and so far Milosevic has used no more than a third of his military in the Kosovo campaign.

Cohen emphasized that Clark and other NATO military officials had not requested ground troops.

But he and Podesta both suggested that if that request came, plans could be drawn up fairly quickly. Last fall NATO estimated that it might take several hundred thousand troops to enter a ``non-permissive'' environment in Kosovo.

Clark also suggested that the 24 Apache attack helicopters he has requested could be deployed ``in a matter of several days'' rather than earlier estimates of up to a month.

U.S. Insists Ground Troops Remain Option In Kosovo

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States insisted Sunday that NATO had standby plans to use ground troops in Kosovo, amid mounting criticism from Congress and the American public over the limiting of NATO's offensive to an air war.

Officials blanketed the U.S. television talk shows, discussing the standby plans, while President Clinton prepared to spend much of this week defending his Kosovo policy in the face of questions about whether ground troops may be needed to defeat Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic.

But the officials, backed by NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, said that Clinton had no plans to introduce ground troops and that an intensified NATO air war would be enough to prevail ``for the time being.''

``NATO has ... done an assessment for ground forces in a nonpermissible environment, and those plans are on the shelf and can be updated quickly if necessary,'' U.S. National Security Council spokesman David Leavy told Reuters.

Leavy reiterated that Clinton had no intention of introducing ground troops. ``The president has confidence in the air campaign,'' he said.

White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Defense Secretary William Cohen expressed similar messages on TV talk shows.

``Last year, even, there were careful assessments done of a whole range of options. Those are on the shelf. They can be taken down off the shelf and updated at any time that the commander in chief decides that's necessary,'' Talbott said on CBS' ``Face the Nation.''

``But for the time being, we have a set of objectives ... and an air campaign which is going to continue and intensify and we think is sufficient to achieve those objectives,'' he said.

Although NATO officials referred previously to the plans, the unified U.S. administration message Sunday reflected that Clinton's team had been placed on the defensive by the struggle to achieve results in Yugoslavia.

Clinton, who was at the Camp David presidential retreat Sunday, will highlight his Kosovo policy in meetings Monday with U.S. bomber pilots at an Air Force Base in Louisiana and with congressional leaders at the White House.

He will meet with other members of Congress Tuesday and Thursday will discuss Kosovo in a speech to American newspaper editors in San Francisco.

Clinton has come under increasing pressure from the public and from members of Congress at least to consider the use of ground troops if the three-week air campaign against Yugoslavia over its repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo fails to yield results.

``No option should be taken off the table,'' Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``Now that doesn't mean that we will get to the point that you have to use them (ground troops). It may well be that if we're preparing more visibly to use them, that we will come quicker to some resolution.''

``But I don't see it as just a ploy,'' he said. ``I see it as a realistic possibility in order to achieve our objectives.''

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a leading critic of the NATO limited-war strategy, advocated a congressional resolution authorizing Clinton to use ``whatever means necessary to achieve victory.''

``Victory means the removal of the Serb troops from Kosovo, relocation of the Kosovars and a NATO peacekeeping force,'' McCain, a former Vietnam War prisoner who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said on Fox. ``You cannot foreclose any option if ... there's no substitute for victory.''

NATO commander Clark, speaking on ``Face the Nation,'' said the ground troop options discussed by NATO last summer were not formal contingency plans. ``We had just looked at options, and the alliance decision ... has been that the air option was the preferable way to go,'' he said.

``The air campaign is in the process of being intensified. It's starting to really take a bite at this time. We need to continue that, we need to strengthen it, we need to hit him harder, we need to hit him over a wider area, and at the same time tighten the grip on the forces that are inside Kosovo. ''That's my sole point of concentration at this time,'' Clark said.

The United States said Saturday it was sending 82 more warplanes to Europe to intensify the NATO bombing campaign and that other allies would soon add aircraft.

NATO sees signs of cracks in Yugoslav army

BRUSSELS, April 11 (AFP) - NATO "limited" its air strikes on the Orthodox Christian Easter Sunday, but claimed its attacks were grinding down Yugoslavia's military strength and resolve, as Belgrade made overtures towards a "political accord." Chief NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said in Brussels that the allies believed that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic could be in conflict with some senior members of his military forces.

"We have some indications that the purge of the upper echelons of the Yugoslav armed forces may not have ended with the replacement of eight generals in Montenegro last week," Shea said.

NATO, while saying that religious sensibilities had limited its efforts, admitted that they were also hampered by poor weather.

"The night-time bombardments were relatively limited. We took into account the Orthodox Easter celebrations," said Shea.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said: "We are making it clear that we are determined to see the job through," adding that "they are weakening and we are getting stronger."

He warned against calls for a ground intervention in Kosovo by NATO troops, however.

"A ground war would involve a lot more casualties than the air campaign on both sides," Cook said.

Serbs here celebrated their biggest religious feast, the Orthodox Easter, praying for a halt to the NATO bombing campaign.

Black target signs, which have become a traditional insignia for these protests that started two weeks ago, were seen on icons of saints.

Meanwhile Yugoslav deputy prime minister Vuk Draskovic said in an interview published in France's Journal du Dimanche that Belgrade was seeking a "political accord" for Kosovo and would accept a "foreign presence" to guarantee the deal. Such a presence has been a major sticking point in the search for a solution to the Kosovo crisis since before the NATO bombing began on March 24.

"We want to conclude without delay a political accord on Kosovo with the leader of the Kosovo Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova," Draskovic was quoted as saying.

"As soon as we get a political agreement with Mr. Rugova, we will accept a foreign presence which would guarantee implementation of this agreement," he added.

"We are ready to give the highest degree of autonomy to the Albanians but within the framework of Serbia and only Serbia".

Rugova has called for an end to the NATO air strikes but it has been unclear to the West whether he has been pressurised to do so.

The refugee crisis continued unabated as tired and terrified ethnic Albanians sought sanctuary with Kosovo's neighbours.

Despite Belgrade's public appeals for Kosovars to return home, the 'ethnic cleansing' continues according to the fleeing ethnic Albanians.

Their stories all began the same way as they arrived at the Albanian border town of Kukes: the sudden arrival in their town or village of armed forces or masked Serb civilians.

"Around mid-day Saturday, they fired in the air and yelled out that anybody still there in an hour would be killed," recounted Fatima Breznica, 24, who fled a Pristina suburb.

"Why our village? Because Milosevic wants a Kosovo without Albanians," said Remi Bulatovci, 29, from the same area.

In Washington, US military sources said they had satellite images showing evidence of large numbers of freshly dug graves in the southwestern Kosovar village of Orahovac, ABC TV reported.

The images corroborated refugee Albanian reports of mass executions in Kosovo, ABC added. The Pentagon, however, did not release the images.

The NATO council on Sunday approved plans for a humanitarian mission for Kosovo refugees which would deploy up to 8,000 soldiers in Albania, a NATO official said.

'Operation Allied Harbour' is the first time the alliance has formally engaged in a humanitarian mission since its creation in 1949.

NATO strengthened its forces in the Balkans area over the weekend, with Washington announcing the deployment of another 82 US aircraft, while Britain said it was sending the aircraft carrier Invincible to the Adriatic.

The news came as NATO carried out another night of raids on Yugoslav targets, with more than 40 powerful blasts reported near Pristina in the early hours of Sunday.

The Tanjug news agency, citing witnesses, said a NATO aircraft had been shot down over northern Serbia early on Sunday, a claim quickly denied by NATO.

Meanwhile Hungarian authorities halted a convoy carrying Russian aid for Yugoslavia Sunday, saying it contained military vehicles and fuel in breach of international sanctions against Belgrade, an official said.

A convoy of 73 trucks from Russia and Belarus was halted at the Ukraine-Hungarian border at Zahon, customs official Joszef Schieber said.

In another development, an Australian working for the humanitarian aid agency CARE was arrested in Yugoslavia and accused of spying, Serbian state television RTS reported Sunday, showing images of his interrogation.

The RTS showed, in a form of confession, the interrogation of Pratt, 49, who said his activities were "concentrated on Kosovo."

Blair Warns Milosevic On Kosovo's Future

LONDON, Apr. 11, 1999 -- (Reuters) Bulletin British Prime Minister Tony Blair has stepped up the pressure on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, appearing to warn that Belgrade risked losing Kosovo altogether and seeing it become independent.

"In relation to Kosovo...I think it's more and more difficult to foresee autonomy within the Federal Republic (of Yugoslavia)," Blair said in a BBC television interview late on Thursday.

Autonomy for Kosovo was the central plank of a major power-sponsored peace plan signed last month by ethnic Albanian leaders from the Serbian province, but not by Belgrade. By suggesting autonomy may be falling off the agenda, it seemed to leave only independence, which the West has so far ruled out, as an option for the troubled province. A spokesman for Blair declined to elaborate on his remarks, saying: "I think what he has said is clear."

Blair said NATO would defeat Belgrade's policy of ethnic cleansing and added that Milosevic would be held responsible for crimes he had committed. "He should be under no doubt at all, the crimes he has committed he will be held responsible for."

Blair said that as part of the internationally-brokered peace deal in France earlier this year, the basis of a settlement was that Kosovo should have autonomy within Yugoslavia, a status enjoyed by the province until it was abolished by Belgrade in 1989.

The Kosovo Albanians, now the victims of what Western leaders have called a deliberate policy of "ethnic cleansing", had been prepared to accept the deal at the time. "But obviously as (Milosevic's) policy has gone on, it has become more and more difficult for people to foresee that as the future," Blair said. He said the peace deal discussed in France was not dead and would remain the basis for any settlement.

"However, (Milosevic) has to realize that it is much more difficult to secure any link with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after what has happened," Blair said. "Now, that is obviously something we have to consider at a later stage and...any lasting settlement has to be based on the process that was there in France, but of course it becomes a lot more difficult because of the appalling atrocities he has carried out in Kosovo."

Blair said Milosevic "needs to know that the process of ethnic cleansing and probably a whole series of atrocities will be brought home to him in the end". "I don't think it is a question of sitting down and doing business with Milosevic at the end of the day," he added.

Blair said the NATO bombing campaign had already done "immense damage" to Milosevic's military infrastructure and there was no doubt it would be successful. He reiterated his stand that no NATO troops would be sent into Kosovo to wage a ground war. "What we have said instead is that we are prepared...to see an international force go into Kosovo in order to protect people and lead them back into their homes," Blair said. "This is an action that NATO can and will win and we will make sure that those people are allowed back into Kosovo...We will defeat the policy of ethnic cleansing."
( (c) 1999 Reuters)

An appeal by KLA forces of the Llapi Operative Zone Issued to the Serb Soldiers: Desert now, and we'll guarantee your safe passage to international organizations

During the last few days, there is a lot of fear present in the serbian troops from both the NATO and the KLA attacks. There have been many cases where the serb soldiers have deserted. Because the Serbi media portrayed KLA as a terrorist force, the serb soldiers are afraid even to desert, fearing that they will be executed by the KLA. Until now, KLA did not execute any Serb soldier who deserted. They were all treated according to international standards. Therefore, we urge all the Serb soldiers who do not want to fight, to desert and we will guarantee a passage to International organizations.

NATO: Aerial photo may show mass graves in Kosova

April 11, 1999 Web posted at: 12:06 p.m. EDT (1606 GMT)

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO reconnaissance photos indicate evidence of freshly dug mass graves in Kosova, alliance officials said Sunday.

The aerial photographs show a patch of freshly turned earth at Orahovac, near the provincial capital of Prishtina, said Col. Konrad Freytag, NATO's military spokesman.

While the photos indicate the area may have been used for mass graves, "this can only be confirmed when the area has been inspected," Freytag said.

"Based on our experience in Bosnia, where a number of mass graves were uncovered, the form looks quite similar," added NATO civilian spokesman Jamie Shea.

NATO continued to bomb Yugoslav army units in Kosova on Sunday, the Orthodox Church's Easter, as Britain announced it would send additional ships and planes into the air campaign into Yugoslavia.

British, Dutch and Belgian planes participated in Sunday's raids, which were carried out despite persistent bad weather in the region, said Air Marshal Sir John Day, Britain's deputy chief of staff.

"All our aircraft returned safely," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said at a London news conference.

To bolster the NATO force in the Balkans, Britain said it would send the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible to the Adriatic Sea, along with a destroyer and a support ship.

The assignment of the Invincible comes a day after the United States announced plans to move an additional 82 strike planes, transports and tankers into the region.

"It is a visible demonstration to our commitment to completing the job and forcing (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic to reverse the ethnic cleansing in Kosova," Cook said.

Invincible's air wing includes seven Harrier attack jets, among other aircraft. The ship will be the third carrier in the NATO fleet, along with the U.S. Navy carrier Theodore Roosevelt and the French carrier Foch.

British military officials said the air raids -- now nearly three weeks old -- have cut into the Yugoslav army's fuel supplies so sharply that its tanks and armored vehicles are kept parked to save gasoline.

"Over time, more and more of them will be coerced to stay static to save fuel," Cook said. "If they come out of hiding, they will be hit."

No pause for religious holiday

Belgrade ushered in Orthodox Easter with the Yugoslav capital under air raid warnings early Sunday as NATO rejected pleas to ease its bombardment during the religious holiday.

In Belgrade, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriach Pavle, served midnight mass to hundreds, many of whom said their faith was strengthened by the hardships of war.

The Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and NATO member Greece had asked the 19-member military alliance to pause the bombing during Easter as a gesture of goodwill to Yugoslav civilians.

"We thought this was a good idea, but unfortunately it wasn't accepted," Alexander Philon, the Greek ambassador to the United States, told CNN.

Clashes on Albanian border

Meanwhile, fighting between the Yugoslav forces and guerrillas from the ethnic Albanian Kosova Liberation Army threatened to spill across Kosova's borders into Albania.

The KLA buried four of their fighters Sunday, reportedly killed when they encountered a Yugoslav minefield near the frontier.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe estimated as many as 100 shells from Yugoslav artillery hit one town in Albania on Saturday.

NATO planes have been flying emergency aid to refugees from Kosova via Albania. The country has also agreed to host a U.S. contingent of helicopter gunships and short-range rocket artillery slated for the air raids.

Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said Albania has turned over control of its airspace and ports to NATO during the crisis.

Albania has "great sympathy" for NATO's actions in the region, Milo said. He criticized Milosevic for unleashing "medieval violence" and "the fascist policy of a regime that does not recognize and respect the human being."

NATO ministers to meet

NATO ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Monday to assess the campaign against Yugoslavia.

"The watchword for our meeting will be resolve," Cook said.

Allied officials say the bombardment will continue until Milosevic agrees to all the terms of a peace plan outlined for Kosova, which aims to end more than a year of fighting between Serb forces and the KLA.

The terms include an end to attacks on ethnic Albanians in Kosova, the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops and the safe return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to Kosova.

"We cannot accept any peace that does not allow refugees to return and return safely," Cook said.

The sticking point has been the admission of a NATO-led peacekeeping force to oversee any accords. Yugoslav authorities have consistently refused any peace plan that includes international troops in the country.

Calls have come from several quarters -- including many U.S. lawmakers -- for the alliance to consider putting combat troops on the ground in Kosova.

But Cook dismissed questions on Sunday about a possible NATO ground attack.

"It would take two or three months to assemble the expeditionary force that would be needed, and we do not have two or three months," he said.

Correspondents Alessio Vinci and Catherine Bond contributed to this report.

Terrorized Refugees Make Way Through Mountain Passes to Safety

By Elena Becatoros

BRAZDA, Macedonia — Scaling mountain crossings, scores of frightened ethnic Albanians made it out of Kosova on Saturday, some saying Serb police forced them from their homes on pain of death and terrorized them throughout their harrowing journey.

Of his family of 24, refugee Idriz Sejeva said, only five reached safety at Macedonia's border. En route, the Kosova Albanians said they saw burned villages, bodies and trapped refugees.

With little international presence left in Kosova, their stories could not be independently verified. But the accounts of the 80 new arrivals echoed those of other refugees in recent days, who say Serbs are emptying out ethnic Albanian communities inside Kosova.

The accounts contradict Tuesday's claim by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that he had ordered a cease-fire in the province. Serb authorities had also said ethnic Albanians were free to return home.

Crossing points out of Kosova are intermittently open. Late Friday, Serb authorities abruptly flicked on the lights of a border crossing at Morini, Albania, and expelled 1,459 residents of the Kosova village of Vragolica.

The refugees said their caravan of tractors and cars had been forced out under police escort.

The expulsion Friday also was the first time refugees entered Albania en masse since the Yugoslavs closed the border four days ago, after driving more than 500,000 ethnic Albanians out of Kosova over the past two weeks. Before the latest Yugoslav campaign, Kosova was home to 2 million people, 90 percent of whom were ethnic Albanian.

The Vragolica refugees said the roads to the border had been all but empty of people and lined with burned villages, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in Geneva.

At Djakovica, locals warned them not to continue, saying "others had been taken from the border into the mountains," the refugees said.

Sejeva said police came to his village near the western town of Urosevac eight days ago and told ethnic Albanians to leave or be killed.

Robbed of money and jewelry, his group made the trek to the border on train and by foot, at times walking railroad tracks to avoid mines.

In the mountains, he said, police surrounded the refugees. Escaping, they scattered.

Sejeva, his hands shaking, said he had seen bodies strewn about at a train station near Urosevac.

"Everything is blocked, and everyone is dead there. We barely got out of there," another man in the group told Associated Press Television News.

Others said they fled because they had no place left to stay in burned villages. Refugee Mechide Tasholi said he and his pregnant wife left their home in Urosevac because it was near a military building, and they feared NATO bombs.

Macedonian authorities took the new refugees to Brazda, a refugee center near Skopje.

The refugee camps have taken in 44,500 of the refugees, who at the height of an alleged expulsion campaign by Serb forces were crossing out of Kosova at a rate of 40,000 a day.

With the mass exodus over, the U.N. refugee agency was putting plans for airlifts to temporary camps in distant countries on hold, spokeswoman Paula Ghedini said. She said there still would be some evacuations to Western Europe and Scandinavia.

Refugees at the Brazda camp told of 24-hour lines to register for flights out. Scraps of paper pinned to an improvised notice board at the camp sought word of refugees' missing family members, lost in the confusion of war and flight.

The refugee agency was looking now at longer-term arrangements for the near half-million Kosova Albanian refugees — acknowledging there were no immediate prospects for their safe return home.

"It seems as if the crisis has been diverted or defused for now," Ghedini said. "But we are prepared for a possible new crisis, which could be coming in the next weeks."

With Macedonia only a reluctant host for the refugees, NATO said Saturday its troops would stay in the camps as long as necessary to safeguard them.

At the Brazda camp Saturday, William Walker, Kosova mission chief for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, consoled a woman who broke into tears as she told him of her ordeal.

"It must be hard to imagine here, but things are going to get better," Walker told her. "If your ... children are here, at least they're going to be safe."

U.S. hints ground troops possible (MSNBC)

WASHINGTON, April 11 - THE CLINTON ADVISER, asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press about ground troops, noted that NATO had in fact made backup plans last fall for such a possibility in Kosova. White House chief of staff John Podesta added that those plans “could be updated quickly” if NATO “decides to move forward with planning.” NBC had previously cited U.S. sources as saying NATO had drafted backup plans, but Podesta’s comments suggest the administration is ready to start talking about the option in public. Podesta’s statement was echoed on Sunday by Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and National Security Council spokesman David Leavy. NATO's Supreme Commander Wesley Clark NATO’s military commander, U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, also appeared on “Meet the Press” but would not talk about the possibility of ground troops, saying instead that “at this point the air campaign has a long way to go.” NATO, an alliance of 19 nations, has so far refused to even consider ground troops as a military option. In the interview, Clark vowed “progressive” airstrikes and that Milosevic “is going to pay an ever mounting price for his policies.” The comments came as more airstrikes were reported overnight in Serbia, the dominant partner in what’s left of the Yugoslav federation. Below’s a look at those and related developments.

‘RELATIVE RESTRAINT’ ON STRIKES

At NATO’s daily news briefing, spokesman Jamie Shea said NATO used “relative restraint” in its airstrikes overnight because it wanted to be “mindful” of the Serb orthodox celebration of Easter Sunday. Poor weather was also a limiting factor with “holes in the cloud cover” allowing “a limited number of missions” overnight, a NATO source said. Most of the targets were in Kosova. NATO planes reportedly hit Yugoslav military radar and anti-aircraft missile sites, an interior ministry special police headquarters and a fuel dump near Prishtina, the capital of the southern Serbian province. There were no immediate reports on casualties or damage. Shea also claimed that the Kosova Liberation Army was “far from vanquished” and that “cracks” in the Milosevic regime were appearing, among them a reported difficulity in getting recruits for the Yugoslav and Serb armies and Milosevic’s appeal for Serbs to “work harder.”

82 MORE AIRCRAFT Clark’s comments about “progressive” airstrikes followed announcements Saturday by the United States and Britain that they were deploying more warplanes and an aircraft carrier to intensify the air campaign. The Pentagon said 82 more warplanes were being sent to Europe to enable NATO to “expand the number of strikes over any 24-hour period and give us more deep-strike capacity as necessary.” The aircraft include 24 more F-16 fighters armed with HARM anti-radar missiles, four tank-killing A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft, six radar-jamming EA-6B Prowlers, 39 KC-135 and two KC-10 refueling tanker aircraft and seven C130 transports. And Britain said the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible would join NATO forces as “part of tightening the screw” on Milosevic. NATO has around 600 attack and support planes which, with warships firing cruise missiles, have been attacking Serb strategic and military targets since March 24.

DIPLOMACY & POLICY

On the diplomatic front, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Sunday there were signs that Milosevic’s position on Kosova was starting to shift and he was hopeful of some “positive” diplomatic movement soon. Solana told BBC Radio that he felt that “all the signals coming in the last days, last hours,” suggest that Milosevic might be ready to meet NATO’s demands. President Bill Clinton’s advisers think a new Yugoslav cease-fire offer could come this weekend, because Sunday is Easter on the Christian Orthodox calendar and NATO ministers meet Monday. Even if Milosevic does put forth a new cease-fire offer, Clinton insisted NATO will not settle for what he calls “half measures.” The president will be meeting with congressional leaders before Congress returns from its spring break on Monday. Lawmakers are expected to vigorously debate U.S. policy in the Balkans, including whether to push for the option of using ground troops and a possible declaration of war against Yugoslavia.

Congress returns to ponder war role

NATO MANTRA NATO says the buildup underscores its resolve to compel Milosevic’s forces to halt a campaign of aggression and atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosova. “We didn’t expect this to be a quick fix,” a NATO official said. “This is to add to the momentum of the air strikes.” That is a mantra chanted at NATO headquarters as the alliance stresses it is increasing the tempo of the bombing and broadening the scope of its raids. But the buildup of hardware and lack of foresight into the exodus of ethnic Albanian refugees suggest NATO gravely underestimated Milosevic’s tenacity.

Latest on the refugee crisis

NATO TROOPS FOR REFUGEES Milosevic, on the other hand, appears to have misjudged the impact of his expulsions on Western opinion. Operation Allied Harbor, which will deploy 8,000 NATO troops in Albania to help international relief agencies care for the 300,000 Kosova deportees sheltering there, was expected to be approved by NATO’s 19 members later on Sunday. If all goes to plan, NATO military commanders will begin the process of “force generation” for the mission — calling in and matching up the required resources from various contributing countries — this week, alliance officials said. NATO said the number of ethnic Albanians either expelled or uprooted by the conflict in the province in the past year was now estimated at 960,000.

Serbian terrorist forces are forced to retreat (KP)

Llap, April 10th (Kosovapress) Today from early in the morning, serbian terrorist forces have undertaken attacks against KLA positions and villages with fled people. Fierce attacks have taken place in the villages of Shajkoc, Batllavė and Herticė. Units of KLA have respond strongly to these attacks. After 4 hours of fight, our units had forced the enemy forces to retreat from their positions. Serbian forces have incurred big losses in military technique and in soldiers. A high moral and high military readiness to fight is present among KLA soldiers, even though they are fighting in two fronts: against serbian terrorist forces but they are fighting also to protect and to provide with food and other things, the civil population there. Serbian forces in the afternoon, from their positions along the way Podujeve-Kerpimeh, have undertaken another attack over the village of Pakashticė which is inhabited with displaced population.As result of these grenade attacks, one 23 year woman is being killed, 4 others are wounded where two of them are badly wounded. Units of KLA have react very fast against these attacks and taking a sudden counter-attack, they have forced serbian forces to retreat. The situation of the displaced civil population is very grave, particularly in the part of Gallapit, where over than 100.000 people are living in the open air.


Serbian forces are hiding in the villages of Rahovec because of the fear from NATO airstrikes (KP)

Rahovec, April 10th (Kosovapress) Grave humanitarian situation is still evident in the villages of Rahovecit. The presence of serbian terrorist forces in these ground is making the things worse. After the April massacre in the village of Pastasel, where serbian forces massacred 106 civil albanians, serbian forces are retreated from these places, but our sources are reporting that yesterday serbian forces are replaced again in the villages of Drenoc and Potoēan i Epėrm, and the population of these villages have been pushed to fled again in the mountains. In the recent days, serbian machinery has become target for the NATO forces, whereas serbian forces are making rapidly moves and they are trying to hide in the albanians places populated with some albanians.In this aspect, serbian forces yesterday took their military technique which was placed in the village Ponorc of Malishevo, and now they are placed in the albanian houses of the village of Drenoc, Tėrnoc and Potoēan i Epėrmė. Our sources are reporting that whole their military arsenal is being masked in the yards of albanian houses in order to avoid NATO airstrikes, whereas as result of the continuous bombardments by serbian forces few days before in Llapēevė, the cadaver of a 5 year child Pėrparim (Arif) Krasniqi, from Kramoviku, killed on March 31.1999, has been found.

Serbian forces defeated near city of Istog (KP)

Istog, April 11th (Kosovapress) - Brigade 136 undertook several actions against enemy forces. In the region of Rugova, they had helped the 133 and 134 Brigade of the Operative Zone of Dukagjini in a battle which took place close the bridge of Drini, in the road Pejė – Istog, where 3 serbian soldiers were killed, whereas an officer was badly wounded. Also, one armoured vehicle of the enemy has been destroyed during this action. The Brigade that is acting in Rugova, is trying to help the civillian population who has fled from the regions of Dukagjini, by using all their means.

Massive desertions of serbian soldiers in Gjakova (KP)

Gjakovė, April 11th (Kosovapress) - After last night's bombardments by NATO airplanes over the serbian military bases in the hill of Ēabrati near Gjakova, serbian soldiers started to desert massively. They are placed in some albanian houses and the police forces looked after them and later the exchange of fire between them has been heard. Serbian police forces as result of the last night defeat, now are being retreated. Meanwhile, today at 12:30 NATO airplanes have undertaken new bombardments over the serbian bases in Shkukės and Ēabrat of Gjakovė commune. Serbian police to avoid these actions, moved in the slaughter-house which is in the exit of the city in the way to Prizren nearby Llukaci.

Two enemy tanks have been destroyed by the KLA (KP)

Dule, April 11th (Kosovapress) Yesterday serbian forces have undertaken an attack in Luzhnicė and Javorė of the Suhareka commune, engaging 4 tanks and many other military vehicles gut during the confrontations with units of the Battalion "Sadik Shala" , two serbian tanks have been destroyed. It is suggested that enemy incurred losses even in people. Meanwhile one albanian civillian is badly wounded as result of the serbian bombardments.

The Band U2 ready to help Kosova

DotMusic.com - A spokeswoman for U2 has confirmed to dotmusic that the band would be able and willing to lend their support to any suitable music industry initiative to aid the plight of Kosovan refugees currently pouring out of their country to escape the ethnic cleansing of Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian army.

The band's record of involvement in a range of humanitarian projects puts them top of the list for benefit organisers the world over. And while Bono and the band are wary of over-exposure on this front, it seems likely that when, not if, the plight of the Kosovans leads to a fund raising concert or Band Aid style recording, the Irish supergroup will answer the call. "They haven't been asked to get involved in anything as yet," says their spokeswoman. "but yes, their schedule for this year would allow them to take part."