Kosova Crisis Center
link to alb-net
| March 25, 1999 -"Today, in the evening, serbian paramilitary forces have taken over than 20,000 albanian civilians hostage, and using tanks, they are pushing them towards Skenderaj . Does this mean that Srebrenica is being repeated once again in Kosova." |
- Yugoslavia Makes Apparent Truce Offer
- NW Medical Teams Keeps Eye On Kosova
- U.S. Urges Russia Not To Arm Serbs
- Clinton Offers Serbs Stark Options Over Kosova
Yugoslavia Makes Apparent Truce Offer
LONDON (Reuters) - Yugoslavia appeared to offer Thursday to halt its military operations in Kosovo if NATO agreed to stop bombing Yugoslavia.``Stop bombing us and we will stop all operations against the people, the terrorists who provoked NATO strikes against Serbia,'' Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic told Britain's Sky television in a telephone interview. Yugoslavia normally uses the word ``terrorist'' in reference to separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo. ``I think we must compromise,'' Draskovic said when asked if it was time for diplomacy and compromise. He said Serbia was not the only party to blame for the NATO strikes.Attacks by the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had triggered Serbian military action and were therefore responsible for the NATO strikes, Draskovic said. ``It's impossible to talk under the bombing,'' he said. ''Stop the bombing and all the military operations and we will stop our operations, but the Albanians must also stop their operations against our civilians.''
NW Medical Teams Keeps Eye On Kosova
(PORTLAND) Portland-based Northwest Medical Teams is keeping a close eye on the Kosova situation and is preparing to help as soon as the fighting stops. Teams President Bas Vanderzalm says the refugees fleeing the fighting have nothing more than the clothes on their backs. His group has begun gathering food, clothing, medical supplies and money to help those fleeing to other countries. Northwest Medical Teams joins Mercy Corps International as Oregon based caring agencies try to help victims of the fighting.
U.S. Urges Russia Not To Arm Serbs
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton's advisers undertook a salvage operation Thursday to try to repair a major rift with Russia over NATO's bombing of Kosovo. Clinton, meanwhile, cautioned Moscow not to take steps to lift the U.N. arms embargo against the Serbs.``I think that would be a terrible mistake,'' Clinton told reporters in the White House Oval Office as he met with his senior security and foreign policy advisers on the bombing of the Serbs and the potential fallout. The Serbs ``have quite a lot of arms on their own. They made a lot of arms in the former Yugoslavia,'' he said. ``I have no intention of lifting any of the arms embargo on Serbia. I think that would be a terrible mistake.''``We would be far better off if they didn't have so many arms as they do, then they would be out there making peace and accommodating these ethnic differences and figuring out a way they can live together,'' Clinton said.Having failed to persuade Clinton not to go through with the assault on Serbia, President Boris Yeltsin on Wednesday suspended Russian cooperation with NATO and recalled his chief military representative to the alliance in protest. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledged that ``Russia does not agree with our decision to launch military strikes.'' But, she said in a conciliatory vein, Russian leaders deserve credit for the efforts they made to persuade Milosevic to accept the peace accords accepted by ethnic Albanians at Rambouillet, France. ``We are and will remain in close touch,'' Albright said. ``Both sides recognize the importance of our relationship and the need to continue to work together on many shared concerns.'' Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov hinted that his government may try to break the U.N. embargo on arms deliveries to the Serbs. And Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, whose party dominates Russia's parliament, said Russia should provide arms to Yugoslavia.If it comes to that, a senior U.S. official said, the United Nations would probably take up the issue. The official said he thought most U.N. members opposed weakening the embargo.The administration also is checking reports the Russians were already providing Belgrade with weapons to resist the NATO cruise missile and bombing attack. Russia joined with the United States and four European countries in framing the proposed settlement for Kosovo that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has rejected. But Russia also consistently has opposed the use of force against the Serbs. Yeltsin called the NATO attack ``naked aggression'' and said if the fighting spread, Russia reserved the right to take measures, ``including those of a military character,'' to defend itself and the security of Europe. Dimitri Simes, a Russian analyst and president of the private Nixon Center, called the rift with Russia far more serious than the situation in the Balkans. ``This is the most serious event since the end of the Cold War, with far-reaching consequences for the U.S.-Russian relationship, for the international environment, for American foreign policy interests,'' he said in an interview. ``We are sending a message to Russia that the United States is the enemy of the Russian people,'' Simes said. ``In Russia, everyone is talking about American aggression.'' A casualty of the NATO attack was a planned visit here by Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. En route Tuesday, he ordered his jetliner to take him back to Mosocw rather than be in Washington while the bombing began. Other Russian officials remained, concluded energy and medical agreements, including cooperation in combating tuberculosis, and worked on ways to enhance foreign investment in the Russian oil and gas industries. Russia's economy is weak, and with the encouragement of the United States the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, is going ahead with a trip to Moscow this weekend to discuss Western loans. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, said the disagreement with Russia over using force against the Serbs ``is a disagreement that can be managed.'' But, Talbott said, ``the extent to which it can be managed depends in no small measure on the Russian side and how it conducts its end of this disagreement.''
Clinton Offers Serbs Stark Options Over Kosova
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic Thursday he must ``choose peace'' or else NATO will pound the Serb military down to size.``He must either choose peace or we will limit his ability to make war,'' Clinton told reporters shortly before NATO launched a second wave of air strikes against Yugoslavia. Clinton and his top aides outlined stark options for Milosevic as they insisted NATO air power would diminish Serbia's military capability with no need for allied ground forces. Defense Secretary William Cohen said the bombing campaign would intensify absent a move toward peace by Milosevic. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said NATO's second wave ``will be another substantive strike, it will be severe.'' Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said ``diplomatic channels remain open'' for Milosevic and the peace accord negotiated in Paris, signed by the ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo but rejected by the Serbs, was still on the table. ``There is no indication that there is any change at all in Milosevic's position,'' she said at the State Department. ``He knows how to get in touch with us.''Underscoring the urgency of NATO's Operation Allied Force, White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said Serb forces had escalated their offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and shelled neighboring Albania.
``There have been some further burning of villages, further sweep operations, some shelling into Albania. And it's obviously very disturbing to us,'' Berger said. The air strikes were ordered after Milosevic refused to sign the Paris peace deal. Milosevic then massed 40,000 troops in and around Kosovo and began a bloody campaign to break the backs of the rebels. Clinton said even the Russians, who are deeply upset about the NATO attacks, had said the Paris deal was fair. ``Only Mr. Milosevic and the Serbs declined to deal with the evident responsibility they have to choose the path of peace instead of the path of aggression and war,'' he said. Clinton, somber and weary-looking, met his senior foreign policy aides in the Oval Office for a review of the first day of bombing and to lay further plans for preventing a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo and a wider war in the Balkans. Asked if he was concerned that the American people still had questions about the operation, Clinton said he believed many people had not thought about the situation in Kosovo until the last two days and believed a majority will ultimately support him. ``I also believe very strongly that it is my responsibility to make this judgement based on what I think is the long-term interests of the American people,'' he said. He later spoke by phone to NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark. The White House said he sent letters Wednesday explaining U.S. rationale for the NATO strikes to a wide variety of countries, including China, Japan, Sweden and Ukraine. The Clinton administration faced continuing calls from some members of Congress to define how the United States gets out of the conflict.The question they posed is what happens if Milosevic refuses to return to the peace table but instead waits out the air campaign and then continues his offensive against Kosovo rebels. Congress is concerned that U.S. troops would be sent in. ``There's no exit strategy that's in existence,'' Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich, a Serb-American opposed to the strikes, told CNN.Clinton brushed aside an exit strategy question.``The exit strategy is what it always is in a military operation. It's when the mission is completed,'' he said. Clinton said he believed air power alone can ``create a situation in which we have limited their ability to make war'' and increase the Kosovo Albanians' ability to protect themselves.Cohen told Reuters TV the United States had no intention of introducing ground troops into a military campaign. ``We have no plans to introduce our forces into a hostile environment,'' he said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, reflected some of the concerns many members of Congress have about the operation.Asked if it was a good idea to attack the Serbs, he said: ''We're going to have to see this thing out now that we're in it.'' The White House acknowledged Clinton still had some work to do to convince Americans of the need to intervene in a civil war in a distant corner of Europe.``I don't believe last night's address to the nation was the last thing the president needs to say,'' White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said.