OSZE stimmt Beobachtermission im Kosovo zu
Wien (dpa) - Die Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) hat am Donnerstag der internationalen Beobachtermission für den Kosovo zugestimmt. Der derzeitige OSZE-Vorsitzende Bronislaw Geremek und der jugoslawische Außenminister Zivadin Jovanovic werden an diesem Freitag in Belgrad ein entsprechendes Abkommen unterzeichnen, wie die OSZE an ihrem Sitz in Wien mitteilte.
     Der jugoslawische Präsident Slobodan Milosevic hatte am Dienstag in Verhandlungen mit dem US-Vermittler Richard Holbrooke zugestimmt, daß eine 2 000 Beobachter umfassende OSZE-Mission in das Kosovo entsandt wird. Sie soll die Vereinbarungen über den Abzug der jugoslawischen und serbischen Sicherheitskräfte und die Rückkehr der vertriebenen Kosovo-Albaner überwachen.
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Kontaktgruppe bleibt bei Milosevic mißtrauisch - Solana in Belgrad
Paris/Brüssel/Genf (dpa) - Die internationale Kontaktgruppe bleibt gegenüber den Zusagen des jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic für eine friedliche Lösung der Krise im Kosovo mißtrauisch. Gegen eine Androhung von Sanktionen in einer UN-Resolution, in der die Versprechungen Milosevics möglichst schnell festgeschrieben werden sollen, hat sich aber am Donnerstag in Paris Rußland gewandt. Albanische Quellen berichteten unterdessen von neuen serbischen Granatangriffen auf albanische Dörfer in der Krisenprovinz Kosovo im Süden Jugoslawiens. Dafür gab es bis zum frühen Abend keine Bestätigung durch unabhängige Beobachter.
     Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana flog am Donnerstag in Begleitung des Nato-Oberbefehlshabers Wesley Clark und des Vorsitzenden des Nato-Militärausschusses Klaus Naumann nach Belgrad. Dort sollte das Abkommen über die Überwachung des Luftraumes um die Provinz Kosovo durch Nato-Flugzeuge unterzeichnet werden.
     Solana und Milosevic wollten das Abkommen nach einem Bericht des Belgrader Radio-Senders B 92, der sich auf Nato-Quellen berief, noch am Donnerstag abend unterzeichnen. In Paris berieten die Außenminister der Sechs-Mächte-Kontaktgruppe (USA, Rußland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Deutschland, Italien) unter anderem, wie die Sicherheit der von Milosevic zugelassenen 2 000 OSZE-Beobachter gewährleistet werden soll.
     Im Gegensatz zu Hinweisen auf eine leichte Entspannung und einen Abzug der serbischen Sicherheitskräfte sagte der Auslandssprecher der Kosovo-«Befreiungsarmee» (UCK), Bardhyl Mahmuti, in Genf, Straßen und Dörfer in der Provinz würden weiter von den Serben beschossen. Belgrad habe seine Truppen sogar noch verstärkt. Mit beginnendem Schneefall verschärfe sich die Flüchtlingstragödie.
     Der deutsche Außenminister Klaus Kinkel erklärte in Paris, die Kontaktgruppe bleibe mißtrauisch gegenüber Milosevic und seinen Zusagen für eine Kosovo-Lösung. Bei der Nato in Brüssel wurde kritisiert, daß Milosevic die Forderungen der UN-Resolution vom September zu zögernd umsetze: «Uns geht das alles viel zu langsam», hieß es.
     Rußlands Außenminister Igor Iwanow wiederholte in Paris die Warnung Moskaus vor einer Militäraktion, die von der Allianz weiter nicht ausgeschlossen wird. Iwanow erwartet eine neue UN-Resolution zum Kosovo-Konflikt in der kommenden Woche. «Jeder Versuch, die Sache durch Militäraktionen zu beschleunigen, kann nur zu völlig negativen Auswirkungen auf dem Balkan ebenso wie in einem größeren politischen Kontext führen.»
     Mehrere hundert Menschen haben am Donnerstag nachmittag in Belgrad gegen die Medienzensur in Serbien und die Schließung unabhängiger Medien demonstriert. Die Regierung in Belgrad hatte am Mittwoch und Donnerstag die Belgrader Tageszeitungen «Danas», «Dnevni telegraf» und «Nasa borba» und den Lokalsender «Radio index» verboten, weil sie gegen Zensurbestimmungen verstoßen hatten. Die Protestkundgebungen sollen täglich fortgesetzt werden.
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Solana und Milosevic wollen Abkommen heute unterzeichnen
Belgrad (dpa) - Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana und der jugoslawische Präsident Slobodan Milosevic werden am Donnerstag abend in Belgrad das Abkommen über Nato-Aufklärungsflüge über der Krisenprovinz Kosovo unterzeichnen. Das meldete der Belgrader Radio-Sender B 92 unter Berufung auf Nato-Quellen. Mit Solana werde in Belgrad auch der Nato-Europabefehlshaber, General Wesley Clark, erwartet.
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Vier serbische Polizisten im Kosovo verletzt
Belgrad/Pristina (dpa) - Vier serbische Polizisten sind bei zwei Angriffen der albanischen Untergrundarmee UCK in der Krisenprovinz Kosovo verletzt worden. Das meldete der Belgrader Radio-Sender B 92 am Donnerstag. Drei Beamte seien am Mittwoch abend nahe Malisevo und ein vierter am Donnerstag im Dorf Likovac verletzt worden. Einzelheiten wurden nicht mitgeteilt.
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Rußlands Außenminister erwartet neue UN-Resolution nächste Woche
Paris (dpa) - Der russische Außenminister Igor Iwanow erwartet eine neue UN-Resolution zum Kosovo-Konflikt in der kommenden Woche. Nach den Beratungen der Kontaktgruppe wandte sich Iwanow am Donnerstag in Paris noch einmal gegen ein militärisches Eingreifen. «Jeder Versuch, die Sache durch Militäraktionen zu beschleunigen, kann nur zu völlig negativen Auswirkungen auf dem Balkan ebenso wie in einem größeren politischen Kontext führen.»
     Die Kontaktgruppe, der neben den USA, Frankreich, Deutschland, Großbritannien und Italien auch Rußland angehört, habe bestätigt, «daß die Resolutionen des (UN-)Sicherheitsrates von allen angewandt werden müssen, ebenso von den Behörden in Belgrad wie von den Kosovo-Albanern». Iwanow bestätigte, daß sich Rußland an der Überprüfungs-Mission der OSZE im Kosovo beteiligen wird. Wenn die Nato mit Belgrad eine Vereinbarung über die Luftüberwachung erzielt habe, sei eine Beteiligung Rußlands auch daran nicht ausgeschlossen.
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Kosovo-Albaner melden serbischen Artilleriebeschuß im Raum Malisevo
Pristina (dpa) - Mehrere albanische Dörfer im Raum Malisevo (Zentral-Kosovo) sind am Mittwoch abend von serbischer Artillerie beschossen worden. Dies meldete das offizielle kosovo-albanische Informationszentrum (IZK) am Donnerstag in Pristina unter Berufung auf lokale Quellen. Der Bericht machte keine näheren Angaben über die Intensität des Granatbeschusses. Auch war vorerst unklar, ob durch den Beschuß Menschen verletzt worden sind.
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Hunderte demonstrierten in Belgrad gegen Zensur und Medienverbote
Belgrad (dpa) - Mehrere hundert Menschen haben am Donnerstag nachmittag in Belgrad gegen die Medienzensur in Serbien und die Schließung unabhängiger Medien demonstriert. Die serbische Regierung hatte am Mittwoch und Donnerstag die Belgrader Tageszeitungen «Danas», «Dnevni telegraf» und «Nasa borba» und den Lokalsender «Radio index» verboten, weil sie gegen Zensurbestimmungen verstoßen hatten. Die Protestkundgebungen sollen täglich fortgesetzt werden.
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Solana nach Belgrad abgeflogen
Brüssel (dpa) - Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana ist am Donnerstag nachmittag von Brüssel nach Belgrad abgeflogen. Er wird vom Vorsitzenden des Nato-Militärausschusses, General Klaus Naumann, sowie dem Nato-Oberbefehlshaber Europa, General Wesley Clark, begleitet. Das bestätigte ein Nato-Sprecher.
     In Belgrad will die Nato-Delegation das Abkommen mit Präsident Slobodan Milosevic über die künftige Überwachung des Luftraums um die südserbische Provinz Kososo durch Nato-Flugzeuge unterzeichnen. Gleichzeitig will Solana Milosevic eindringlich auffordern, endlich die in der Nato-Resolution 1199 vereinbarten Bedingungen, wie den völligen Rückzug der zusätzlichen Polizeikräfte aus dem Kosovo, zu erfüllen.
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UCK-Vertreter spricht von weiteren Angriffen der Serben im Kosovo
Genf (dpa) - Serbische Truppen beschießen angeblich im Kosovo weiterhin Straßen und Dörfer. Belgrad habe die Truppen nicht zurückgezogen, sondern verstärkt, sagte der politische Auslandssprecher der Kosovo-Befreiungsarmee (UCK), Bardhyl Mahmuti, am Donnerstag in Genf.
     Am Mittwoch seien mindestens 20 Dörfer angegriffen worden, viele davon entlang der Hauptstraße zwischen Shtimje und Carraleve. Diese Informationen stammten vom Führungsstab der UCK, mit dem er täglich mehrmals in Kontakt sei, sagte Mahmuti.
     «Gestern hat es zu schneien begonnen. Tausende sind obdachlos. Die Tragödie nimmt Formen an», sagte Mahmuti. Der jugoslawische Präsident Slobodan Milosevic setze seine Politik der ethnischen Säuberung ungeachtet der Übereinkunft mit dem US-Vermittler Richard Holbrooke fort. Nur ein Nato-Einsatz könne ihn zur Vernunft bringen. «Er kennt nur die Sprache der Gewalt.»
     Mahmuti bezichtigte Beobachter, fälschlich über einen Rückzug der serbischen Truppen zu berichten. «Wenn die internationale Gemeinschaft mit uns spielt und den Genozid deckt, werden wir das nicht lange hinnehmen», warnte Mahmuti. Die UCK werde sich aber vorläufig an ihren Waffenstillstand halten.
     Zur politischen Lösung der Kosovo-Krise sagte Mahmuti, eine Autonomie innerhalb des serbischen Staates komme für die UCK nicht in Frage. Einzige akzeptable Lösung sei die Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo.
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Britischer Außenminister Cook reist nach Bulgarien
Sofia (dpa) - Der britische Außenminister Robin Cook reist am 19. Oktober zu einem zweitägigen Arbeitsbesuch nach Bulgarien. Das meldete am Donnerstag die amtliche Nachrichtenagentur BTA aus Sofia. Cook wird mit dem bulgarischen Präsidenten Petar Stojanow, Regierungschef Iwan Kostow und mit Außenministerin Nadeschda Michailowa zusammenkommen. Die Vorbereitungen Bulgariens zur angestrebte Mitgliedschaft in der Nato und in der Europäischen Union sowie der Konflikt im Kosovo zählen zu Cooks Gesprächsthemen.
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Kontaktgruppe bleibt bei Milosevic mißtrauisch
Paris/Brüssel (dpa) - Die internationale Kontaktgruppe bleibt gegenüber dem jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic und seinen Zusagen für eine Kosovo-Lösung mißtrauisch. Gegen eine Androhung von Sanktionen in einer UN-Resolution, in der die Versprechungen Milosevics möglichst schnell festgeschrieben werden sollen, hat sich aber am Donnerstag in Paris Rußland gewandt. Auch Beratungen darüber, wie die Sicherheit der OSZE-Beobachter am Ort gewährleistet werden soll, sind noch nicht abgeschlossen.
     «Wir trauen Herrn Milosevic nicht», sagte Bundesaußenminister Klaus Kinkel in Paris. Deshalb gebe es ja jetzt Überwachungsmechanismen. Er hoffe, daß die Überwachung am Boden durch OSZE-Vertreter und aus der Luft durch die Nato dazu beiträgt, daß man sagen könne: «Diesmal kann Milosevic nicht ausbüchsen.» Deutschland werde sich mit 150 bis 200 Beobachtern an dem OSZE-Einsatz beteiligen.
     Die Details der OSZE-Mission will deren amtierender Vorsitzender Bronislaw Geremek an diesem Freitag in Belgrad regeln, um anschließend nach Pristina im Kosovo zu reisen. Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana wollte noch am Donnerstag nach Belgrad reisen, um Milosevic zur Erfüllung der vor drei Wochen gefaßten UN-Resolution zu drängen. «Uns geht das alles viel zu langsam», hieß es bei der Nato zu dem nach Ansicht der Allianz zu schleppendem Abzug der serbischen Truppen aus dem Kosovo.
     Ziel der Bemühungen ist es jetzt, möglichst rasch Sicherheit und Vertrauen im Kosovo wiederherzustellen, um die Rückkehr der Flüchtlinge in deren Wohnorte zu erreichen, wurde bei den Beratungen in Paris unterstrichen. In politischen Verhandlungen soll zudem eine «substantielle Autonomie» für das Kosovo erreicht werden. «Man kann noch nicht von einer Lösung sprechen», zog Frankreichs Außenminister Hubert Vedrine nach der Sitzung der Kontaktgruppe Zwischenbilanz. Aber der Weg dafür sei aufgezeigt.
     Die Kontaktgruppe, der die USA, Rußland, Frankreich, Deutschland, Großbritannien und Italien angehören, werde ihre Bemühungen fortsetzen. «Wir bleiben geeint und wachsam», sagte Vedrine. Er habe dem OSZE-Vorsitzenden Geremek zugesagt, daß es bei Problemen jederzeit eine neue Sitzung geben könne.
     Auch Kinkel wies darauf hin, daß der Nato-Befehl, der die Möglichkeit zu Luftangriffen geschaffen hat, bis Samstag nur ausgesetzt ist. Der Bundestag werde weiterhin am Freitag entscheiden, ob Deutschland sich an möglichen Militärmaßnahmen beteilige.
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Kontaktgruppe beriet über Umsetzung des Kosovo-Abkommens
Paris/Brüssel (dpa) - Die internationale Kontaktgruppe hat am Donnerstag in Paris über die Umsetzung des Abkommens zur Beilegung des Kosovo-Konfliktes beraten. «Man kann noch nicht von einer Lösung sprechen», sagte Frankreichs Außenminister Hubert Vedrine nach dem Treffen mit seinen fünf beteiligten Amtskollegen. Der Weg dorthin sei aber aufgezeigt worden. Das Ziel sei eine politische Lösung, um zu einer substantiellen Autonomie für den Kosovo zu kommen.
     Vedrine unterstrich die Wichtigkeit der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE), die 2 000 Beobachter entsenden soll. OSZE-Präsident Bronislaw Geremek werde am Freitag nach Belgrad fliegen, um dort das Abkommen über Verifizierungsmaßnahmen zu unterschreiben. Anschließend werde Geremek nach Pristina, der Hauptstadt der mehrheitlich von Albanern bewohnten serbischen Krisen-Provinz, weiterreisen.
     In Brüssel wurde erwartet, daß Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana noch an diesem Donnerstag nach Belgrad fliegt, sofern ihm der Nato-Rat grünes Licht gibt. Solana will dort für die Nato das Abkommen über die Überwachung des Luftraums über dem Kosovo unterzeichnen.
     Das von US-Vermittler Richard Holbrooke mit dem jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic ausgehandelte Papier sieht neben den OSZE-Beobachtern eine Luftüberwachung durch die Nato vor. Vedrine unterstrich, es werde eine enge Abstimmung zwischen OSZE und Nato geben. Das Ziel der OSZE sei, die Bedingungen für Sicherheit und Vertrauen wiederherzustellen.
     «Beide Seiten müssen ihren Beitrag zu Verhandlungen leisten», sagte der französische Außenminister. In kurzer Frist solle eine neue UN-Resolution ausgehandelt werden, in die die Vereinbarungen aufgenommen werden.
     Solana äußerte sich in Brüssel unzufrieden mit der von Milosevic zugesagten Erfüllung der UN-Resolution 1199 vom 23. September. «Nach den uns zur Zeit vorliegenden Informationen entspricht diese Erfüllung noch nicht der Realität», sagte er vor Journalisten.
     Der amtierende deutsche Außenminister Klaus Kinkel forderte, in die nächste UN-Resolution auch Zwangsmaßnahmen für den Fall von Verstößen aufzunehmen. Kinkel räumte ein, daß damit allerdings Rußland nicht einverstanden sei. Moskau wehre sich zudem gegen automatische Sanktionen im Falle von Verstößen.
     Der scheidende deutsche Außenminister erklärte, für die OSZE-Beobachter müßten Schutzmaßnahmen sichergestellt werden. Dies könne auch die Möglichkeit einer Eingreiftruppe bedeuten, die außerhalb des Krisengebiets stationiert werde.
     Vedrine erklärte, die Kontaktgruppe werde weiterarbeiten: «Wir bleiben geeint und wachsam», sagte der Minister. Es könne jederzeit bei Problemen eine neue Sondersitzung geben. Der Gruppe gehören die USA, Rußland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Deutschland und Italien an.
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Jugoslawien dankt Weißrußland für Unterstützung im Kosovo-Konflikt
Minsk (dpa) - Der stellvertretende jugoslawische Ministerpräsident Zoran Lilic hat am Donnerstag bei einem Besuch in Minsk dem weißrussischen Präsidenten Alexander Lukaschenko für Unterstützung der Position Belgrads in der Kosovo-Krise gedankt. Das meldete die russische Nachrichtenagentur Interfax.
     Während sich die Kosovo-Krise zuspitzte, hatte Lukaschenko Jugoslawien Waffenlieferungen zugesagt, wenn es zum militärischen Konflikt kommen sollte. Einige radikale weißrussische Parteien hatten sogar mit der Aufstellung einer Freiwilligen-Brigade begonnen.
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Serbien verbietet dritte regimekritische Zeitung
Belgrad (dpa) - Die serbische Regierung hat am Donnerstag das weitere Erscheinen der unabhängigen Belgrader Tageszeitung «Nasa borba» verboten. Ein entsprechender Beschluß wurde auch der Druckerei im nordserbischen Novi Sad zugestellt, sagte Dimitrije Boarov, stellvertretender Chefredakteur, dem Belgrader Sender B 92. Als Grund für das Verbot nannte das Informationsministerium die angebliche Mißachtung der Regierungsverordnung über die «Landesverteidigungspflicht» aller Medien.
     «Nasa borba» ist somit schon das vierte Opfer der in Serbien vor einer Woche eingeführten Medienzensur. Am Mittwoch hatten Polizisten die Redaktionsräume der ebenfalls unabhängigen Belgrader Blätter «Danas» und «Dnevni telegraf» besetzt und das Erscheinen verboten. Auch die Programme des populären Belgrader Lokalsenders Radio Index werden seit Tagen gestört und können nicht empfangen werden.
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Solana will Milosevic zur Erfüllung der UN-Resolution drängen
Brüssel (dpa) - Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana wird vermutlich noch an diesem Donnerstag nach Belgrad fliegen, um Jugoslawiens Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic zur Erfüllung der vor drei Wochen gefaßten UN-Resolution zum Kosovo zu drängen. Das verlautete am Donnerstag aus Nato-Kreisen in Brüssel.
     «Uns geht das alles viel zu langsam», sagte ein Nato-Beamter unter Hinweis auf den nach Ansicht der Nato schleppenden Abzug der serbischen Sicherheitskräfte aus dem Kosovo. «Er (Milosevic) hat sie schnell reingebracht, dann kann er sie auch schnell wieder abziehen», fügte der Beamte, der ungenannt bleiben wollte, hinzu.
     Solana selbst hatte sich zuvor höchst unzufrieden über die von Milosevic zugesagte Erfüllung der UN-Resolution vom 23. September gezeigt. «Nach den uns zur Zeit vorliegenden Informationen entspricht diese Erfüllung noch nicht der Realität», sagte Solana anläßlich des Besuchs des polnischen Ministerpräsidenten Jerzy Buzek vor Journalisten. Die Lösung des Konflikts liege nicht darin, daß Papiere unterzeichnet würden, fügte er hinzu.
     Grünes Licht für die Reise Solanas nach Belgrad dürfte am Donnerstag der Nato-Rat geben. Solana werde auch das Abkommen über die Überwachung des Luftraums über dem Kosovo für die Nato unterzeichnen, wenn im Gegenzug Milosevic selbst das vom US-Sonderbotschafter Richard Holbrooke ausgehandelte Papier unterschreibt, hieß es in Brüssel.
     Die Nato hatte bereits am Mittwoch angekündigt, daß der bis Samstag morgen 05.00 Uhr (MESZ) ausgesetzte Aktivierungsbefehl für mögliche Luftschläge bis zur vollen Erfüllung der UN-Resolution 1199 gültig bleiben soll. Dieses Thema dürfte auch am Freitag bei der Nato in Brüssel beraten werden, hieß es weiter.
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Jugoslawiens Vizeregierungschef informiert Lukaschenko über Kosovo
Minsk (dpa) - Der stellvertretende jugoslawische Ministerpräsident Zoran Lilic hat am Donnerstag die Lage im Kosovo mit dem Präsidenten Weißrußlands, Alexander Lukaschenko, erörtert. Im weißrussischen Minsk sagte Lilic, Jugoslawiens «Bereitschaft zur Verteidigung der Unabhängigkeit» sei ungebrochen, meldete die Nachrichtenagentur  Itar-Tass.
     Die frühere Sowjetrepublik Weißrußland hatte Jugoslawien im Kosovo-Konflikt unter anderem Waffentechnik als Unterstützung angeboten. Der autoritär herrschende Lukaschenko lehnt jegliche Einflußnahme der Nato in Osteuropa ab.
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Agani: Albaner unzufrieden mit vorgeschlagenem Status des Kosovos
Belgrad (dpa) - Die Kosovo-Albaner sind mit dem vorgeschlagenen Status der südserbischen Krisenprovinz Kosovo unzufrieden. Das sagte Fehmi Agani, Chef des albanischen Verhandlungsteams, dem serbischen Lokalsender «Palma plus» in Jagodina, meldete die Belgrader Nachrichtenagentur Beta am Donnerstag.
     «Niemand im Kosovo, selbst nicht die (albanische Untergrundarmee) UCK, lehnt den Waffenstillstand oder und die Lösung der humanitären Krise ab, aber es gibt Widerstand, wie der Status des Kosovo gelöst werden soll», sagte Agani.
     Dennoch sei das zwischen dem US-Sonderbeauftragten Richard Holbrooke und dem jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic vereinbarte Abkommen von der albanischen Bevölkerung und ihren politischen Parteien «gut aufgenommen» worden.
     Das Abkommen weist eine von den Kosovo-Albanern geforderte Unabhängigkeit von Serbien und Jugoslawien zurück. Es ermöglicht aber die Rückkehr der Flüchtlinge und ist eine Voraussetzung für bilaterale Gespräche über das Kosovo-Problem.
     Agani äußerte die Erwartung, daß der Dialog der Albanerparteien mit der Belgrader Regierung nicht lange auf sich warten lassen werde. Allerdings könnten die Fristen für den Dialogbeginn nicht eingehalten werden, denn die bestehenden Differenzen bei der Beurteilung der Lage und der Möglichkeiten zur Lösung des Status der Provinz seien weiterhin groß und noch nicht überwunden.
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Schmutziger Wahlkampf in Mazdonien im Schatten der Kosovo-Krise
Skopje (dpa) - Im Schatten der Kosovo-Krise in Jugoslawien ist im benachbarten Mazedonien fast unbemerkt ein schmutziger Wahlkampf ausgetragen worden. Vertreter von insgesamt 17 Parteien haben kaum eine Gelegenheit ausgelassen, der Gegenseite die eine oder andere Verwicklung in den Kosovo-Konflikt zu unterstellen, um deren Bemühungen um die 120 Parlamentssitze in Skopje an diesem Sonntag zu behindern.
     Kleinere Oppositionsparteien unterstellten den regierenden Sozialdemokraten gar, einen Pakt mit dem jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic über ein militärisches Vorgehen gegen die gemeinsame Grenze geschlossen zu haben. Dieser Angriff sollte wiederum zu einer Absage der Wahlen führen.
     In einer anderen Variante wurde die Partei von Regierungschef Branko Crvenkovski bezichtigt, einen eventuellen Militäreinsatz des Westens im benachbarten Kosovo sowie die aktuelle Kriegspsychose in Jugoslawien «zum eigenen Vorteil» - sprich Wahlerfolg - auszunutzen.
     Die Sozialdemokraten erwiderten in ihrer «Gegenoffensive», daß ihre Herausforderer aus der nationalistischen Partei VMRO ein «rumänisches Szenario» - bewaffneter Aufstand - für den Fall ihrer Wahlniederlage vorbereiteten. Dem hatte VMRO-Vorsitzender Ljupco Georgijevski, dessen Parteifreunde unmittelbar nach den Wahlen 1994 aus Protest gegen eine angebliche Wahlfälschung auf ihre Sitze im Parlament verzichtet hatten, außer patriotischer Rhetorik wenig entgegenzusetzen.
     Selbst die neu gegründete Demokratische Alternative von Vasil Tupurkovski, dem letzten Vertreter Mazedoniens im kollektiven Staatspräsidium des inzwischen zerfallenen Vielvölkerstaates Jugoslawien, kam nicht ungeschoren davon. Tupurkovskis Gegner gingen sogar so weit, eine von ihm versprochene ausländische Finanzhilfe für die marode Wirtschaft von «einer Milliarde Dollar bei einem Wahlsieg» öffentlich als «blanke Lüge» zu denunzieren.
     Daß Tupurkovski gleichzeitig unterstellt wurde, mit den mazedonischen Albanern bereits Pläne zur Aufteilung des Landes vorbereitet zu haben, gehört nach Ansicht von Beobachtern im unruhigen Armenhaus Mazedonien «fast schon zur Standardrhetorik».
     Dennoch scheint gerade die versprochene Finanzhilfe bei vielen Mazedoniern, die bei einer Arbeitslosenquote von 35 Prozent in relativer Armut leben, auf offene Ohren zu stoßen und Hoffnungen zu wecken. In letzten Prognosen lag die Koalition Tupurkovskis mit der VMRO nur knapp hinter der regierenden Koalition der Sozialisten und Sozialdemokraten, die auch die Albaner-Partei der Demokratischen Prosperität zum Partner hat.
     In einem Fernsehinterview in dieser Woche erinnerte Staatspräsident Kiro Gligorov an «dunkle Punkte» in der Vergangenheit Tupurkovskis, der bei Beobachtern als ernsthafter Nachfolger für den 81jährigen im kommenden Jahr gilt. Gligorov erklärte, daß Tupurkovski vor Jahren bei den Auseinandersetzungen um den Staatsnamen Mazedonien bereit gewesen sei, diesen Stolz aller Mazedonier «für viele Milliarden Dollar an Finanzhilfe zu verkaufen».
     Die Aussage Gligorovs wurde von der einheimischen Presse als «Agitation des Präsidenten» für seine Sozialdemokratische Partei gewertet. Beobachter sahen darin vielmehr ein Zeichen der Nervosität der Regierungskoalition angesichts eines starken und ernstzunehmenden Gegners.

(Achtung: Hierzu erhalten Sie auch einen Hintergrund über den relativ jungen Balkanstaat Mazedonien.)
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Bonn: Bedrohung gegen Milosevic muß aufrechterhalten werden
Bonn (dpa) - Einen Tag vor der Sondersitzung des deutschen Parlaments zur Kosovo-Krise hat der scheidende Verteidigungsminister Volker Rühe eine Beibehaltung des Nato-Drucks gefordert. Die militärische Drohung gegen den jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic müsse trotz Belgrads Einlenken zunächst uneingeschränkt aufrechterhalten werden, sagte der Minister am Donnerstag in Bonn.
     In der Parlaments-Sitzung an diesem Freitag soll die Freigabe von 14 deutschen Tornado-Kampfflugzeugen für die Beteiligung an einem möglichen Nato-Einsatz im Kosovo-Konflikt beschlossen werden.
     In Bonn wird eine breite Zustimmung aus den Reihen der scheidenden Mitte-Rechts-Koalition erwartet. Nach Angaben der Sozialdemokraten wird auch ein großer Teil der SPD-Fraktion werde dem Antrag der amtierenden Regierung zustimmen. Die Grünen sind gespalten. Sie haben wie die SPD ihren Abgeordneten für die Abstimmung freie Hand gegeben.
     Das Parlament tagt nochmals in seiner bisherigen Zusammensetzung, da sich der neugewählte Bundestag erst am 26. Oktober konstituiert. Die Sondersitzung vor diesem Termin war notwendig geworden, weil das Nato-Ultimatum an den jugoslawischen Präsidenten Milosevic an diesem Samstag abläuft.
© dpa

Asylsuchende müssen in der Schweiz im Freien übernachten
Bern (dpa) - In der Schweiz müssen derzeit mehrere hundert Asylsuchende im Freien übernachten. Wie das Bundesamt für Flüchtlinge am Donnerstag im Schweizer Radio DRS bestätigte, gibt es für sie keinen Platz in den schon überbelegten staatlichen Empfangsstellen und Notschlafstellen. Die meisten von ihnen sind Flüchtlinge aus dem Kosovo.
     In der Schweiz mangelt es derzeit nicht nur an Unterbringungsplätzen, sondern auch an Betreuungspersonal. Justizminister Arnold Koller, schlug deshalb vor, Notunterkünfte demnächst von der Amee betreuuen zu lassen. In der Nacht zum Mittwoch war vor einer Truppenunterkunft im schweizerischen Bronschhofen ein Sprengsatz gezündet worden. In das Gebäude sollen noch in diesem Monat 190 Kosovo-Flüchtlinge einziehen.
© dpa

Solana: Belgrad hat Auflagen noch nicht erfüllt
Brüssel (dpa) - Auch zwei Tage nach Festsetzung eines Ultimatums der Nato hat Belgrad noch nicht alle Auflagen der UN-Resolution zur Lösung des Kosovo-Konflikts erfüllt. Das erklärte Nato-Generalsekretär Javier Solana am Donnerstag in Brüssel. «Nach den uns zur Zeit vorliegenden Informationen, entspricht diese Erfüllung noch nicht der Realität», sagte Solana anläßlich des Besuchs des polnischen Ministerpräsidenten Jerzy Buzek vor Journalisten.
     Der Generalsekretär kündigte an, daß er vermutlich selbst am Freitag nach Belgrad reisen werde. Dort werde er wahrscheinlich das Abkommen mit Präsident Slobodan Milosevic über eine Luftaufklärung der Nato unterzeichnen. Mit dieser Überwachung will die Nato garantieren, daß die etwa 2 000 Beobachter der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) ungehindert ihrem Auftrag einer Überprüfung des Rückzugs der serbischen Sicherheitskräfte sowie der Rückkehr der Flüchtlinge nachgehen können.
     Die Nato hatte bereits am Mittwoch angekündigt, daß der bis Samstag morgen ausgesetzte Aktivierungsbefehl für mögliche Luftschläge bis zur vollen Erfüllung der UN-Resolution vom 23. September gültig bleiben soll.
© dpa

Schüssel: Friedliche Lösung im Kosovo wird wahrscheinlicher
Bonn (dpa) - Der österreichische Außenminister Wolfgang Schüssel hält eine friedliche Lösung des Kosovo-Konfliktes für immer wahrscheinlicher. Allerdings sei bei der Überwachung der zwischen US-Sonderbotschafter Richard Holbrooke und Jugoslawiens Präsident Slobodan Milosevic getroffenen Vereinbarung durch Beobachter der OSZE die Unterstützung durch die Nato notwendig.
     «Es geht darum, die Elemente der Vereinbarung mit Leben zu füllen. Es muß dabei eine militärische Sicherheit garantiert werden», sagte Schüssel am Donnerstag morgen im Deutschlandfunk.
     Schüssel sprach sich außerdem für eine Beteiligung Rußlands bei Überwachungsmaßnahmen aus der Luft aus. Neben Flugzeugen würde gleichzeitig wahrscheinlich auch eine internationale Eingreiftruppe im benachbarten Mazedonien stationiert.
© dpa

«Le Figaro»: Nato bleibt der Schlagstock des Westens
Paris (dpa) - Die konservative französische Zeitung «Le Figaro» schreibt am Donnerstag zur Rolle des Westens im Kosovo-Konflikt:
     «Jugoslawien ist ein Glücksfall für die internationalen Sicherheits-Organisationen. Die Nato, die nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges auf der Suche nach sich selbst war, hat eine zweite Jugend gefunden. Auch der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) bietet sich die Gelegenheit eines Neuanfangs. Ihr Präsident, der Pole Bronislaw Geremek, hat sich nicht getäuscht, als er erklärt hat, daß 'die OSZE nun vor der größten Herausforderung ihrer Geschichte' steht.
     Die OSZE wird im Kosovo das Auge des Westens sein, aber die Nato bleibt der Schlagstock. Nach der Übereinkunft mit Milosevic dürfen die 2 000 Beobachter der OSZE nicht bewaffnet sein und auch nicht die Flugzeuge, die die Lage aus der Luft überwachen werden. Daher ist ein Schutzschirm nötig. Die Nato wird eine schnelle Eingreiftruppe aufstellen müssen, die in den Nachbarländern stationiert wird.»
© dpa

Entspannung in Kosovo-Krise - Nato-Aktivierungsbefehl noch in Kraft
Belgrad/Washington/Brüssel (dpa) - In der Kosovo-Krise gab es am Mittwoch weitere Hinweise für eine Entspannung. Die jugoslawische Regierung stimmte am Abend internationalen Kontrollflügen von «Nichtkampfmaschinen» über der südserbischen Krisenprovinz zu. Das US-Außenministerium berichtete, es gebe Beispiele dafür, daß das Alltagsleben in die Dörfer der Provinz zurückkehre. Die Außenminister der sechs Staaten der internationalen Kontaktgruppe beraten heute (Donnerstag) in Paris über das weitere Vorgehen in der Krise.
     US-Außenamtssprecher James Rubin sagte, nach «sehr vorläufigen Berichten von ein paar Beobachtern» sei die Präsenz serbischer Polizei im Kosovo geringer geworden, die Zahl der Straßenkontrollpunkte nehme ab. Doch erst das vereinbarte neue Beobachtersystem am Boden und aus der Luft werde mehr Klarheit bringen.
     Trotz der Zugeständnisse des jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic bleibt der Aktivierungsbefehl für einen Nato-Angriff weiter in Kraft. Darauf wies der Vorsitzende des Nato-Militärausschusses, General Klaus Naumann, in einem Interview mit dem Fernsehsender «Deutsche Welle-TV» hin. Naumann sagte weiter, an der geplanten Überwachung des Luftraumes über dem Krisengebiet würden sich deutsche Tornado-Flugzeuge nicht beteiligen. Die Bundeswehr-Maschinen würden nicht gebraucht, da das «Verifikationsregime» nur unbewaffnete Nato-Flugzeuge vorsehe.
     Die Umsetzung der Belgrader Zusagen und deren Überwachung will heute (Donnerstag) die Kontaktgruppe in Paris erörtern. Nach französischen Angaben soll auch die Übereinkunft bewertet werden, die der US-Vermittler Richard Holbrooke mit Milosevic erreicht hat. Der Kontaktgruppe gehören die USA, Rußland, Deutschland, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Italien an. Deutschland wird durch den amtierenden Außenminister Klaus Kinkel vertreten. An der Sitzung nimmt auch der derzeitige OSZE-Vorsitzende und polnische Außenminister Bronislaw Geremek teil.
     Die Regierung in Belgrad betonte in ihrem Beschluß nach Angaben der staatlichen Nachrichtenagentur Tanjug, die Kontrollflüge sollten der friedlichen Verifizierung und Beobachtung der Lage im Kosovo dienen. Gleichzeitig beauftragte die Regierung Außenminister Zivadin Jovanovic, mit dem OSZE-Vorsitzenden Geremek ein Abkommen über die Entsendung einer OSZE-Mission in den Kosovo zu unterzeichnen. Geremek wird am Freitag in Belgrad erwartet.
     Die britische Regierung teilte mit, sie wolle für die Mission der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) 200 unbewaffnete Soldaten und Zivilisten entsenden. Insgesamt wollen die Mitgliedsländer der OSZE 2 000 Experten zur Verfügung stellen. Sie sollen die Umsetzung der Übereinkunft beobachten, die der US-Sondergesandte Holbrooke mit Milosevic ausgehandelt hatte.
     Holbrooke erklärte am Abend im US-Fernsehsender «PBS», er habe Milosevic während seiner Verhandlungen klargemacht, daß die Bombardierung serbischer Ziele wahrscheinlich sei. Am vierten Tag der Gespräche habe er den US-Luftwaffengeneral Michael Short hinzugezogen. Der Befehlshaber für die Nato- und US-Luftstreitkräfte in Südeuropa habe zu Milosevic gesagt: «Herr Präsident, in der einen Hand habe ich B-52-Bomber, in der anderen U-2-Überwachungsflugzeuge. Für die einen oder die anderen Maschinen werde ich den Einsatzbefehl bekommen. Ich hoffe, Sie treffen die richtige Wahl.»
     Holbrooke beschrieb den jugoslawischen Präsidenten als «schlau» und «zäh». Er sei «außerordentlich gefährlich» und werde «jede Gelegenheit nutzen, etwas für sich zu gewinnen». Obwohl viele Milosevic als einen extremen Nationalisten bezeichneten, halte er ihn eher für einen Opportunisten als einen Nationalisten.
© dpa

zurück zu    ==> Teil 1

04:09 PM ET 10/13/98
Main points of Kosovo agreement

            WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following are main points of the agreement reached between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke on Kosovo, according to statements by U.S. officials Tuesday:

            Compliance with U.N. resolution:
            - Milosevic pledged full compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1199 which obliged him to implement a  cease-fire, withdraw forces deployed in Kosovo during the crackdown and return those already in the province to their garrisons, allow complete access for humanitarian workers to deal with displaced people and cooperate with the UN tribunal to investigate war crimes in Kosovo.

            Verification:
            - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will assemble an international team of 2,000 ``compliance verifiers'' to ensure Yugoslavia observes its commitments to end its crackdown in Kosovo. Yugoslavia will guarantee their security and their total freedom of movement.
            - The OSCE mission will have authority to establish permanent presences at any location in Kosovo, to accompany movements by Serbian police and military border units, and to help coordinate relief efforts and return people to their homes. Upon a political settlement, it would be empowered to supervise elections, help establish institutions and local police, and demand removal or punishment of individuals or units who violate compliance.
            - Noncombat aircraft will provide aerial verification of ground compliance under a formal agreement to be signed between NATO and Yugoslavia. This will involve ``unrestricted'' NATO aerial surveillance to quickly detect violations. Serb air defenses will be removed from Kosovo or stored in cantonment areas.

            Long-term political solution:
            - U.S. mediator Christopher Hill will continue to work on efforts to promote a political settlement between the Belgrade authorities and Kosovo Albanian leaders.
            - Milosevic has agreed on a timetable for reaching some form of interim arrangements, a commitment that the Kosovo Albanians will have self-government and Kosovan institutions of government and the establishment of Kosovan local police.
    - Humanitarian relief agencies will be able to bring help to the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.

            Outstanding NATO threat:
            - If by Saturday morning Serbia does not show serious progress toward compliance, the NATO force activation order will go into effect, authorizing NATO Supreme Commander in Europe, U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, to go ahead with air strikes. President Clinton said he hoped the NATO threat would be maintained until Milosevic has fully complied.
-END-
--
Decani Monastery               tel +381 390 61543
38322 Decani, Serbia           fax +381 390 61567
http://www.decani.yunet.com    e-mail: decani@EUnet.yu

From: "HRH Crown Prince Alexander" <hrhcpalex@btinternet.com>
Subject: Attack on Media Freedom
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 15:41:26 +0100

Attack on Media Freedom

London 14 October, 1998. In connection with the banning of independent newspapers "Danas" and "Dnevni Telegraf", HRH Crown Prince Alexander made the following statement today.

After warning the independent media not to "spread panic and defeatism", the regime in Serbia yesterday banned the Belgrade newspapers "Danas" and "Dnevni Telegraf". Earlier it took measures against independent radio stations and banned rebroadcasting of "Voice of America", "BBC" and "Deutsche Welle" programmes. It is clear that the regime, not satisfied with its complete control over State television and radio, is using the crisis over Kosovo to stifle even the limited freedom that the media had up to now.

While protesting in the strongest possible terms against this attack on the freedom of thought and expression, I would like to point out that there can be no democracy or the rule of law without the freedom of the press and media. I am convinced that the Serbian people will not allow the present regime in Belgrade, which has brought the Serbs and the entire region to the brink of disaster, to deprive them even of independent media. As regards the ban on rebroadcasting of programmes of foreign radio stations such as the BBC, I would like to remind the regime that listening to "Radio London" was banned in Serbia only once in our history when the ban was imposed by the German occupier during the Second World War.

Alexander

NATODATA
Secretary General's Press Conference,
13 October, 01.45

Transcript

Secretary General:

A few hours ago we were briefed by Ambassador Holbrooke on his efforts to resolve the crisis in Kosovo.  Ambassador Holbrooke reported that there has been progress. He stressed that this progress was largely due to the pressure of the Alliance in the last few days and that we have to maintain this pressure in order to ensure that this process continues to move forward.

In response, just a few moments ago, the North Atlantic Council decided to issue activation orders - ACTORDs - for both a phased air campaign in Yugoslavia and limited air operations.  The execution of the limited air operations will begin no earlier than 96 hours from today. We hope that this period will allow time for the negotiations to bear fruit.

We took this decision after a thorough review of the situation in Kosovo. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has still not complied fully with UNSCR 1199 in a way that can be verified.

Even at this late hour, I still believe diplomacy can succeed and the use of military force can be avoided.  The responsibility is on President Milosevic's shoulders. He knows what he has to do.

Spokesman: Secretary General, thank you very much, we have some questions.
Yes, Gyorgy Foris please.

Hungarian TV:  In case the activation order goes to the implementation phase and  military action takes place, how does NATO intend to assure the security of the neighbouring countries and of those countries who are participating, but, for the time being, do not have the benefit of the common umbrella of NATO?

Secretary General: Well, we are very grateful, logically, for the solidarity and support of partners, which is another example of how the security of partners and that of the Alliance are difficult to separate, impossible to separate as a matter of fact.  Any threat to the security of partners will be viewed with the utmost seriousness and will be met with an appropriate response.

BBC: Secretary General, are you dismayed at all that it looks as though there won`t be actually armed NATO troops in Kosovo monitoring President Milosevic's compliance, and that the job looks set to be left to unarmed civilian observers ?

Secretary General: No, I am not dismayed at all.  The mechanism of verification is at this moment still in the process of being finalised in the negotiation. I do think it is an appropriate mechanism of verification.  The role that NATO is going to play, is still not finally decided, but probably NATO will have a very important role in the verification by air. But, as I said, we haven't finalized the negotiating process.

New York Times: Secretary General, you said 96 hours from today.  That means October 13th, does it ?

Secretary General: That means that it will be no earlier than that date. SACEUR will issue the ACTORD later on in the morning, and therefore, yes, not earlier than 96 hours afterwards.

New York Times: Earlier some diplomats here were talking about 48 hours. Why the doubling of the time?

Secretary General: Well, 48 hours, as you know, is the time that is required from a  military-technical point of view.  After the briefing we heard today from Ambassador Holbrooke and his team, after the discussion in the Council with him, after analysing the problems, we want to give a longer chance to the process of negotiating.

Washington Post: Mr. Secretary General, can you describe precisely, what are the remaining sticking points just simply to get these promises signed, or are there still matters to be negotiated?

Secretary General: This is something you should ask the negotiating team, not me, but I can tell you that we must still achieve agreement in the compliance and in the verification field.

Berliner Zeitung: Secretary General, how have NATO nations viewed the chance of having something like 2,000 unarmed men actually verify what President Milosevic has agreed to, and have NATO nations given any indication that they would be willing to contribute men to that unarmed OSCE mission?

Secretary General: Sure. Yes, I think that the majority of the NATO nations will contribute.  All of them are part of the OSCE and therefore, probably I cannot speak for all of them in the OSCE matter, but I'm sure that the majority of them would contribute, yes.

ITAR-TASS News Agency:  Secretary General, have you taken into account the Russian position, the negative position of the military strikes on Yugoslavia ?

Secretary General: Yes, of course.  As you know, we are working together with our Russian friends, and not only through the PJC.  Let me remind you that we had a troika meeting this afternoon.  We are also cooperating through the other mechanisms like the Contact Group, and the Security Council.  We have the same aim, we have the same goal to have a good agreement which is in compliance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1199.  Everybody has to pressure on.  Maximum pressure.  We from our side and the Russians from theirs.

NN: What did NATO, what did Mr Holbrooke offer to Mr Milosevic in return for his acceptance  of OSCE observers, and could you say when NATO will decide if it can deploy ground troops or not ?

Secretary General: Let me answer the first question.  If you were to ask that question to Ambassador Holbrooke, he would say nothing.  Therefore, I will say nothing.  And to the second question, at this moment,  NATO is not thinking about deploying troops on the ground.

NN: Mr Secretary General, if we come to implement this decision, how are you going to formally inform the government concerned that you will launch an attack on this sovereign state and, excuse me for asking legal questions, but will there be a formal declaration of war ?

Secretary General: Well, this is not a declaration of war. The Allies believe that in the particular circumstances with respect to the present crisis in Kosovo as described in UNSC Resolution 1199, there are legitimate grounds for the Alliance to threaten, and if necessary, to use force.

BBC: Secretary General, you said no earlier than 96 hours.  Is there a maximum time which you will wait? Will you be trying to maintain some kind of threat of air action or other threat even if there is an agreement through the use of air power which is also being used for reconnaissance?

Secretary General: You see, the situation is very fluid.  I wouldn't like to talk about what is going to happen after 4 days or 96 hours. But what we have decided today is what we have decided today, and we will follow very closely the developments on the ground and how the negotiations are moving forward.  We will be in permanent contact with Ambassador Holbrooke and his team to evaluate together the situation.

++ END

From: Daniel Tomasevich <danilo@primenet.com>
Subject: CNN crossfire
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 23:24:06 -0700 (PDT)

Content and programming copyright 1998 Cable News Network Transcribed
  under license by Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. Formatting
   copyright 1998 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. All rights
reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in
 any media without attribution to Cable News Network. This transcript
              may not be copied or resold in any media.
                                 CNN
 
                   SHOW: CNN CROSSFIRE 19:30 pm ET
 
            October 13, 1998; Tuesday 7:30 pm Eastern Time
 
                       Transcript # 98101300V20
 
SHOW-TYPE: SHOW
SECTION: News; Domestic
LENGTH: 4078 words
HEADLINE: Will Milosevic Make Good on Promise to Withdraw Serb Forces From Kosovo?
BYLINE: Bill Press, Pat Buchanan
HIGHLIGHT: A look at whether Slobodan Milosevic will make good on his promise to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo. And if not, will NATO launch air strikes? Eric Alterman, author of "Who Speaks for America: Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy" and Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute discuss the crisis in Kosovo.
BODY:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATO sent a clear message to President Milosevic. NATO is ready to act. It is up now to the president of Serbia to follow through on his commitments.
BILL PRESS, CO-HOST (voice-over): Will Slobodan Milosevic make good on his promise to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo? If not, will NATO launch air strikes this weekend?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington, CROSSFIRE. On the left Bill Press, on the right Pat Buchanan. In the crossfire Eric Alterman, author of "Who Speaks for America: Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy" and Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute.
PRESS: Good evening, welcome to CROSSFIRE. NATO bombers are ready to roll tonight as the whole world waits to see if Slobodan Milosevic lives up to his promises. NATO air strikes were delayed early this morning when a last minute deal was brokered between Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke requiring withdrawal of all Serbian forces from Kosovo and the chance for Albanian refugees to return to their home; verification by land and air of conditions in Kosovo, which U.S. forces will lead; and a set time table for talks on autonomy for that province. Milosevic promised to comply with all demands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT: We have reached an agreement. Problems in Kosovo will be solved peacefully by political means. The agreement that we have reached averts the danger of military intervention against our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: But President Clinton warned Milosevic -- we'll be watching.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT CLINTON: I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic because I have something better now. We have now a verification system, so we're not dependent upon our hopes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: So tonight a tense standoff where the question remains not only about the need for bombing Serbia, if Milosevic does not comply but the wisdom of doing so. That's our crossfire. Are we ready for war in the Balkans? Should we commit American ground troops? And once we're in is there any way out -- Pat?
PAT BUCHANAN, CO-HOST: Eric Alterman, dropping bombs and firing cruise missiles are acts of war. Yugoslavia is a sovereign country everybody agrees Kosovo is part of that sovereign country. Yugoslav soldiers are operating inside their own country. Where did Bill Clinton get the right to drop bombs and wage war against a country that hasn't waged any act of war against the United States?
ERIC ALTERMAN, WORLD POLICY INSTITUTE: I would imagine he got it the same place that Truman got it in Korea and Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon for whom you worked, got it in Vietnam -- particularly Nixon and Cambodia -- I think that's a bit more of problem than this. I don't really think that's the issue, Pat.
BUCHANAN: You don't think it's the issue that the president has...
ALTERMAN: Pat, no president has declared war in this country since Franklin Roosevelt?
DOUG BANDOW, CATO INSTITUTE: Doesn't make it right.
BUCHANAN: Eric Alterman, just a minute. If we're a constitutional republic and you say our foreign policies should be even more Democratic -- if we're a constitutional republic where Congress authorizes the president to go to war before we go to war, when once has Bill Clinton been authorized to take this country to war against Yugoslavia?
ALTERMAN: Pat, I agree with half of your point -- the half of your point that says there should be a democratic debate about this move before we go into Kosovo because it does -- it does have the potential to be a real war. But you and I both know that the congressional declaration of war has not been a practical necessity in this country since 1941. And so for you to change the rules today and say...
BUCHANAN: I am not changing any rules.
ALTERMAN: Sure you are.
BUCHANAN: Hold it. Let's take Korea very briefly. The U.S. 24th division was right in front of the Korean army, it was overrunning the U.S. 24th division. We were retaliating against the North Koreans. The Yugoslavs have not attacked American forces, they have not attacked an American embassy. They have not attacked a NATO country -- NATO is a defensive alliance.
They are fighting inside their own country to put down a secessionist rebellion. Where do we get the right to go across the ocean and kill Yugoslavs. And if we do that do they have a right to kill Americans in Bosnia.
ALTERMAN: Listen, Pat, we have just spent 50 years operating our foreign policy in a certain way. Now, you'd like to overturn that and say the president has no right to send American troops into harm's way without a declaration of war. I would like that too, but that's not going to happen today, Pat. We've got a very serious problem in Kosovo that has to be dealt with.
BUCHANAN: I don't say in harm's way -- I see in harm's way if they strike our people, he ought to strike back and go tell Congress why he did it. What I am saying is the United States is now about go to war against a country that doesn't want war with us and has done nothing to us.
ALTERMAN: Looks to me like the United States and NATO using the threat of war is going to prevent the need for the United States to go to war. I may be wrong about that, but that seems to be a much more likely scenario than one you're laying out, Pat.
PRESS: Doug, just on the record, I am a notorious dove. I mean, I opposed war in Vietnam. I opposed the bombing of Cambodia. I opposed Desert Storm. But you have got to admit, there are some guys on this planet who only understand the language of force and isn't Milosevic one of them?
BANDOW: Well, there are a lot of guys who only understand the use of force but let's face it there are a lot of people killing a lot more people than he is. Take our loyal Turkish allies who are using U.S. weapons that killed 40,000 Kurds over the last decade. We don't say anything -- not only do we not threaten force, we don't say anything. Sri Lanka had an offensive a couple a weeks ago -- 1200 people died in that. We say absolutely nothing. As far as I can tell NATO cares about human life if they're white Europeans and if it's an enemy that's doing it, not a friend.
PRESS: Well, I know your argument. I read it in the "Washington Times" this morning. We can't be everywhere, therefore we should be no where. I make the opposite argument that just because we can't be everywhere, doesn't mean we should be somewhere. Let's come back to Milosevic -- isn't Milosevic, as he proved over and over again most recently in 1995 in Bosnia where he was killing the Muslims down there until we threatened air strikes and actually went in with air strikes -- then Milosevic finally said, OK, I'll do the right thing. This is like a Saddam Hussein. It's the only language he understands.
BANDOW: Well, he's a thug. But there are lots of thugs in the world. We need to come up with some guidelines in terms of when we intervene. We don't have it there. What's happening in Kosovo is tragic, but it's jumping into the middle of a civil war. We seem believe that we can go in there and impose a solution on both sides.
The Kosovars want independence, they don't want autonomy. And they're not going to sit still just for autonomy, just because that's what we want. We're walking into the middle of a civil war and we're going to get ourselves in a real mess there. We have no answer to impose.
ALTERMAN: Doug, what you're essentially arguing is that we don't have anything like a democratic debate in this country about when we should intervene militarily and when we shouldn't and under what circumstances -- and that's the case, that's true. And I think we should, which is why I wrote a whole book about it.
But the fact is we still have a potentially catastrophic situation in Kosovo one way or the another. Either Milosevic stays there and massacres people indiscriminately or there is an independence movement that is a radical regime which sends people all over the place, possible intervention by Greece and Turkey, potentially. The whole thing will be a mess. If the Yugoslav problem has shown us anything at all it's shown us that a little bit of prevention will prevent an awful lot of death and destruction down the road.
If George Bush had intervened way back in 1991 and '92 we wouldn't be having this conversation now. So it seems to me it's a much less painful alternative to go in now with the threat of force than having to go in and clean up a mess that none of us can even imagine.
BANDOW: We're going to explode it even more. We're going to walk in there and the Kosovars will take this as being support for their side. The Albanians are going to say this is support for the Kosovars. This will explode the problem. We're going to talk about (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Albania. And we will be on the border trying to prevent weapons coming over the border from Albania into Kosovo. We're going to be in the middle of that. If this is a threat to Europe let the Europeans handle it. They're living off our lives, they should do it themselves.
PRESS: Real quickly -- I have been over there three times, I interviewed Milosevic. When the war in Croatia was going on, he looked me in the eye and said the Croatians killed were being killed by Croatians themselves -- he was lying through his teeth. The Serbians were killing Croatians. The Serbians were killing the Muslims in Bosnia and the Serbians are killing the Albanians in Kosovo. Why do we let this guy off the hook again?
BANDOW: Croats were killing Serbs and we say nothing to Tudjman. They had ethnic cleansing, they kicked 150,000 Serbs out of the Cryecia (ph) region. We said nothing. Muslims have killed Serbs. We said nothing. So, the point is we don't have white hands in this -- the point is this is a bloody mess.
BUCHANAN: There are two points here, one is that the American people have not been consulted, have no idea of what is at stake there right now. They could be dragged into something -- they haven't been consulted neither has the Congress of the United States -- before Clinton takes us into a situation that could mean more.
The second point is what Doug made. Right now the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army has engaged itself in atrocities. Its objective is independence from Serbia, Yugoslavia. It wants to join with Albania and join with the Albanians in Macedonia and create a greater Albania. This is not the objective of the United States.
My problem there is, we are making ourself the de facto air force of a KLA which is on the verge of defeat and we're going to reignite this war and you're going to cause more killing when it's just about over, ugly as it has been.
ALTERMAN: First of all, Pat, it's not us, it's NATO. It's not the United States all by itself -- that's number one. Number two, if I understand Holbrooke's framework it's certainly not meant to encourage Kosovar independence or a connection to Albania.
The idea is to create a long term negotiating framework, a cooling off period, something like you have in Chechnya with the Russians that allows a stable situation to take place. What you're saying is you want the peace of the grave. You want the massacres.
BUCHANAN: No, I'm not saying...
ALTERMAN: You're saying Milosevic went in there, they massacred, they raped, they terrorized the population, end of story.
BUCHANAN: Look, it is almost the end of the war. What I am saying is you're going in now. You're not going to save the people that are dead and if you start bombing and using cruise missiles you're not going to help the people up there in the mountains. If we're going into help those people, I am all for it. What I am saying is United States military intervention in the Balkans is not necessarily the road to peace.
ALTERMAN: Hasn't it been a good thing in Bosnia?
BUCHANAN: We have been there for four years now -- $10 billion -- we're supposed to be out in a year.
ALTERMAN: Don't you think $10 billion is worth all the lives that we saved in Bosnia?
BANDOW: Eric, it doesn't matter what we intend. The point is we go in there -- it is going to be perceived by the Kosovars as support for independence, even the moderates say independence. I have talk to advisers of Ibrahim Rugova, the moderate leader and they say negotiations that don't lead to independence are not worth discussing.
PRESS: Just a second we're arguing here -- the whole first half of the show, as if we're at war in Bosnia. The fact is we've got a deal on the table to avert military strikes.
BANDOW: It's a very unstable deal.
PRESS: Is it a good deal? BANDOW: No, it is not, because we're going to walk into the middle of a civil war. We're going to have
Kosovars...
PRESS: You don't want war or peace.
ALTERMAN: I heard the very same argument about Bosnia. It turns out a that the threat of war and a powerful negotiating position has averted war in Bosnia.
BANDOW: Because we...
ALTERMAN: And that saved tens of thousands of lives.
BANDOW: We came down to partition and they were ready to quit the war. That's not the case here.
BUCHANAN: We have to take a quick break.
PRESS: Real quick.
BUCHANAN: Will the Serbs in the last analysis go to war rather than give up their ancestral homeland of Kosovo? That question when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCHANAN: Welcome back. U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke appears to have won President Milosevic's agreement to pull his army and police out of Kosovo, to let 2,000 verifiers, and to grant autonomy to the Albanian majority there. Anyone think this crisis is over? Our guests are Eric Alterman, author of "Who Speaks For America: Why Democracy Matters In Foreign Policy," and columnist Doug Bandow, a foreign policy scholar at Cato Institution -- Bill.
PRESS: Doug, I want to get back to this Bosnia peace keeping operation for a second. We have been there four years, as Pat points out. Eighty percent of the troops there are not non-U.S. troops. There's not been one American killed by hostile fire in that operation. It stopped the killing, stopped the ethnic cleansing. Why isn't this a success story?
BANDOW: Bill, we could have stopped the killing back in 1991 by not submarining the Lisbon accords. The point is, what stopped the killing is essentially partitioning the participants. We're there policing this bizarre, three-sided state that nobody wants, and the nationalists there have been inflamed by the Kosovo situation. You have seen a hard-line Serb, who's won election in terms of the Serb portion. Now everybody's bemoaning the future of that agreement. We have this bizarre situation. The U.N. is imposing coinage, flags, national anthems -- this is not a real country. This is a situation that's surviving only as long as the West occupies it.
PRESS: Let me -- let me ask you this, honestly. What do you want? I mean, do you want to close everything down? Do you want to not send one soldier abroad to do anything, I mean, to enforce any peace anywhere? You don't seem to be happy with, as I said, with war or peace.
BANDOW: What I want is I don't want America to fight other people's wars. This is a European problem. Let them handle it. We have defended them for 50 years.
PRESS: I wonder -- if Franklin Roosevelt said that to Winston Churchill in the '40s, where would we be today?
BANDOW: Actually, the Japanese attacked us. We got into that war. We were attacked. We haven't been attacked by the Bosnians, and we haven't been attacked by the Yugoslavs.
PRESS: Grace policy.
BUCHANAN: But you've got to recall that Roosevelt didn't declare war on Germany until Germany declared war on the United States.
PRESS: No, but Franklin Roosevelt responded, Pat, to a crisis in Europe. He didn't say to Churchill...
(CROSSTALK)
BUCHANAN: He didn't go to war. He didn't go to war.
ALTERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) about how Roosevelt tried to get us into war.
BUCHANAN: Well, I've got a book coming out on the same subject, Eric and I'll bet it sells as well as that. Let me ask you, I forgot to mention.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESS: Hold it up.
BUCHANAN: Here's this little book. No, serious question. Bismarck said -- and he unified Germany, went through about three wars to do so by 1870.
PRESS: Yes, 1870.
BUCHANAN: And he says, "Look" -- when they had the crisis in the Balkans, I think it was the Bulgarian crisis -- "the Balkans, the entire Balkans are not worth the bones of a single pomoraidian grenadier (ph). Now, you tell me why a United States Marine, who's volunteered to fight and die for his country, should have to die for autonomy in Kosovo?
ALTERMAN: You know, Pat, it doesn't surprise me that you're quoting Bismarck; he's probably one of the nicer guys that you like to quote. I know you've got a soft spot for fascist dictators like Milosevic. You're wearing a star for Franco. But the fact is, if you don't stop a fascist dictator who's trying to impose his will where it doesn't belong it doesn't end. And, OK -- if this were some place that didn't matter, if there was no potential for conflagration, I would say, "All right, we can't police the world. I don't want to police the world. The American people don't want to police the world." And that's what I say. But in this region it's very important that we maintain some sort of stability. And, I don't know -- you keep complaining, Doug, about bizarre situations. I think massacres are bizarre situations.
BANDOW: Well, so do I. But how about 40,000 Kurds dying in Turkey. We say nothing, and they're using U.S. supplied weapons. This is a policy that's utterly hypocritical.
ALTERMAN: Look, is anyone here defending that policy?
BANDOW: No, but it makes no sense.
(CROSSTALK)
BUCHANAN: Why are you...
PRESS: One at a time. One at a time. Go ahead.
BUCHANAN: Why aren't you calling for action there?
ALTERMAN: Look, Pat, Sri Lanka...
(CROSSTALK)
BUCHANAN: A lot of places -- China.
ALTERMAN: We have a hypocritical foreign policy. Who do you think you're arguing with? I write for "The Nation."
BUCHANAN: Well, that's exactly the point. We don't want a hypocritical foreign policy.
ALTERMAN: But we're not arguing about morality or not right now, we're arguing about stability, OK. And the fact is, is that if NATO is not able to ensure some stability in this area then the whole nation could go up in ways that...
BANDOW: Well, why don't the Europeans ensure the stability, if it's there problem.
ALTERMAN: The Europeans are there. You guys are asking as if this is an Americans...
(CROSSTALK)
BANDOW: Well, they're not defending Korea. They aren't defending Japan. They aren't defending everywhere else that we are. We're expected to defend everyone.
ALTERMAN: Can we do Korea and Japan on another night? I thought tonight we're talking about Kosovo.
BANDOW: I think we let the Europeans do Europe.
PRESS: Doug, I know this do-nothing philosophy of yours. I mean, you keep repeating it. But -- I just want to grant you one point. In "The Washington Times" this morning -- I don't know whether you saw it -- Milan Aboveic (ph)...
BANDOW: Yes.
PRESS: ... former prime minister of Yugoslavia, has run an ad, where he points out -- and I think he makes some good points about some of the risks with air strikes, if we get there. I mean, the fact that it could actually -- Milosevic could use that and blame the whole thing on us. He could use that to go against the people who are working for democracy in Serbia. And, also, this could inflamed -- this could encourage, as Pat pointed out, the people fighting for independence, the KLA. So all of that.
But what's the risk of doing nothing? I mean, what's the alternative, you know, to not stand it up to a thug like this?
BANDOW: The risk is letting the KLA and the Serbs fight it out. It's ugly, it's sad; but it's exactly what we do in most guerrilla wars around the world. And it's not going to be settled until they fight it out. The Kosovars want independence; the Serbs don't want to grant it. There is no middle ground.
PRESS: If there's chance by a peace keeping force, such as we have in Bosnia, where we can stop the killing and provide this time for them to straighten out their own problems; why shouldn't we do it?
BANDOW: Because it will put U.S. soldiers at risk and we shouldn't risk them unless this nation has something at stake.
BUCHANAN: Eric, let me ask you this. Look, if we -- air strikes come, because Milosevic backs down as he usually does, some American pilots are shot down but there's a lot of Serbs killed in Kosovo, and the Serbs in Bosnia ambush and kill a couple of dozen Americans in there -- in Bosnia. I mean, how would you, first, tell the American people why they died and, secondly, why would you risk these guys there? What is the objective?
ALTERMAN: You know, Pat, you and Doug speak for a very long and proud tradition in American foreign policy; a tradition of isolationism. And it's a very...
BUCHANAN: Non-interventionism.
ALTERMAN: No, in this case it's isolationism. And it's a very powerful strain in the Republican Party, but it's not a majority strain in this country. You don't see people marching out in the street against all the money we're spending in Bosnia. You don't see people...
BANDOW: Because they don't know, actually...
BUCHANAN: What would you say, Eric, if the Russians said, "Look, we've to help the Zapatistas in Chiapas. They've a revolution, and the Mexicans are crushing them, and we need some air strikes in there in Mexico, because we believe this revolution deserves to prevail and we can't stand the massacres?
ALTERMAN: It's the question of legitimacy, OK. I thought that the United States intervention against the Sandinistas was illegitimate, because I thought we were overthrowing a legitimate government, OK.
BUCHANAN: Sandinistas are our backyard, Eric.
ALTERMAN: Well, I don't believe in backyards, Pat. I live in Manhattan. I live in Manhattan. The fact is, Pat, is that it's a perfectly legitimate intervention in Kosovo, because we're acting...
BUCHANAN: It's not Nicaragua.
PRESS: All right, we talked about -- I think, everything but Kosovo tonight, I believe. Eric Alterman, thank you very much for coming to join us on CROSSFIRE. Doug Bandow, thank you for coming back.
BANDOW: Happy to be on.
PRESS: All right, hot discussion. And hot closing comments coming up; Bill Press and Pat Buchanan. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCHANAN: Bill, you know who you and brother Alterman speak for? A group I call the "Gun Boat Liberals." You went over the hill in Vietnam. You went over the hill in Nicaragua when Reagan wanted your help. You went over the hill when he ask for help on the missiles in Europe. Reagan won the Cold War. And now you're sitting on -- you and Mr. Clinton sitting on top of all of this power, and you're playing around. You know what happened? You're playing with rattlesnakes and one of these days America is going get bit.
PRESS: That's a big, big difference between this full-scale war, totally out of control action in Vietnam, and a very limited action which can save lives in a troubled part of the world. And I think, as world leaders, we got a responsibility to do it, particularly when a you got a guy like Milosevic, Pat. He is evil. He is a crook. He only understands the use of force like Saddam Hussein. We have got the force, use it with NATO.
BUCHANAN: You have a hundred people like Milosevic around this world who are evil, wicked people killing people -- Rwanda, up in the caucuses -- China, in Tibet, in Sri Lanka. They're all over the world, Algeria, and you can't kill them all Bill.
PRESS: You can't be everywhere, but you can be somewhere Pat. From the left, I'm Bill Press; good night for CROSSFIRE.
BUCHANAN: From the right, Pat Buchanan; join us tomorrow night for another edition of CROSSFIRE.
TO PURCHASE A VIDEOTAPE OF THIS PIECE, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 13, 1998

DECISIONS OF THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT ON KOSOVO
October 13, 1998

At Tuesday's session, the Serbian government reviewed Serbian President Milan Milutinovic's information about the political talks between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the special US envoy, ambassador Richard Holbrooke, announced the republican information ministry.

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic informed the government members about the several-day talks of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Christopher Hill on the definite agreement reached on Monday with the international community for the problems in Kosovo-Metohija to be resolved in a peaceful manner and by political means.

Milutinovic informed the government about the entirety of the talks, especially about the international community's interest in a comprehensive monitoring of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

It was agreed that this task should be performed by an OSCE mission since this was assessed to be the best way for the international community to assure itself of the positive trends which are under way.

Of special importance is the fact that expressed was a constructive approach which represents the basis for a permanent political solution for the issue of Kosovo-Metohija's autonomy within Serbia, in accordance with the principles of the equality of all citizens and national communities living in this region.

Apart from this, also agreed on was a political framework, that is, principles for a political resolution with a time framework for its realization. They state as follows:

"1. A political approach and peaceful resolution of the problems in Kosovo-Metohija achieved through dialogue represent the only acceptable way for finding a lasting, just and humane solution for all the open questions;

2. Violence and terrorism, as unacceptable means contrary to all international norms, must cease immediately;

3. Any solution for Kosovo-Metohija must take into account the territorial integrity, sovereignty and international recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's borders, in accordance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, the Final Helsinki Act and the Paris OSCE Charter;

4. A solution must be based on the full respect of the equality of all citizens and national communities in Kosovo-Metohija. Guaranteed will be the full affirmation and equal treatment of all national, religious and cultural values, as well as the historical heritage;

5. The future of Kosovo-Metohija lies in peace, equality, integration, economic prosperity as well as free and joint life, and not in ethnic, religious, cultural or any other divisions and isolation;

6. Legal arrangements for establishing self-government in Kosovo-Metohija should be in accordance with the legal systems of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as with international standards and the Final Helsinki Act;

7. The citizens of Kosovo-Metohija will realize their self-government through assembly, executive and judicial bodies in Kosovo-Metohija. Within nine months' time, held will be free and fair elections for the bodies of Kosovo-Metohija, including those at the municipal level. The Yugoslav government invites the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor these elections in order to ensure that they are open and fair.

8. Members of national communities will enjoy additional rights, in order to be made possible for them to preserve and express their national, cultural, religious and lingual identity in accordance with international standards and the Final Helsinki Act. National communities will be equal in the legal sense and will not take advantage of their additional rights to endanger the rights of other national communities or the rights of other citizens;

9. Within the context of a political solution for Kosovo-Metohija, which will provide for numerous competencies to be transferred onto the municipal level, established will also be the local police under the control of municipal authorities. This local police, whose composition will reflect the composition of the local population, will be coordinated by the administrative bodies of Kosovo-Metohija. This solution must ensure the full protection of all the citizens and national communities;

10. No criminal charges will be brought against any person before state courts for criminal acts related to the conflict in Kosovo-Metohija, except for crimes against humanity and international law, as envisaged by chapter 16 of the federal penal code. For the sake of providing full public insight, the state will allow full and unhindered access to foreignexperts (including pathologists), who will cooperate with state investigators;

11. The authorized bodies will reexamine, for the sake of an extraordinary reduction of penalties, the sentences passed to members of national communities in Kosovo-Metohija, who have been convicted for politically motivated criminal acts.

The time framework

1. By October 14 agreed on will be a comprehensive time framework, on the basis of the following elements:

- by October 19, the reaching of an agreement on the status of international presence, including verification, the OSCE and other elements;

- by November 2, the reaching of an agreement that will contain the basic elements for a political solution for Kosovo-Metohija, using as the basis the document proposed by the Contact Group (on October 2 1998);

- by November 9, the drawing up of regulations and procedures for elections".

The government has supported the reached agreements in their entirety since they have fully preserved the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, a conflict has been avoided and conditions have been created for a political dialogue based on complex principles whose point of departure is that all the solutions should be set within the frameworks of the legal systems of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The government has decided to propose to the federal government to accept the agreed upon solutions, the announcement says.

-END-
--
Decani Monastery               tel +381 390 61543
38322 Decani, Serbia           fax +381 390 61567
http://www.decani.yunet.com    e-mail: decani@EUnet.yu

Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:54:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: ddj@pathcom.com
Subject: SM News:7310: NEWS-RadioYu (Tue 98-10-13)
URL: http://www.srpska-mreza.com/forums/news/wwwboard.html

ddj posted Message 7310 in the SM News:
Dated  : October 13, 1998 at 16:54:10
Subject: NEWS-RadioYu (Tue 98-10-13)

NEWS-RadioYu
Tuesday October 13, 1998

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic received again on Tuesday, U.S. ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Christopher Hill.

The steps Yugoslavia is taking for the problems in Kosovo-Metohija to be resolved by peaceful means show the FR Yugoslavia's firm resolve to overcome this issue by political means, as well as its resolve to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty, it was said in the statement. In the talks special attention was devoted to the international community's efforts to achieve the necessary engagement which would provide a permanent monitoring and verification of the development of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija. It was assessed that the mutual agreement, achieved in the talks that lasted until Monday, has made it possible for the problems to be resolved. It was concluded that the task should be taken over by an OSCE mission. Yugoslavia expects this to eliminate the wrong, false and ill-intentioned presentation of the events in Kosovo-Metohija. Also exchanged were views and ideas on open issues, which will be the subject of the political dialogue. Expressed was a constructive approach, which could undoubtedly represent the basis for a permanent political solution for the autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija, this being Yugoslavia's consistent commitment, the statement said. Also participating in the talks was Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, Tanjug reports.
***

US envoy, Richard Holbrooke said in Belgrade on Tuesday that an agreement was reached on a peaceful and political solution to the Kosmet crisis.

At a press conference, Holbrooke said that Yugoslavia, accepted the engagement of the international community, by which secured would be permanent monitoring and verification of the development of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija. We hope that this is a turning point, Holbrooke added, underlining that the agreement which was realized in the talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would help solve the problems of Kosovo.

The US envoy stressed that with president Milosevic he had reached an agreement on the OSCE mission, which would comprise 2000 people, for the verification of the situation in the field in Kosmet. He specified that the members of the mission would come from all the OSCE member countries, with the approval and support of the Yugoslav authorities who would guarantee their safety and the freedom of movement in Kosmet. Richard Holbrooke underlined that there would be no NATO troops in Kosmet and that the members of the OSCE mission would have diplomatic status according to the Vienna Convention. He announced that the chairman of the OSCE, Bronislav Geremek, would soon come to Belgrade to sign an agreement on all the details of this mission and added that its part of the mandate would be to assist humanitarian organizations. The agreed on verification of the situation in the field from the air would be carried out exclusively by non-combat planes which would fly over Kosovo-Metohija according to all the agreed on safety standards, stressed Holbrooke. He said that the agreement did not completely satisfy the Albanians in Kosmet, but he stressed its importance in reaching an agreement between the Serbian government delegation and political representatives of the Kosovo Albanians. This, as the US envoy explained, is something the authorities in Belgrade are doing on their own.
***

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said on Tuesday that an agreement was reached for the problems in Kosovo-Metohija to be resolved peacefully and that the danger of a military intervention against FRY was eliminated.

After talks with the US envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in a public address to the citizens of the FRY, Milosevic stressed that a political solution would be oriented toward an affirmation of the national equality of all the citizens and all the national minorities in Kosovo-Metohija. Under these great pressures which we were exposed to during the past, I would say years, and especially the past weeks and past days, prevailed has the orientation that that it is only by peaceful means that a peaceful solution can be found. The agreements we achieved, stressed president Milosevic, in general and in accordance with our country's interests, with the interests of the Republic of Serbia and all its citizens and the interests of all the citizens and national communities from Kosovo-Metohija, Now, underlined the Yugoslav president, the task is to speed up the political process and to speed up the economic revival of our country as a whole. At the end, I would like to thank all the citizens from the country and abroad who had, all this time, sent me messages of strong support. These messages also included the task to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, to preserve its dignity, in a single word, while on the other hand , to secure a peaceful solving of problems which burden life in the southern Serbian province. I believe that we have achieved this, said Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, addressing the citizens of Yugoslavia.
***

At Tuesday's session, the Serbian government reviewed Serbian President Milan Milutinovic's information about the political talks between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the special US envoy, ambassador Richard Holbrooke, announced the republican information ministry.

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic informed the government members about the several-day talks of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Christopher Hill on the definite agreement reached on Monday with the international community for the problems in Kosovo-Metohija to be resolved in a peaceful manner and by political means.

Milutinovic informed the government about the entirety of the talks, especially about the international community's interest in a comprehensive monitoring of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

It was agreed that this task should be performed by an OSCE mission since this was assessed to be the best way for the international community to assure itself of the positive trends which are under way.

Of special importance is the fact that expressed was a constructive approach which represents the basis for a permanent political solution for the issue of Kosovo-Metohija's autonomy within Serbia, in accordance with the principles of the equality of all citizens and national communities living in this region.

Apart from this, also agreed on was a political framework, that is, principles for a political resolution with a time framework for its realization. They state as follows:

"1. A political approach and peaceful resolution of the problems in Kosovo-Metohija achieved through dialogue represent the only acceptable way for finding a lasting, just and humane solution for all the open questions;

2. Violence and terrorism, as unacceptable means contrary to all international norms, must cease immediately;

3. Any solution for Kosovo-Metohija must take into account the territorial integrity, sovereignty and international recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's borders, in accordance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, the Final Helsinki Act and the Paris OSCE Charter;

4. A solution must be based on the full respect of the equality of all citizens and national communities in Kosovo-Metohija. Guaranteed will be the full affirmation and equal treatment of all national, religious and cultural values, as well as the historical heritage;

5. The future of Kosovo-Metohija lies in peace, equality, integration, economic prosperity as well as free and joint life, and not in ethnic, religious, cultural or any other divisions and isolation;

6. Legal arrangements for establishing self-government in Kosovo-Metohija should be in accordance with the legal systems of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as with international standards and the Final Helsinki Act;

7. The citizens of Kosovo-Metohija will realize their self-government through assembly, executive and judicial bodies in Kosovo-Metohija. Within nine months' time, held will be free and fair elections for the bodies of Kosovo-Metohija, including those at the municipal level. The Yugoslav government invites the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor these elections in order to ensure that they are open and fair.

8. Members of national communities will enjoy additional rights, in order to be made possible for them to preserve and express their national, cultural, religious and lingual identity in accordance with international standards and the Final Helsinki Act. National communities will be equal in the legal sense and will not take advantage of their additional rights to endanger the rights of other national communities or the rights of other citizens;

9. Within the context of a political solution for Kosovo-Metohija, which will provide for numerous competencies to be transferred onto the municipal level, established will also be the local police under the control of municipal authorities. This local police, whose composition will reflect the composition of the local population, will be coordinated by the administrative bodies of Kosovo-Metohija. This solution must ensure the full protection of all the citizens and national communities;

10. No criminal charges will be brought against any person before state courts for criminal acts related to the conflict in Kosovo-Metohija, except for crimes against humanity and international law, as envisaged by chapter 16 of the federal penal code. For the sake of providing full public insight, the state will allow full and unhindered access to foreign experts (including pathologists), who will cooperate with state investigators;

11. The authorized bodies will reexamine, for the sake of an extraordinary reduction of penalties, the sentences passed to members of national communities in Kosovo-Metohija, who have been convicted for politically motivated criminal acts.

The time framework

1. By October 14 agreed on will be a comprehensive time framework, on the basis of the following elements:

- by October 19, the reaching of an agreement on the status of international presence, including verification, the OSCE and other elements;

- by November 2, the reaching of an agreement that will contain the basic elements for a political solution for Kosovo-Metohija, using as the basis the document proposed by the Contact Group (on October 2 1998);

- by November 9, the drawing up of regulations and procedures for elections".

The government has supported the reached agreements in their entirety since they have fully preserved the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, a conflict has been avoided and conditions have been created for a political dialogue based on complex principles whose point of departure is that all the solutions should be set within the frameworks of the legal systems of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The government has decided to propose to the federal government to accept the agreed upon solutions, the announcement says.
***

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic told Tanjug and Radio and Television of Serbia that, at the concluded second summit of Southeastern European countries, given was very important support to the advancement of comprehensive cooperation in the region.

My basic impression from this session is that - even though we are different at this moment- we know that our fate lies in the integration process and linking up, because only in that manner can we expect that all together, as soon as possible and as fully as possible, we can be an integral part of the European continent to which we belong in many ways, Bulatovic said. He stressed that that adopted Declaration had a built in formulation which shows that Kosmet was an internal affair of FR Yugoslavia. He also specified that this meant that all the citizens of Kosmet, representatives of all the national and ethnic groups, not only the Albanians, but all others as well, would be equally protected, respected and treated without any form of majorization.
***

The OSCE chairman, Polish Foreign Minister Bronislav Geremek will soon leave for Belgrade in order to sign, on behalf of the OSCe, the agreement worked out by special US envoy Richard Holbrooke, it has been stated in Warsaw.

The agreement Holbrooke reached with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic envisages the presence of OSCE observers in Kosovo, who would monitor the realization of the peace plan for the province.
***

The council of the state DUMA, the Lower house of the Russian parliament, in regard to the events in Kosovo-Metohija, decided on Tuesday, to send a parliamentary delegation to Yugoslavia, Tanjug reports.

The delegation will be led by the DUMA's deputy speaker, Sergey Babur, and it will consist of four representatives of the major parties and parliamentary groups, and as it was announced, would most probably arrive in Yugoslavia on Wednesday.
***

The presidency of the self-proclaimed assembly of the so-called "republic of Kosovo" on Tuesday afternoon, announced that independence was the only realistic solution for Kosovo-Metohija, by that opposing the achieved agreement between Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and US envoy Richard Holbrooke.

The self-proclaimed presidency, contrary to the stand of the international community, said that it was impossible to reach a solution to the Kosovo-Metohija issue within the framework of Yugoslavia. Confirming that it did not have the authorization of the Albanian national community in Kosovo-Metohija. The self-proclaimed body of the illegal assembly of Albanians said that no one among the Albanians had the right to accept solutions which were contrary to the will of the Albanian people. The political representatives of the Kosmet Albanians, including Ibrahim Rugova and his team for talks with the Serbian state delegation have still not responded to the agreement on a peaceful resolution of all the disputable issues in Kosovo-Metohija, made public on Tuesday.
***

China has made public its own diplomatic initiatives for a political solution of the problem in Kosmet, stressing once again, in regard to NATO military threats against Yugoslavia, that it opposed the use of force and threats of the use of force in international relations, Tanjug reports.

At a press conference, China's official representative, Tang Gouciang, commented on the latest developments in regard to Kosmet and reports that advancement was made in the talks. Citing Peking's diplomatic initiatives, Tang said that Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan, had recently sent messages to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the foreign ministers of the remaining four Security Council member countries, where he expressed China's stand on Kosovo and called for taking efficient measures on reaching a political solution and preventing the use of force.
***

The agreement on a peaceful and political resolution of the Kosmet crisis, reached in Belgrade by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and US envoy Richard Holbrooke, represents a victory of diplomacy over force, it is stressed in Tuesday's first reactions of the world media. The world, Tanjug assessed, has almost unanimously welcomed this agreement, and the first assessment of west European analysts intimate a lasting solution to the issue of the autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija within the Republic of Serbia.

The Russian foreign ministry's official spokesman Vladimir Rahmanyin was among the first to offer Russia's support to the agreement reached in Belgrade. What is yet to be done, he said, is the formulation and coordination of the mandate of the OSCE which is to monitor the development of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija. At Tuesday's press conference he expressed the belief that Russia would take part in the OSCE mission. The chairman of the Russian Duma's foreign affairs committee, Vladimir Lukin has said that the Belgrade agreement on a peaceful resolution of the Kosovo problem was the position which Russia had also been aspiring to.

The American electronic media gave as top news in their broadcasts on Tuesday the information from Belgrade about the reached agreement on a peaceful and political resolution of the Kosovo-Metohija crisis. The first assessments set out by the American media are that it is thanks to the Belgrade agreement that avoided has been the danger of the use of military measures. The CNN television network as well as the American Associated Press news agency carried part of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's statement that the reached agreement confirmed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's and Serbia's commitment to peace. Also carried are the assessments of US envoy Richard Holbrooke, especially his expressions of hope that a turning point has occurred in the process of resolving the Kosmet crisis.

The Italian foreign ministry's under-secretary, Pierre Fassino, welcoming the Belgrade agreement, underlined that it was necessary to continue to the end the search for a total peaceful solution to the Kosmet crisis. He assessed the Milosevic-Holbrooke meetings as very positive since, as he said, they opened the door to a political resolution of the problems. The chairman of the Italian Parliament's defense committee, Aldo Fini also expressed hope that now the road was definitely opened to a peaceful resolution of the Kosmet knot.

The agreement from Belgrade has also been welcomed by official London. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the Belgrade agreement represented a turning point in the resolution of the Kosmet crisis. Over the past few days, Great Britain, Tanjug assesses, was the most ardent advocate of a NATO military action against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For this reason, not surprising is Tuesday's statement by British foreign secretary Robin Cook who did welcome the agreement, but also advocated that the pressure against Yugoslavia, including military pressure, continue.

The leading Bulgarian state and private radio and TV stations brought as top news the information about the agreement reached in Belgrade. The media in Sofia lay emphasis on the fact that Yugoslavia's priority goal was for a solution for Kosmet to be found by political means and to preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In neighboring Bulgaria, the Belgrade agreement is received with relief, since there was fear that a possible NATO intervention could lead to the war spilling over into this country as well.

The electronic media in Macedonia see the agreement as the first step towards the establishment of peace and the stabilization of the situation in the southern Serbian province. A military commentator of the Skopje TV A1, retired general Todor Atanasovski has said that a possible military intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would be an inappropriate act since Yugoslavia has done nothing outside its borders, nor has it endangered the security or territory of another state in order to be punished in such as drastic manner.

According to foreign news agencies, the OSCE has stated in Vienna that the first members of the monitoring and verification mission will arrive in Kosmet already in a week's time.
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PRESS REVIEW

Yugoslav papers report on the negotiations between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and US envoy Richard Holbrooke. Headlines emphasize the western diplomats' assessment that achievement had been reached in finding a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis. Carried is also President Milosevic's assessment that there undoubtedly exist all the necessary conditions for a peaceful political solution to the current problems. PRESS REVIEW is prepared by Senka Nikolic.

Dailies also carry a statement by Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic on Yugoslavia's firm orientation for all the issues in Kosmet to be resolved through unconditional dialogue and with the guarantee of equal rights to all citizens, regardless of their nationality and religion and in line with the highest international standards. At the summit of the seven countries of southeastern Europe in the Turkish town of Antalya, Bulatovic emphasized that NATO threats with a military intervention were unacceptable and counter-productive, and that they could not resolve anything, but only contribute to the destabilization of the entire region with unforeseeable consequences. Bulatovic emphasized that this was completely contrary to international law and the interests of all states of southeastern Europe. Despite this, with concrete action, and not only verbally, Yugoslavia has fulfilled all the requests from the UN Security Council Resolution on Kosmet, Bulatovic said.

Blic's correspondent from Kosmet reports that the Serbian Interior Ministry's special units, as well as the majority of members the regular police units, withdrew from the region of Klina on Monday. The police was withdrawn to the bases fifteen days ago, in accordance with the conclusions of the Serbian Parliament and the decisions of the republican government. Albanian terrorists, however, have continued their activities. Blic reports that, on Monday morning, a group of terrorists put up barricades on the Pristina-Pec motorway, from where it opened fire on a vehicle passing by. On the arrival of the police at the scene of the crime, the terrorists opened fire again. The police did not respond, Blic writes.

Politika carries an article from which it can be seen that a possible military intervention in Yugoslavia would be contrary to the international legal order, primarily to the provisions of the United Nations Charter. The seventh chapter of the UN Charter unequivocally says that the international community can resort to force against a sovereign state in three cases only: if the events in it represent a threat to the safety of some other country; in case of an aggression; and thirdly, in cases where one state is endangering peace in the region. Politika emphasizes that none of the preconditions have been fulfilled in Kosovo-Metohija. Yugoslavia did not perform an aggression against any country, although it has been exposed to armed provocations from neighbouring Albania for months. Fight against terrorism is the legitimate right of every sovereign country, Politika writes. Besides, all actions aimed at eliminating terrorist groups were ended three weeks ago, so it cannot be said that Yugoslavia is endangering peace in the region.

"I am not at all happy about the announcement of airstrikes against the FR of Yugoslavia", Nasa Borba carries a statement by former US Secretary of State and ambassador in Belgrade, Lawrence Eagleberger. In his opinion, the Serb side is not exclusively to blame for what is happening in Kosovo. It takes at least two for this sort of chaos, Eagleberger said. He emphasized that the comparisons between the Albanian terrorists and other terrorist organizations, such as the IRA or ETA are not accepted in the world, as this world is not completely just.
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THE YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER IN ANTALYA

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic addressed the issue of Kosovo Albanian terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija at the Summit of south-east Europen countries.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 1,273 terrorist attacks have been carried out in Kosmet, Bulatovic said. In 569 attacks, 140 persons have been killed including 64 members of Albanian national minority, 37 Serbs and Montenegrins, 3 Romanies and 36 still unidentified persons. Over the past eight months, Albanian terrorists have attacked journalists on 12 occasions, aid workers on three and diplomatic representatives on two occasions.

Bulatovic underlined that Yugoslavia had positively resolved the requests stemming from Security Council Resolution 1199. "The only non-fulfilled part refers to the obligation of Albanian movements and parties in Kosmet." He recalled that the Yugoslav government had called on the OSCE to assure itself of the positive developments in Kosmet. Bulatovic said that the activities of police forces in Kosmet ceased on September 28 and humanitarian problems had successfully been resolved.

The international community should take into account accurate rather than false information aimed at destabilizing the region, and distance itself from Albanian terrorists whom it calls guerilla, army and liberation forces instead of ranking them among terrorist organizations.

The Yugoslav prime minister said that the international community played down the fact that Albania, affected by a serious political and economic crisis for several years now, had become a domicile for terrorists and Mujahedin, organized crime and the narco mafia.

It is well-known that the main goal of separatists in Kosovo-Metohija is to secede from Serbia and Yugoslavia and create what amounts to a greater Albania. Albania was the only country in the world to recognize the phantom Republic of Kosovo and open its mission in Tirana. More than one hundred serious border incidents have been caused from Albania's territory in the course of 1998, killing 40 members of the Yugoslav Army which, with the training and infiltration of terrorists and armament into Yugoslav territory, represents a form of aggression opposed to the basic documents of the UN and the OSCE, Bulatovic said.

Bulatovic repeated that Yugoslavia was determined to solve all problems, both internal and international, by peaceful and democratic means and through dialogue. Bulatovic called on all south-east European countries and the international community on the whole to condemn Albania's behaviour and exert pressure on it to renounce its political support to terrorism and separatism in Kosmet.
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Copyright (C.) Radio Yugoslavia

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Taken without permission, for fair use only.

NYT:2,000 Monitors to Go to Kosovo, but Their Power Is Unclear

NYT:Kosovo's Albanians Give Truce Pact Poor Reviews

TIMES;Cook calls on Kosovo to embrace deal

Kosovo Refugees Doubt Deal Will Help Them Return

Nato keeps up pressure on Milosevic

TIMES:Rebels defiant as war-weary drift home

TIMES:Nato considers rescue force on border to safeguard peace monitors

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October 15, 1998
2,000 Monitors to Go to Kosovo, but Their Power Is Unclear
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

WASHINGTON -- Since the end of the Cold War, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been a sort of crossing guard for Eastern Europe's gradual transition from communism to democracy. It has championed civil society, promoted arms control and overseen elections from Armenia to Bosnia to Russia.
     Now the organization of 54 countries, including the United States, has been handed what is by far its largest and thorniest task: monitoring the pledges by President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia to end his violent crackdown in the province of Kosovo.
     Under an agreement negotiated by the U.S. special envoy to the Balkans, Richard Holbrooke, the organization will send 2,000 unarmed civilians to Kosovo to verify that Yugoslav military and police forces cease operations, withdraw to their barracks and allow tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians to return to the homes they fled in fear.
     NATO will back up the monitors with unarmed reconnaissance flights and, ultimately, with the lingering threat of air strikes if Milosevic breaks the agreement. But much else remains unresolved about the organization's exact role and powers, including how it will respond if its "verifiers," as Holbrooke insisted on calling them, witness violations.
     "It's all very nice, but what happens if the police refuse to go back to their garrisons?" said John Fox, the Washington director of the Open Society, a foundation created by the financier George Soros to promote democratic institutions in formerly communist countries.
     The Clinton administration has hailed the deal as a successful diplomatic resolution brought about only because of the credible threat of NATO military strikes, which came after nine months of fighting and of massacres of civilians.
     Administration officials said the mere presence of 2,000 observers in a place no bigger than Connecticut would persuade Milosevic to abide by the agreement, which also calls on the Serbs, the dominant group in Yugoslavia, to negotiate a political settlement with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
     On Wednesday the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Bronislaw Geremek, called the mission "a tremendous responsibility." Geremek, who as the foreign minister of Poland is serving as this year's chairman of the organization, is supposed to meet with Yugoslav officials to sign an agreement clearing the way for the monitors to arrive by the end of the week.
     "We hope that our presence will be a signal for Mr. Milosevic that nothing can be done without international knowledge," Geremek told reporters in Stockholm, where he was meeting with Swedish officials, Reuters reported.
     The logistics of sending 2,000 monitors were still being worked out Wednesday. Several countries announced that they would contribute observers -- including Britain, which pledged 200. The Clinton administration did not announce a contribution, but officials said the United States would probably send at least 100 observers, still making the monitoring mission largely European.
     The leading candidate to head the mission, though, is an American, William Walker, administration officials said. He is a former ambassador to El Salvador who until recently led the U.N. monitoring mission in the Krajina region of Croatia.
     The security organization has its roots in the efforts during the 1970s to defuse tensions between the East and the West. In addition to the United States and Canada, the organization includes all the countries of Europe and the former Soviet Union. A 55th member, Yugoslavia, was suspended in 1992.
     After the Cold War the organization changed its mandate from promoting detente to helping manage the sometimes difficult political and economic transitions facing countries in Eastern Europe.
     The organization now has operations in Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine. It has just completed the third series of nationwide elections in Bosnia, which until now has been its largest initiative, involving some 300 monitors.
     The State Department spokesman, James Rubin, said Wednesday that NATO allies were preparing contingency plans to extract the monitors if the situation turned ugly. "They will have backing them up a force that we are trying to put together to extract them in extremis," he said.
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October 15, 1998
Kosovo's Albanians Give Truce Pact Poor Reviews
By MIKE O'CONNOR

KROJMIROVCE, Yugoslavia -- With their suffering seeming to have forced Western governments to face down Yugoslavia's president, the man regarded as their tormentor, many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo on Wednesday were nonetheless not optimistic that the agreement announced Tuesday would achieve even the West's limited objectives.
     Reviewing the agreement between President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, two top commanders of the ethnic-Albanian guerrilla movement were at best highly skeptical and often disparaging.
     They were two of many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo who, after years of oppression by the Yugoslav government and months of persecution and killing by government forces, do not believe the West, when it finally acted, got all it could have from Milosevic.
     "It's not a solution, it's only a break that will let the Serbs buy time and let the West look as if it is doing something," said one guerrilla leader, a commander in central Kosovo who uses the nom de guerre Lion. "The Serb leaders have played with us for years and now they are playing with the West. If this war stops for a minute or two it will only start again."
     Another guerrilla leader said, "The deal won't work because it doesn't lead to what we are fighting for, independence." This guerrilla spent most of this decade either training abroad or helping to organize the military forces that turned the Serbian province of Kosovo into a battleground this year, his men say.
     After nine days of tension-filled negotiations during which NATO marshaled hundreds of warplanes to enforce Western demands that Milosevic stop brutalizing ethnic Albanians and begin serious negotiations with them, Holbrooke announced Tuesday that he had reached an agreement with the Yugoslav leader that could avert a NATO attack on Yugoslavia.
     Wednesday in Kosovo, many ethnic Albanians, like their political and military leaders, were pleased that Western governments had gotten tough with Milosevic but doubted the deal will hold. They faulted the deal, saying that Milosevic will find a way to renege and that ethnic Albanians get less than they had 10 years ago when Milosevic annulled Kosovo's political autonomy.
     Though some specifics of the agreement are still vague, Milosevic is said to have agreed to a measure of limited autonomy and negotiations on the future status of the province. The agreement also calls for the stationing of 2,000 unarmed international observers and the withdrawal of many government soldiers and militarized police units.
     NATO suspended the threat of air strikes for 96 hours to see if Yugoslavia was complying with the promise to withdraw the military forces.
     "Maybe Holbrooke has good intentions," the first guerrilla leader said. "I cannot say he does not, but this agreement doesn't depend on Holbrooke, it depends on us and it is not what we want. Two men, Holbrooke and Milosevic, cannot decide our future."
     The two guerrilla leaders calmly sipped coffee prepared in small copper pots. Around them were uniformed fighters sitting on the carpeted floor of a cottage in the village of Krojmirovce in the mountains of central Kosovo,
     They spoke with confidence and asserted the same thing that U.S. intelligence experts have concluded about their ability to carry on fighting. "In the last seven months the regime's tactic has hurt our civilians, but militarily we are in good condition," said Lion.
     "There is a cease-fire now, but the regime will break it and we will have to respond," he said. "How are 2,000 unarmed foreigners going to protect my people from the regime?"
     For months, U.S. diplomats have been trying to stop government attacks on civilians that have driven as many as 300,000 people from their homes and made negotiations between the rebels and the government impossible. The diplomats say that any agreement, even a very flawed one, that stops the fighting and allows people to go home increases the likelihood of a long-term peace accord.
     But some ethnic Albanians say the agreement reached this week does not make them feel any safer.
     In the village of Sedlare, not long ago cleared of all its civilians by government attacks, a few of the residents were beginning to return to their burned-out homes. But only because the government is now shelling their encampments in the forest, said Zejnullah Kazpuzi, 54. "You are not safe anywhere, two people from here were killed this week" he said. "I don't think we will be safe after the agreement either."
     Though doubtful about the agreement's success, there are ethnic Albanians who say they are hopeful, and that they are moved because they now believe the West is listening to them.
     Speaking of the unarmed foreign observers who are to come, Alush Gashi, a senior adviser to Ibrahim Rugova, the most popular ethnic Albanian leader, said, "It is remarkable to learn that men and women who have never met us would come and risk their lives to protect our lives."
     Even so, Gashi said the agreement would likely fail because the observers will not be a military force. "You have to have NATO ground troops here, and in large numbers to stop this war," he said. "Milosevic will find a way to break his word, and then you will have to threaten him again with air strikes and I wonder if NATO has the will to keep doing that. He will wear NATO down."
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TIMES 15-10
Cook calls on Kosovo to embrace deal
BY MICHAEL BINYON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR

ROBIN COOK, the Foreign Secretary, yesterday called on the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo to seize the chance offered by the Nato deal with President Milosevic, saying that they would be "well advised" to make the autonomy package work.
     There was now a "serious prospect of advance" for the Albanians. An important outcome of the deal was the agreement to hold elections, under supervision of the international monitoring force. These would leave Kosovo in the hands of elected politicians. But he gave a warning that it would be hard to make the deal stick if the Albanians did not "pick up the ball".
     Mr Cook's remarks, in an interview with The Times, came amid reports that leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), angry that the deal did not give the territory independence, were intimidating refugees and preventing them from returning home. Many Albanians have angrily denounced Richard Holbrooke, the American special envoy, for playing into Serb hands.
     "Let's not lose sight of the main feature of the package," Mr Cook said. "For the first time Milosevic has signed up, explicitly, to self-government for Kosovo." This would bolster the democratic legitimacy of Ibrahim Rugova, the moderate Kosovo Albanian leader. On no account could the West accept an outcome that left the unelected KLA in charge.
     He dismissed criticism that, under the Holbrooke agreement, monitors were powerless because they were unarmed. "Their function is not to enforce agreement, but to verify the Serbs are complying with it." The 2,000-strong
force would report not only to the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) but to "other organisations" - meaning Nato, which would ensure compliance.
     There would be a Nato unit in Skopje, capital of the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, gathering intelligence on compliance. If there were a pattern of abuse, it would be up to Nato to assert its authority.
     Mr Cook underlined his mistrust of the Serb leader several times yesterday, telling the BBC Today programme: "We don't trust Mr Milosevic, let's be clear about that."
     The agreement was not an ending, but a beginning, he said. Britain had played a key role in getting it and Mr Milosevic had been forced to back down. But Mr Cook refused to call it a diplomatic triumph. The focus now was to make it stick. Today he meets other Contact Group members in Brussels to discuss implementation. He welcomed the inclusion of Russians among the OSCE monitors, as it tied Moscow into the agreement.
     Mr Cook said the intense diplomatic effort and speed of communications to secure a deal would have astonished politicians of earlier generations. At one point he made a dozen telephone calls to other foreign ministers in 24 hours.
     The Contact Group meeting at Heathrow last Thursday had been the decisive moment. It started awkwardly, with about 50 people crowded into the small VIP suite and Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, reading a long statement. The breakthrough had come after Mr Cook suggested that all officials leave. The ministers then agreed on their demands to Belgrade.
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Kosovo Refugees Doubt Deal Will Help Them Return
Reuters  15-OCT-98

SHKODER, Albania, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo doubt that Yugoslavia will honour this week's agreement with the West and see little prospect of returning home soon.
     "We villagers can return to our homes only under the protection of peace-keeping forces," said Hasan Mazerkaj, one of around 20,000 Kosovars who have fled to neighbouring Albania.
     "But we have nowhere to return to. Our houses have been destroyed. Our village needs 50 years to rebuild. There is no hospital, no mosque, no houses, no cattle, no tractors and our houses have been looted."
     Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic pledged under threat of NATO air strikes to withdraw troops and police from the troubled province, whose ethnic Albanian majority wants independence from Serbia.
     After marathon negotiations with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, Milosevic also agreed to grant relief agencies access to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians driven from their homes in a bloody crackdown by Serbian security forces, most of whom are still inside Kosovo.
     Refugees visited by Reuters in the northern Albanian town of Shkoder doubted that the Yugoslav president would keep his word.
     "Milosevic is only trying to gain time," said Maxhum Lokaj, a teacher from Decani, who fled Kosovo with some 3,000 other people in mid-September. "Only bombing would force him to negotiate in earnest."
     Any deal that did not take into account Kosovo Albanians' yearning for independence will not work, he added.
     "We shall never stay under Serbia. How can you stay with those who killed you? If they killed us in the past, they will kill us in the future as well," Lokaj said.
     Shkoder is home to around 4,000 refugees, accommodated in the town's main hotel, converted warehouses and high school dormitories or lodged with local people.
     The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other relief agencies are providing food and medical care.
     The West backs autonomy for Kosovo, where Albanians outnumber Serbs nine to one, but not independence.
     This week's accord provides for NATO spotter planes and 2,000 unarmed international inspectors to monitor the Serbian pullout from Kosovo.
     Rushit Shigjeci, 24, an ex-fighter with the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army which suffered severe losses in a Serbian offensive in August, said he did not believe in any deal calling for co-existence between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
     "NATO must bomb the Serb tanks and artillery so that we and the Serbs can fight it out with Kalashnikovs," he said.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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bbc 15-10
Nato keeps up pressure on Milosevic

Nato is keeping up the pressure on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with Secretary General Javier Solana saying that Yugoslavia is still not complying with international demands to pull its forces out of Kosovo.
     Mr Solana said he would be going to Belgrade on Thursday or Friday with a clear message for President Milosevic - that more has to be done to guarantee the safety of refugees.
     A BBC correspondent in Kosovo, Paul Wood, says that both sides reported shooting overnight.
     He says new road blocks seem to be appearing on the streets and that what look like fresh troops are being brought into the province.

Air-strike threat extended

A Nato spokesman said earlier the activation order authorising air strikes on Yugoslav military targets would remain in place beyond the alliance's four-day ultimatum to Belgrade, which expires on Saturday.
     Mr Solana said:"The important thing at the moment is not the agreement that we sign. The important thing on the ground is compliance. The information we have at the this very moment... that compliance is still not a reality.
     "It is very important for (the refugees) to return to their villages. It's very important that they feel that they have the guarantees of being secure," he said.
     The United States said on Wednesday there were signs that Serbian forces were complying with UN demands and that access to the refugees was good.

Contact Group ponders over detail

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the Contact Groupt of six countries involved in implementing the agreement (the five western powers plus Russia) are meeting in Paris.
     They are discussing arrangements for sending 2,000 observers to Kosovo to verify Serbia's military withdrawal.
     As part of the agreement aimed at ending the Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians, a force of international monitors are being sent into Kosovo to verify compliance with UN resolutions.
     But the ethnic Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, warned the monitoring force might not be enough, and said Nato needs to maintain pressure on Belgrade.
     A spokesman for the Kosovo Liberation Army, speaking in Geneva, also rejected a Serb proposal for elections in the province within nine months and accused Serb forces of fresh shelling.

Race against time

The US envoy, Richard Holbrooke, who brokered the deal has called on the international community to ensure monitors are in place quickly.
     The UK government has been among the first to react by pledging 200 personnel to the "verification mission".
     Milisav Paic, deputy Yugoslav ambassador to the UK, said: "There is no reason not to trust us. . . The (international community) are coming to see for themselves whether or not we comply with the provisions of the (UN) resolution."
     The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is leading a massive relief effort, has also appealed for prompt action to help save the tens of thousands of displaced people before winter sets in.
     As many as 250,000 ethnic Albanians have left their homes since fighting began earlier this year.
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Rebels defiant as war-weary drift home
Tom Walker  for TIMES 15.10.

A CHILL wind blew over Kosovo yesterday, and overnight snowfall on the Cursed Mountains forming the province's western backdrop promised worse to come. From among the thousands of homeless ethnic Albanians scrabbling in the cloying mud of Pagarusa, a caravan of horse-drawn wagons, tractors and battered cars began a journey in search of accommodation better than tents and plastic sheeting.
     Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers wandered among the throng, pretending the exodus was not happening. "These are just their friends, who have been visiting," insisted one young rebel dressed in a frayed mixture of leather and battle fatigues. The message he did not want to give was that the Holbrooke-Milosevic deal in Belgrade has encouraged the war-weary to accept the Serbian Government's offer to go home in peace.
     While Pristina's comfortable chattering classes have professed their undying opposition to signing any paper that will keep Kosovo in Serbia, those who have seen their houses shelled and their livelihoods taken away by the brutal Serb advance of the past two months have had enough. For them the independence struggle is over, at least for the winter.
     "It's quite a good agreement," said Feta Berholi, the imam of Pagarusa and a man respected for his views, even by the KLA. "We should all come back and vote in these elections, and then with the help of the Big Powers we can get our autonomy in three years."
     He added: "Milosevic has one more chance. If he blows it again, then I believe that Nato really will come in."
     His house, miraculously intact, overlooks a valley still stained by scenes of abject misery. At a makeshift health centre, a barely conscious Isak Krasniqi, 77, was brought by horse and cart for an injection, administered by a nurse rapidly running out of supplies.
     Four miles away, in the hamlet of Ostra Zub, some of the refugees who have left the quagmire, gnawing damp and cold of Pagarusa were returning to their homes for the first time in two months. Bajram Morina, a teacher, and his wife Sanije found their property ransacked; the video, cassette recorder and radio had all gone; eggs had been smashed on the walls; and the washing machine had been ripped apart. Their tractor and two cars have also disappeared.
     They were making a brief visit before hurrying back to Pagarusa and a relative's house which they share with 120 other people.
     "We come here in the daylight, just to wash and stay for a few hours," said Mr Morina. "When you go back to Pristina, can you please ask the authorities if there is any way I can have my cars back? That would be my best peace deal."
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OSCE team
Nato considers rescue force on border to safeguard peace monitors
BY MICHAEL EVANS DEFENCE EDITOR
TIMES  15.10.

NATO ambassadors discussed yesterday for the first time the possibility of deploying a rapid reaction force in a country bordering Kosovo to guarantee armed intervention if the 2,000 civilian members of the planned verification team needed rescuing.
     The issue was raised at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels after a suggestion from Richard Holbrooke, the American envoy, that a nearby Nato force might be necessary as a safeguard. For the moment, under the agreement which is to be signed by President Milosevic tomorrow, the Yugoslav leader is committed to ensuring that the "verifiers" from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe are allowed free access throughout Kosovo, without obstruction by the Serb security forces.
     After announcing that Britain is to send 200 people to join the OSCE mission, Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, said Britain was ready to play a part in any operation that would help to safeguard the people of Kosovo.
     Mr Cook said the OSCE verifiers would "flood the whole of Kosovo" and he warned Mr Milosevic that Britain would not tolerate any threat to them.
     George Robertson, the Defence Secretary, also announced that two RAF Canberra PR9 photographic reconnaissance aircraft were being supplied for the aerial surveillance that will back up the OSCE verification teams. An advance party of about half a dozen British verifiers will be ready to leave for Kosovo today to start the OSCE mission and another 150 will leave within the next two weeks. Mr Cook said the intention eventually was to provide a tenth of the total OSCE team. A senior British official is also to be offered to run the mission.
     Foreign Office sources said that a proportion of the British contribution to the operation would be military, but in civilian clothes.
     The rest would be made up of people with experience of working with the OSCE or other monitoring organisations. "We have already had hundreds of applications from former military people and ex-diplomats who want to join the mission," a Foreign Office official said.
     Those selected over the next few days will be paid an agreed daily rate which will be provided by each contributing country. "The rate will vary from country to country, so it is likely, for example, that the Russian OSCE verifiers will be paid less than the British ones," one Foreign Office official said.
     Nato sources said yesterday that although the North Atlantic Council had raised the issue of protecting the OSCE mission, there was no plan to put a rapid reaction force in place.
     One idea put forward was for the 30,000-troop Nato-led Stabilisation Force (Sfor) in Bosnia to take on the role. The advantage, one official said, would be that there would be no need to set up a second force.
     However, access to Kosovo from Bosnia would be difficult, the sources said, and the Sfor troops "would face Serbs all the way".
     The other option was to have a force based in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or Albania.At present there are 850 troops in Macedonia, mostly American, but they are operating as a "preventive force" under the flag of the United Nations.

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