Reuters Clinton ready to consider Kosovo land war - paper
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Clinton Ready To Consider Kosovo Land War - Paper
09:22 p.m May 26, 1999 Eastern

LONDON (Reuters) - President Clinton is ready to consider a
full-scale Kosovo ground war against Serb forces, sending up to
90,000 U.S. combat troops if no peace deal emerges within three
weeks, Britain's Times newspaper reported Thursday.

The newspaper, which led its front page with the story, quoted
unidentified NATO sources for its information.

Although NATO was officially planning for a peace
implementation force of only 50,000-60,000 troops, there was a
growing feeling in Washington and London that it must prepare for a
much bigger operation involving 150,000-160,000 troops, the
Times said.

``Mr. Clinton's dramatic conversion, after weeks of
apparent reluctance to send in ground troops, has emerged in the
light of detailed briefings from General Wesley Clark, the
Supreme Allied Commander, last week,'' it said.

The newspaper said a new sense of urgency had been injected into
NATO's contingency planning because of a warning from the
military that a decision would have to be made by mid-June if the
alliance was to contemplate a ground offensive.

``The tight timetable is being dictated by the alliance's
determination to start returning ethnic Albanian refugees to their
homes in Kosovo before the winter,'' the Times said.

It quoted the sources as saying that with Clinton committed to
defeating Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic one way or
another, the United States would be expected to contribute more
than half of the force.

The sources estimated the U.S. contribution could be about 90,000
troops who would be deployed from the United States, not Germany.

``Britain and France would also be expected to play a major part,'' the
Times said.

Reuters Milosevic seeks direct talks with West
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ANALYSIS-Milosevic seeks direct talks with West
11:50 a.m. May 26, 1999 Eastern

By Colin McIntyre

BELGRADE, May 26 (Reuters) - Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic is pressing for direct negotiations with the West on
ending the Kosovo crisis in order to boost his political position at
home, local analysts said on Wednesday.

``The bottom line is he wants to be treated as a respected negotiator,''
one leading Yugoslav analyst said. ``That way he feels he can get out
of the crisis with his position more or less intact.''

The West dismisses the idea of talks with Milosevic, or an end to
NATO air strikes, before he has accepted five demands, including
the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and the stationing of
a NATO-led peace force in the province.

``Milosevic would see complete acceptance of NATO's demands
as capitulation,'' another analyst said, adding that the Yugoslav
leader wanted a halt to the bombing without acceding to the
demands, a move he could then portray as a victory.

After Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin came to Belgrade
last week for talks with Milosevic, the presidency issued a statement
calling for Yugoslavia's participation in talks to flesh out
seven principles contained in a framework plan agreed by the
Group of Eight nations last month.

Chernomyrdin is due in Belgrade again on Thursday, after holding
talks with U.S. negotiators to try to narrow differences between
Russia and the West over Kosovo.

The main sticking points between Belgrade and the West are the
makeup and command of an international peace force in
Kosovo and the number of Yugoslav troops that could remain
in Kosovo.

According to one local analyst Milosevic wants to retain some
5,000 of his troops in Kosovo, compared with an estimated
40,000 at present. The West wants only a few hundred, to
check borders and help in mine-clearing operations.

While the West insists that an international peace force to
oversee the return of ethnic Albanian refugees to Kosovo
should be large, well armed and led by NATO, Belgrade publicly
rejects anything but a small, lightly armed U.N.-led unit.

Analysts believe the leadership will eventually have to accept foreign
troops, but would strongly resist the inclusion of any from countries
currently taking part in air strikes against Yugoslavia.

Another snag is that under a draft agreement presented to Belgrade
and Kosovo Albanian leaders in France earlier this year, the
international force would have free access to the whole of Yugoslavia,
not just Kosovo, and Belgrade would see this as tantamount to occupation.

As the West and Russia struggle to find a joint position on Kosovo,
Milosevic is digging in his heels in the hope that the NATO alliance
will unravel, or Western public opinion will force a halt to the
bombing campaign, analysts said.

The Yugoslav leader must also hope that civil unrest and anti-war
protests that broke out in southern Serbia earlier this month does not
spread, they added.

Some analysts believe that public opinion in the West may be
moving against a continuation of the bombing, particularly as the
civilian toll and the number of NATO mis-hits rises.

But at least one analyst believes a number of key Western leaders
are determined to press the campaign until it forces Milosevic
from office, seeing his continued rule as a threat to stability in the
volatile Balkan region.

Local analysts see the unrest in the south, particularly in the
industrial town of Krusevac, where several thousand people were
reported to have demonstrated on Sunday against the war and local
men vowed to ignore a recent call-up, as a potential threat to the
leadership.

There have been unconfirmed reports that some army units in
Kosovo have not been paid for several weeks, and cigarettes,
regarded as essentials in Yugoslavia, are in short supply for
the soldiers.

One analyst said the anti-war pressure was likely to be greater
in central and southern Serbia because more people from these
areas were being drafted to Kosovo than from Belgrade and
further north.

``As more soldiers get killed in Kosovo, pressure could build up
on the government,'' one analyst said. ``If there were 10 military
funerals a day in Belgrade nobody would notice. But if that happened
in smaller towns down south, everyone would know about it.''

FOCUS-France firm on Kosovo during Cook visit
03:06 p.m May 26, 1999 Eastern

By Clar Ni Chonghaile

PARIS, May 26 (Reuters) - France on Wednesday joined the chorus
of European Contact Group members stressing NATO must
sustain military pressure on Belgrade while diplomats step up
efforts to negotiate an end to the Kosovo crisis.

Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine reiterated Paris' firm stand after
talks with his British counterpart Robin Cook, who flew in on the
last leg of a three-stop tour to synchronise policy watches with
the main European allies.

Cook heard similar statements of resolve in Rome in the morning
and in Bonn at midday. Unlike France and Britain, Italy and
Germany face increasing domestic pressure to end the
two-month bombing campaign.

Vedrine said the bombing could only stop when Yugoslavia
accepted NATO conditions of allowing an international force to
protect returning Kosovo Albanian refugees and the U.N. Security
Council approved the deployment of that force.

``Organising (the sequence of) these elements and getting a vote
in the Security Council is the central point of our work,'' he said.

Cook said NATO could not pull back from its bombing campaign
now.

``If we ease back on that military pressure, then (Yugoslav
President Slobodan) Milosevic will ease back on any interest in a
military solution,'' he said.

Earlier in the day, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, whose
Greens party has a strong pacifist wing, echoed Cook's views after
their talks in Bonn.

``We must not overlook the link between the twin track. The
military campaign has laid the foundation for the diplomatic
efforts,'' Fischer told reporters there.

Cook secured similar agreement earlier on Wednesday in Rome
from Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini.

Vedrine stressed that Russia, which is needed to pass any U.N.
resolution on Kosovo, has been working closely with the Western
states in the search for an agreement.

Vedrine sidestepped a question about a possible increase in
French troops for the KFOR force slated to accompany Kosovo
Albanian refugees home in the event of a peaceful settlement,
saying it was up to the defence ministry to announce any such
decision.

Britain announced earlier in the day it would send another 6,000
troops to the region and put another 6,000 troops on standby,
thus bringing London's overall troop contribution to almost 20,000.

Cook and Dini said they both wanted to see a negotiated
settlement on Kosovo, but that NATO needed to maintain the
military pressure until Belgrade agreed to withdraw.

``Of course none of us like the bombing. In the present
circumstances, we don't see an alternative,'' Dini said, responding
to questions about a proposal last week by Italian Prime Minister
Massimo D'Alema for a bombing pause.

``There is a common view on how the conflict should be approached
from now on. The alliance stands united on how to proceed,'' he told
reporters.

Dini emphasised NATO's position that the force would not go into
Kosovo unless Milosevic pulls out his troops.

Vedrine refused to be drawn on the issue of sending troops in
without Belgrade's approval, saying NATO wanted a peace deal
and he would not weaken its position by entertaining other options.

The key players are already looking ahead to life in Kosovo
after the war.

Russia is proposing to divide Kosovo into zones, but this is not
acceptable to Britain, which wants to avoid giving Russia a sphere of
influence like East Germany during the Cold War.

``We no more want to see an ethnically pure Albanian Kosovo
than we want to see an ethnically pure Serbian Kosovo,'' the British
official said, saying NATO wanted to ensure the province's territorial
integrity.

``Dini was very clear that there could be no partition of Kosovo
either formal or de facto,'' the British official said.

Rugova Welcomed by Kosovo Refugees=20

By Gezim Baxhaku
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 26, 1999; 5:20 p.m. EDT

BLACE, Macedonia (AP) -- Receiving a hero's welcome from thousands
of exhausted Kosovo refugees, moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim
Rugova appealed Wednesday for a swift deployment of NATO troops in
Kosovo to ensure the return of the displaced.=20

Chanting ``Rugova, Rugova,'' tired but smiling Kosovo refugees were
rubbing shoulders to get as close as possible to their leader, trailing him
throughout the Blace and Stenkovec refugee camps near Macedonia's
border with Kosovo.=20

Rugova's visit to the camps was the first since Serbs started systematically
expelling Kosovo Albanians two months ago, when NATO began its air
campaign against Yugoslavia.=20

Initially, Rugova remained in Yugoslavia, apparently under house arrest in
Kosovo. He has provided few details of his reported detention since he
showed up in Italy earlier this month.=20

``I am so happy that he is alive and here with us,'' said an old man in the
Blace transit camp, where about 30,000 refugees have arrived in recent
days -- the biggest influx since early May.=20

U.N. aid officials have been negotiating with Macedonia's reluctant
government for permission to expand the seven main refugee camps.=20

``In a few days, every possible square foot of space in the camps will be
taken and people will be living on top of each other again,'' Kris Janowski,
a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said in
Geneva.=20

Of about 830,000 ethnic Albanians who have fled or been driven from the
province, Macedonia has accepted about 252,000 -- roughly one-tenth of
its population.=20

Macedonia, with its own substantial minority of ethnic Albanians, worries
that the arrivals could upset the ethnic balance and possibly lead to=
unrest.

Rugova thanked the Macedonian government for helping the refugees and
said he was working to secure their return.=20

``We are demanding that NATO forces go into Kosovo as soon as
possible to provide security for all the citizens of Kosovo,'' he told the
refugees at Blace camp.=20

NATO says it has no intention of invading the embattled Serb province,
but on Tuesday, it announced plans to send 50,000 peacekeeping troops
if Serb forces withdraw.=20

``We should be optimistic because the world is with us. We are no longer
alone,'' said Rugova, who met Wednesday with Chris Hill, the U.S. envoy
to the Balkans, and with Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov.=20

UNHCR has pledged $4.5 million to Macedonia to help cope with the
refugee influx and has paid out about half of that, said Dennis McNamara,
Balkans envoy for the U.N. refugee agency. He said the government has
apparently agreed in principle to open at least one new camp.=20

Meanwhile, a senior NATO commander in Albania said Wednesday that
Serb artillery and water shortages are spurring the relocation of about
30,000 refugees from the northern Albanian border with Kosovo.=20

``In the open, tents don't offer much protection from shrapnel. The last
thing I want is the Serbs lobbing a few rounds into this place,'' said=
British
Lieut. Gen. John Reith in Kukes.=20

International aid agencies and NATO are hoping to relocate the refugees
to safer, better camps in central and southern Albania. About 300
refugees left a Kukes camp Wednesday, the second day of the organized
relocation. About 200 were moved Monday to the U.S.-built Camp
Hope.=20

=A9 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

Observers Barred from CARE Trial=20

By Candice Hughes
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 26, 1999; 5:02 p.m. EDT

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslav judicial officials have barred
international observers from the espionage trial of two Australian aid
workers and a Yugoslav colleague, a diplomat said Wednesday.=20

Australian Ambassador Charles Lamb said a Belgrade court would not
allow him to attend the trial of CARE workers Steve Pratt and Peter
Wallace and Yugoslav Branko Jelen.=20

``I'm very disappointed to be excluded,'' Lamb told reporters outside the
court.=20

Lamb said the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations ``guarantees the
right of access to trials'' and he had expected the court to allow observers
from the embassy.=20

``We had hoped -- and we had some reason for that after our
conversations with the government -- that we would in fact be able to get
through, be there, observe the trial,'' Lamb said.=20

He said the court had turned down applications for permission to observe
the trial from relatives, CARE and the U.N. High Commission on Human
Rights. Lamb said a delegation from the International Commission of
Jurists also hoped to attend, but could not get visas.=20

Pratt and Wallace have been in custody since March 31, when they were
arrested by Yugoslav authorities for alleged spying when they tried to
cross the border into Croatia.=20

Border guards apparently became suspicious of their laptop computers,
files, and mobile telephones.=20

A reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corp., Katy Cronin, was
allowed in court briefly for the trial's opening. She said the Australians=
and
Jelen all appeared to be in good health.=20

She said Pratt had lost his trademark beard, and turned to wink at a
friend, while Wallace looked straight ahead.=20

``They looked clean and healthy,'' she said on Australian radio. ``They
were not handcuffed.''=20

On April 12, Belgrade television showed Pratt making an apparent
confession to collecting information on Kosovo and the effects of the
NATO bombing.=20

Yugoslavia's government also alleged that four local CARE workers were
involved in an alleged spy ring. CARE says it has lost contact with around
a dozen of its Yugoslav staff working in Kosovo.=20

The trial is proceeding despite appeals from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, South African President Nelson Mandela, and several visits by
CARE Australia chief and former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm
Fraser.=20

Wallace's father said he was ``hurting and frustrated.''=20

``We are looking forward to a quick end to the trial and we believe the
only decision that can be made is very clear,'' Ross Wallace told
Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.=20

``Peter is a humanitarian aid worker,'' he said. ``The charges against him
have no basis and should be immediately dismissed.''=20

=A9 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press