----- Original Message ----- From: MISS ALMUDENA RODRIGUEZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 4:20 PM Subject: [STOPNATO] (Fwd) "UN's" Bildt: "international community cannot sit around STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date sent: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:44:47 EST Subject: "UN's" Bildt: "international community cannot sit around and wait" To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] February 29, 2000 UN Envoy Pushes for Milosevic Ouster Filed at 6:22 a.m. EST By The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A U.N. envoy to the Balkans has warned that Yugoslavia's two republics are on a ``slow collision course'' that could lead to Serb military intervention in smaller Montenegro. Carl Bildt, addressing the Security Council on Monday, warned that Serbia and Montenegro -- the last remaining republics of Yugoslavia -- ``are set on a somewhat slow but very steady collision course.'' He said the situation between the two republics was deteriorating ``marginally faster'' than he anticipated a few weeks ago, with Milosevic building up forces and equipment ``for a direct intervention.'' ``There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that he's actively creating the preconditions for exercising that option,'' Bildt said. Bildt said achieving peace in the Balkans will be nearly impossible as long as hard-line Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic remains in power. But he said the international community cannot sit around and wait for Yugoslavia to change. ``If we do that, we might well be faced with further conflicts,'' he said. ``We must actively seek change. We must meet the provocations that are there and actively try to prevent existing tension from boiling over into open conflict.'' Bildt said the international community must stand firm on its policy not to deal with Milosevic and other top political and military leaders who have been indicted for war crimes. At an open briefing, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands strongly endorsed the need to get rid of the current Yugoslav government, with U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke saying efforts must be reinvigorated to bring those indicted to justice. ``We remain handicapped by the regime in Belgrade,'' Holbrooke said. But Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Yugoslavia's closest ally on the Security Council, said Milosevic's government is legitimate. He accused the U.N. war crimes tribunal, which indicted the Yugoslav leaders, of ``politicization.'' Bildt stressed that the international community can't make peace with Belgrade nor can it talk about regional issues without including Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. But people indicted for war crimes ``are de facto excommunicated from any sort of dialogue or diplomatic contact,'' he said. That leaves the international community in ``a gigantic holding operation until change in Serbia opens up the prospect of moving forward with a proper peace process,'' he said. Bildt is a former Swedish prime minister who was the international community's top representative in Bosnia and who now serves as Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for the Balkans. In an effort to halt a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo last year, NATO forces entered the province following a 78-day bombing campaign. Since then, more than 100,000 Serbs have fled the province to escape revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians. Despite attempts by NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo to maintain peace, violent clashes in Mitrovica in eastern Kosovo have erupted in recent weeks between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. Bildt said Belgrade must be told firmly to keep its special police out of Kosovo. At the same time, armed Kosovo Albanian groups ``that are obviously operating across the border'' in Serbia must be told to stop, Bildt said. ``They are both playing with fire and that message should be loud and clear,'' he said. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Advertisement: Enter to win $1000 at winfreestuff.com! What else do you want to win? If you want cash, gourmet foods, palm pilots, and other great prizes don't look any further than winfreestuff.com! We've got what you want. Check it out at: http://www.listbot.com/links/winfreestuff2
