IN THIS MESSAGE: Clinton Open to Using Ground Troops; Milosevic Okays
"Principles" of Peace Plan; NATO Mission Changing
Clinton Says He Might Send Ground Troops
By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 19, 1999; Page A01
President Clinton declared for the first time yesterday that he
would consider sending ground troops to Kosovo if he becomes
convinced that NATO's strategy of bombing Yugoslavia will not
bring victory.
Clinton's comments, in a brief White House appearance before
reporters, came as diplomacy aimed at ending the conflict
seemed to be gaining momentum. Officials said he spoke out to
dispel any impression that NATO might accept something short
of its stated demands from Yugoslavia and to strengthen the hand
of Russian peace envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin as he heads for a
round of talks with President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade.
"I and everyone else has always said that we intend to see our
objectives achieved and that we have not and will not take any
option off the table," Clinton said.
Clinton's insistence that his mind is open to putting combat troops
in Kosovo marked a rhetorical shift -- "I do not intend to put our
troops in Kosovo to fight a war," he announced on the first day of
airstrikes 56 days ago -- but senior administration officials said
as a practical matter they are weeks away at least from a
decision to assemble an invasion force.
For the near term, Clinton's more aggressive stance was
designed principally as a stick in public diplomacy, seeking to
encourage Milosevic to embrace a still-evolving settlement offer
that NATO and Russia are hoping to jointly craft.
A Yugoslav government spokesman said in Belgrade that
Milosevic is "ready to cut a deal" if NATO were to stop bombing
first -- an incentive the United States has ruled out -- and
predicted that "we have a diplomatic opening" with
Chernomyrdin's imminent arrival in the Yugoslav capital.
U.S. officials called that statement evidence that the air war is
working, finally starting to grind down Belgrade's resistance. But
much of Clinton's maneuvering in recent days has been designed
to expand his flexibility if it becomes evident the air war will not
force withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, the rebellious
Serbian province at the center of the war, and an agreement
giving autonomy to the ethnic Albanians who made up 90 percent
of the province's 1.8 million inhabitants before the current conflict.
Clinton's statement on ground troops followed a two-hour session
he held Monday evening with his senior national security advisers
at which officials said the group confronted in blunt terms the
possibility that an invasion might eventually be the only way NATO
can impose acceptable terms on Yugoslavia.
"If the diplomatic track does not bear fruit, we have to be in a
position to guarantee success with strictly military means," said
one administration official close to the deliberations, adding that
this recognition could lead soon to a reappraisal of combat
ground troops.
Previously, Clinton has said that he would put ground troops into
Kosovo only as peacekeepers with the consent of Belgrade,
following an autonomy agreement. Clinton's latest remarks, one
official said, were an effort "to break out of a rhetorical box that
we never should have gotten into."
"It has not been removed permanently from the table, but neither
is it adopted," a senior State Department official said.
This hedging reflected the administration's gingerly efforts to
keep the 19-member NATO alliance unified on strategy.
Senior officials in Britain, the United States' closest ally in the
Balkans conflict, continued to urge more aggressive planning for
the possibility that a forcible entry into Kosovo will be needed
soon. Yet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called a NATO
ground offensive "unthinkable," a position shared by some other
allies.
The British defense minister, George Robertson, said in London
that NATO has "ruled out, and we still rule out, a wholesale
invasion against organized force inside Kosovo." But he added
that NATO is exploring, with British encouragement, ground-troop
scenarios in which there was no peace settlement but in which
Milosevic's troops were in retreat and unable to fight and there
was the prospect of large-scale death through starvation or cold
inside Kosovo.
Robertson was describing a scenario that in U.S. parlance has
become known as the "semi-permissive environment." Some
State Department officials have urged Clinton to embrace the
idea of sending troops in such a situation, but Pentagon officials
made plain that, as a matter of military planning, there was no
such thing: There are combat troops or peacekeepers, but
nothing in between.
White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said yesterday that
Clinton has adopted the Pentagon's interpretation. But other
senior officials said Clinton is plainly more willing than he was
when the air war began to consider a forcible entry into Kosovo.
At the same time, diplomacy appears to have regained much of
the momentum it lost after the accidental May 7 bombing of the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which along with a government
shift in Moscow had slowed Russia's efforts to work with the
United States on a proposal for ending the war.
Eager to encourage Russia's position as an intermediary, Deputy
Secretary of State Strobe Talbott held an extended strategy
session in Helsinki with Chernomyrdin and Finnish President
Martti Ahtisaari, who is representing the European Union in talks
with Belgrade. U.S. officials said they expect both Chernomyrdin
and Ahtisaari to travel to Belgrade as early as today.
Finland has long acted as a buffer state between Russia and the
West, and that is evidently the role assigned to the Finnish
president in the current conflict. Since Finland is not a NATO
member, Ahtisaari can theoretically act as a go-between
acceptable to Russia and Yugoslavia and to the NATO nations.
While White House officials said they consider Chernomyrdin's
involvement constructive, they said Russia has yet to accept
Clinton's bottom line on two essential parts of an agreement. One
point is the security force that would go to Kosovo after a
settlement. Clinton insists the force must be NATO-led. The other
point is whether all Yugoslav military and special police forces
must withdraw from Kosovo, as Clinton says, or whether some
would get to stay behind.
Also on the eve of Chernomyrdin's trip to Yugoslavia, the United
States freed two Yugoslav soldiers who had been captured by
Kosovo's secessionist Albanian guerrillas and held as prisoners
of war at a military base in Germany. The soldiers, both privates,
were flown to Hungary and released at the Yugoslav border.
Lockhart said the release was separate from the diplomatic
maneuvering and not intended as a gesture. The Pentagon told
Clinton that there "was not any purpose in holding them any
longer," he said. "It was a humanitarian step for these two
soldiers, and it should not be interpreted as anything more than
that."
NATO's air raids continued in tandem with diplomatic activity.
Yugoslav media said bombs cut the nation's main highway
yesterday, bringing down an overpass just north of Nis, the
third-largest Serb city.
Alliance missiles hit at least four cities in other raids that Yugoslav
media said killed one woman and injured 12. Six bombs
slammed into Mount Fruska Gora, near Novi Sad, Yugoslavia's
second-largest city, according to wire reports from Belgrade.
NATO missiles struck an empty fuel storage depot again last
night a mile southwest of Belgrade's city center, witnesses said.
Also yesterday, about 800 ethnic Albanians packed into a train
were allowed to leave Kosovo for Macedonia, a day after the
Serb military turned them back at the border.
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced release of another
$15 million in U.S. aid money for refugee relief, warning the job of
caring for displaced people will get much harder in a few months
when cold weather arrives. Caring for these people, she said,
"will be a huge challenge; we hope we don't have to meet that
challenge."
Staff writer Steven Mufson in Washington and correspondent T.R.
Reid in Helsinki contributed to this report.
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
==================================================
Milosevic OKs 'Principles' of Plan
By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press Writer
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic accepted ``principles'' of a Kosovo peace plan after
meeting a Russian envoy Wednesday. Hours later, NATO
launched its heaviest attack on Belgrade in weeks, hitting a
hospital and damaging the Swedish ambassador's residence.
At least three people were killed when missiles slammed into the
hospital, located near a military barracks in Belgrade, doctors
told Serb TV. An intensive care unit and neurological ward were
leveled as ambulances rushed the injured to other hospitals,
witnesses said.
The attack on the capital came after Russian envoy Viktor
Chernomyrdin held seven hours of talks with Milosevic over a
peace plan put forward two weeks ago by the G-8 nations.
Milosevic's backing of the plan as the basis for further
negotiations seemed to fall far short of Western conditions for
halting the eight-week bombing campaign -- unequivocal
acceptance of the international plan.
The president's office called for Yugoslavia to directly negotiate
details of the peace plan with the United Nations. ``The solution
could be found only politically and within the U.N. and with direct
participation of Yugoslavia, starting from the G-8 principles,''
Milosevic's office said.
The plan by Russia and the world's top seven industrialized
countries demands a total withdrawal of Serb forces from
Kosovo and the deployment of an international security force.
Milosevic has so far rejected demands that the security force be
armed. And the G-8 itself is divided over the plan's call for an
``international security presence'' to police any agreement. The
United States says that means an armed military force with
NATO at its core. The Russians have not accepted that
definition. It also does not define the size of a Serb withdrawal
from Kosovo.
Chernomyrdin gave no indication of a breakthrough after his
talks with Milosevic, telling Russian reporters that it was ``most
important to return Yugoslavia to the negotiating table.''
The attacks on Belgrade late Wednesday and early Thursday
also damaged the Swedish ambassador's residence, located
near the hospital. The Swedish foreign ministry said the blast
from an explosion some 200 yards away blew out windows and a
door, but no one was hurt.
Nearly two weeks ago, NATO missiles directly hit the Chinese
Embassy in Belgrade, killing three people, sparking outrage
from Beijing.
Hospital director Milovan Bojic -- a close Milosevic political ally --
called the attack on the hospital ``a savagery and unheard of
scandal.'' Moma Jakovljevic, a doctor there, said at least three
patients were killed and several other people, including medical
staff, were injured.
Tanjug said an operating room in the hospital was demolished
and that rescuers were evacuating infants and pregnant women
from the maternity ward.
Witnesses said the nearby army complex was also hit in the
attack, and several military vehicles were seen burning in its
yard.
Early Thursday, Jets flew low over the city, striking two other
neighborhoods at the edge of the capital. Loud explosions and
anti-aircraft fire could be heard in the city center.
More raids across the country included strikes on a fuel depot
100 miles northwest of Belgrade, a meteorological station, a
bridge across the Begej River north of Belgrade and as the
Batajnica military airfield just outside the capital, the media said.
State-controlled media said airstrikes elsewhere in Serbia
earlier in the day killed six people.
Chernomyrdin was next to meet U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Strobe Talbott and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari in Moscow
on Thursday to brief them on the Belgrade meeting. The three
met Tuesday and earlier Wednesday in Helsinki.
In Washington, the State Department said it was waiting to hear
Chernomyrdin's report before reacting to the statement by
Milosevic's office.
NATO demands for peace are similar to those of the G-8:
withdrawal of Milosevic's 40,000-strong Serb forces, the return of
nearly 800,000 ethnic Albanians who have been driven out by
``ethnic cleansing'' or fled, and the deployment of a well-armed
international peacekeeping force with NATO at its core.
Meanwhile, envoys from the G-8 group gathered in Bonn to try to
draw up a U.N. resolution codifying their peace plan. After 12
hours of talks, delegates said they were still divided on some
details -- particularly the makeup of an international force.
``It's important that Milosevic and the Belgrade authorities
understand NATO's resolve,'' White House press secretary Joe
Lockhart said in Washington. ``I think you are seeing almost any
place you look now signs of problems for Milosevic.''
The State Department said there was increasing opposition to
Milosevic's handling of the Kosovo crisis, saying as many as 500
Serb soldiers have deserted in Kosovo.
In reports of new dissent, an independent newspaper, Glas
Javnosti, said protest rallies in the southern city of Krusevac
occurred for the second straight day Tuesday by families of men
drafted to serve in Kosovo.
A statement by the army garrison command in Krusevac
condemned organizers of the protests as ``traitors'' and accused
them of ``undermining the defense of the country and
collaboration with the enemy.'' Local sources said six were
arrested.
Reporters are barred from traveling outside Belgrade without
government permission, and the reports could not be
independently confirmed.
Serbian opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said the protests took
place, adding on Austrian radio that people do ``not want to die
blindly.''
Despite NATO reports of growing dissent in Yugoslavia,
Milosevic's government insists the country is fully united behind
him in the crisis. ``The enemy is now trying to find among us
supporters of capitulation and traitors,'' the Krusevac command's
statement said.
Tanjug said four people were killed when NATO struck an office
building earlier Wednesday in Gnjilane, a Kosovo town 25 miles
southeast of the capital, Pristina. Yugoslav media said two
inmates were killed, and two others and a guard injured when a
prison in Istok in northwest Kosovo was hit.
Among other reported attacks, 25 missiles slammed into Raska
in the fiercest attack yet on the southern Serbian city.
The NATO campaign began March 24, 13 months after
Milosevic's forces clamped down on Kosovo, killing at least
2,000 people.
Some 100 men in black leather jackets hurled stones and eggs
at the headquarters of the main opposition Democratic Party,
which has been castigated for opposing Milosevic's repression
of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Protesters dispersed when police
arrived.
On Tuesday, in a hint of seeking peace, Yugoslav Foreign
Ministry spokesman Nebojsa Vujovic said Belgrade is ready ``to
cut a deal'' as long as the country's ``territorial integrity'' is
preserved -- meaning no independence for Kosovo, a province
of Serbia.
In Macedonia, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited
Stenkovec, the largest ethnic Albanian refugee camp, where he
was cheered by refugees and expressed hopes for peace soon
in Kosovo.
The second train of refugees in two days arrived at the
Macedonian border. U.N. aid officials said nearly 2,500 people
arrived over the previous 24 hours following a several day lull.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
==========================================
NATO Peacekeeping Mission
Changing
By Robert Burns
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military mission that the Clinton
administration originally envisioned for NATO in implementing a
Kosovo peace accord is taking on a new look. The ground force
would be much larger, and some allies think it ought to be
prepared to move even before Belgrade signs on to a peace
deal.
If peacekeepers moved in early, they might face scattered
resistance from remnant Serb forces, the Pentagon says.
The intent is still to use this multinational force to implement a
peace, not launch a ground war. But as NATO's Operation Allied
Force entered its ninth week Wednesday, alliance and U.S.
officials said questions remain on how soon the peacekeeping
force should be assembled and when it should enter Kosovo.
The timing is important because of the degree of risk and cost
entailed in various options, and because NATO wants to end the
conflict and get the hundreds of thousands of displaced ethnic
Albanians in Macedonia and Albania back into their villages in
Kosovo under NATO protection before the onset of winter.
``Obviously, there are going to be (NATO) ground troops of some
type'' in Kosovo, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The
issue is whether they should be prepared to enter Kosovo
without the consent of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic,
once Serb forces are too battered to offer much resistance.
The U.S. position remains that ``we need an agreement or a U.N.
Security Council resolution'' first, Bacon said.
Earlier this week, however, Bacon said it was possible that an
international peacekeeping force could enter Kosovo without
Milosevic's consent. ``You don't have to have an agreement to do
that,'' Bacon said on Monday, so long as the Serb forces simply
stopped the violence in Kosovo and withdrew from the province.
Originally, NATO estimated it would need 28,000 peacekeepers,
of which about 4,000 were to be American. Now it figures it
might take 50,000, of which the United States may contribute
7,000 to 8,000.
British officials have argued in recent days that NATO should be
preparing for an early entry into Kosovo, given the increasing
damage NATO airstrikes are inflicting on the hunkered down
Serb army in the Serb province. British Air Marshal Sir John Day
told reporters in London on Wednesday that NATO has seriously
degraded Serb air defenses, fuel resources, lines of
communication and fielded forces.
``NATO's air campaign has already significantly eroded the
military capability of Milosevic's war machine, and it is being
further reduced as each day goes by,'' Day said.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, due in Washington on
Thursday for talks with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
said NATO should be ready to move quickly with ground forces
to protect refugees once Serb forces are sufficiently devastated.
``The issue of judgment that needs to be made is at what point in
the end game would it be appropriate, would it be safe, would it
be right, for troops to enter,'' he said in London.
Bacon said Wednesday that the U.S. military could move its
portion of a peacekeeping force into the area ``in days.'' He
noted that 6,000 U.S. troops already are in Albania and NATO
has about 13,000 troops in Macedonia.
President Clinton stirred speculation about U.S. policy when he
said Tuesday that no option should be ruled out on the use of
ground troops, although he also said NATO should continue on
its present course of airstrikes. Previously, Clinton had said he
had no intention of introducing ground troops into Kosovo.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis Reimer was asked about
Clinton's remark at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
``What he said is that ground forces are still an option on the
table, under the right set of conditions,'' Reimer said. Yet to be
determined is what that ``right set of conditions'' will be.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, spokesman Jamie
Shea said Wednesday the alliance is focusing on plans for a
peacekeeping force in Kosovo, to be dubbed Operation Joint
Guardian, not a ground war.
``We are not going to send ground forces to fight in Kosovo, but
as a peace force,'' Shea said. He said NATO was ``pushing this
as a matter of priority'' because it does not want to leave a
security vacuum in Kosovo if Serb forces suddenly give up and
withdraw from the province.
``All of us in the alliance share a sense of urgency that when
Milosevic finally puts up his hand and says, 'I accept (NATO's)
conditions,' we have to be ready with a peace implementation
force to enter Kosovo rapidly,'' Shea said.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
==========================================
No Environment Damage in
Yugoslavia
By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Despite Yugoslav claims that NATO's
bombardment was causing an ecological catastrophe, the
United Nations and environmental groups have concluded that no
significant pollution has yet been detected.
Nevertheless, participants at a May 12-16 conference agreed
that more rigorous monitoring and assessments were needed, a
U.N. statement said Tuesday.
Toward that end, an official from the U.N. Environment Program
was visiting Yugoslavia this week as part of a larger U.N.
humanitarian team to assess the damage the war has caused
and what needs to be done in Kosovo to allow its ethnic Albanian
residents to return home.
Yugoslavia had requested such an environmental assessment
after warning that the NATO airstrikes, which have targeted
chemical factories and oil refineries, threatened the lives of
millions of Yugoslav citizens as well as neighboring countries
across Europe.
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Foreign Minister
Zivadin Jovanovic claimed huge quantities of poisonous gases
were being released into the air, sickening thousands.
He also said a 9-mile-long oil spill in the Danube River
threatened ``the flora and fauna of the European economic,
tourist and ecological inland water route and of the Black Sea.''
But the conference members found that ``no significant water
pollution or environmental damages caused by the war in
Yugoslavia/Kosovo could be detected so far.''
The assessment was based on information provided by
conference participants and downstream countries.
The conference was organized by the U.N. Development
Program and was supported by the International Commission for
the Protection of the Danube River. Participants came from all
Danube countries, the U.N. Environment Program, the World
Bank, the World Wildlife Foundation and the Danube
Environmental Forum.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
