Jackson seeks the release of three U.S. soldiers

April 30, 1999
Web posted at: 9:38 a.m. EDT (1338 GMT)

In this story: 'We are going to see them' RELATED STORIES, SITES

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson failed Friday in a bid to win the release of three U.S. servicemen held captive by Yugoslavia for the past month, but Jackson held out hope he would be allowed to see the them later in the day.

Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic told Jackson the soldiers will not be freed until NATO bombing stops, sources familiar with the meeting told CNN.

"We outlasted Hitler's bombing. We survived Soviet pressure and (former Soviet leader Leonid) Brezhnev and we are not going to capitulate to NATO bombing," Jovanovic was quoted as saying.

Jackson and a delegation of U.S. religious leaders arrived in Belgrade on Thursday night, just hours before NATO's strongest attack so far on the Yugoslav capital.

He called the bombing "intense."

Ramirez, left, Stone and Gonzales were captured by Serbian forces in March

'We are going to see them'

Despite Yugoslavia's refusal to release the soldiers -- Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez, 24, of Los Angeles; Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone, 25, of Smiths Creek, Michigan; and Spc. Steven Gonzales, 22, of Huntsville, Texas -- Jackson said he still expected to meet with them.

"We are going to see them in a couple of hours," he told CNN in a telephone interview from Belgrade on Friday.

Jackson, who expected to meet with President Slobodan Milosevic on Saturday, also has held talks with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church and other religious leaders in Yugoslavia.

He said he appealed to them to "help us create a diplomatic breakthrough" that could end the bombings and allow Kosovo refugees to return home in safety.

The three soldiers were shown on Serb TV with cuts and bruised faces shortly after their capture near the Macedonia border on March 31.

A Red Cross doctor who examined them on Tuesday -- nearly four weeks after they were seized -- said they were in "satisfactory" condition.

The White House discouraged Jackson's independent mission, saying it feared for his safety.

The Clinton administration also said it doubted Jackson would be successful in securing the infantrymen's release, but it wished him well. "We have no reason to believe he will get them out. If he does, it will be terrific," State Department spokesman James Rubin told CNN on Friday.

Correspondent Walter Rodgers contributed to this report.

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