Thousands of ethnic Albanians flee Yugoslav troops
March 22, 1999
Web posted at: 5:48 a.m. EST (1048 GMT)
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Monday that if Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic does not drop his resistance to a peacekeeping force in Kosovo, NATO is ready to impose "severe" consequences.
"We are at the brink...time is very short," Holbrooke said
after crisis talks with foreign ministers from France, Britain
and Germany, and NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana.
They declared that the allies were united behind
international demands for Yugoslavia to cease its military
activity.
Holbrooke was to deliver a final warning to Milosevic to
call off new offensives in Kosovo, from which 70,000 civilians
have fled in the past six weeks, and accept a plan granting wide
autonomy to the province's ethnic Albanian majority.
If Milosevic spurns the message, NATO says it will be poised
for air strikes to cripple Belgrade's war machine, avert a
looming new refugee disaster and force the Serbs to accept a
peace plan already signed by ethnic Albanians.
Russia's mediator on Kosovo, Boris Mayorsky, was also expected to travel to Belgrade on Monday to try to persuade Yugoslav President Milosevic to sign a deal on the province's future, Russian news agencies said.
With time running out to avert NATO airstrikes, violence swept rural rebel strongholds and the heavily guarded provincial capital.
In Kosovo, villages burn
In central Kosovo, thousands of ethnic Albanians fled approaching Yugoslav army troops Sunday as smoke rose from burning villages and the thud of artillery fire echoed through the hills.
At the Kosovo Liberation Army headquarters in the windswept hilltop village of Likovac, carts filled with women and children were seen departing.
Fighters confirmed they were evacuating family members but vowed to
defend the village.
Hundreds of refugees were seen near Glogovac, 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Pristina, heading down from villages in the north under siege by the Serb-run Yugoslav army and police.
A group of men, clutching only blankets for protection against
the bitter cold, said they left their wives and children behind in
Cirez, fearing approaching army troops would arrest them as
suspected KLA members.
The women and children had nothing to eat and "we haven't eaten
since yesterday," said Gani Krasniqi, who left behind his wife and
19-month-old boy.
In Srbica, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Pristina,
cannon fire boomed in the distance as streets were nearly deserted
after black-masked Yugoslav soldiers entered the town on Saturday.
Yugoslav army blames rebels
The ethnic Albanian-run Kosovo Information Center also reported
fighting in villages around Podujevo, 32 kilometers (20 miles)
north of Pristina. The Serbian Media Center said the main road
between Pristina and Podujevo was closed because of rebel snipers.
In a statement Sunday, the Yugoslav army blamed the rebels for
the fighting, saying the KLA initiated attacks in hopes of provoking NATO airstrikes.
In Washington, U.S. National Security Adviser Samuel Berger said Holbrooke would deliver a stark message: "Move to the path of peace or face the punishment of NATO."
"I think we owe it to the American people, we owe it to our
military people, to our allies, to make that final effort," Berger
said Sunday on CBS television's "Face the Nation."
Holbrooke will urge Milosevic to accept a U.S.-backed peace plan granting sweeping autonomy to Kosovo, a province of
Yugoslavia's republic Serbia with an overwhelming ethnic Albanian
majority.
Serbs rejected plan, Albanians signed
The peacekeeping plan calls for 28,000 NATO troops -- including 4,000 Americans -- to supervise the accord.
Serb delegates rejected the plan -- especially the provision for NATO troops -- during peace talks last week in Paris after the ethnic Albanians signed it.
On the eve of the Holbrooke visit, state television broadcast
rallies and statements denouncing the agreement and vowing never to
accept foreign troops.
The army commander for the Kosovo region, Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic,
said his troops were "taking all measures to prevent foreign
troops into our territory."
Powerful fleet ready to attack
A fleet of warships and attack planes, including the U.S. Air Force's most powerful aircraft, stood ready Monday to join in any NATO military action.
But the buildup did not deter the continuing violence.
In Kosovo, the Serb-led Yugoslav army struck again Sunday at
Kosovo Liberation Army strongholds in the north and north-central
parts of the province, driving several thousand ethnic Albanians
from their homes.
In the provincial capital, Pristina, late Sunday, gunmen firing
from a speeding car killed four Serb police and wounded another in
a primarily ethnic Albanian neighborhood.
Police said the assailants fired Chinese-manufactured bullets
ordinarily used by the KLA. Afterward, police set up checkpoints
along major routes out of the city.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Tough talk from Washington as Kosovo peace hopes wane
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RELATED SITES:
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - Facts
Kosova Crisis Center
NATO Official Homepage
Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)
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