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World - Europe

Key NATO members united in rejecting Milosevic overture

Schroeder
Primakov, left, speaks with Schroeder after his arrival Tuesday in Bonn

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CNN's Brent Sadler reports on the Russian delegation meeting in Belgrade Tuesday - March 30.
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InteractiveINTERACTIVE:
Flight from Kosovo:
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'Just go': Refugees describe terror in Kosovo

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Go along on a B-52 mission

 

Clinton, Blair: Attacks will continue

March 30, 1999
Web posted at: 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT)


In this story:

Italy, Britain stay the course

Yugoslavia: NATO should halt without conditions

Annan: Peace accord must address refugees

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



BONN, Germany (CNN) -- Russia's attempt to mediate the Kosovo crisis seemed dead on arrival Tuesday as NATO leaders flatly rejected Yugoslav conditions for ending the allied bombing campaign.

"I made clear I cannot accept the precondition that we must cease military activities first and then start negotiating. I am sure the NATO partners see it the same way," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said after being briefed by Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov about his meeting with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

That sentiment was echoed in the United States, Italy and Britain, as those leaders prepared their countries for an ongoing air campaign.

"President Milosevic began this brutal campaign; it is his responsibility to bring it to an immediate end and embrace a just peace," U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a statement. "There is strong consensus in NATO that we must press forward with our military action."

Italy, Britain stay the course

In Rome, which has been seen as one of the more moderate NATO countries, Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema gave a 10- minute televised address to the nation in which he accused the Yugoslav forces of genocide and said Italy would continue to do its part to stop the "slaughter and violence" against Kosovo's civilian population.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, "It's action, not words, that counts. (Milosevic) knows what he has to do."

NATO officials have said Milosevic must agree to three conditions to end the bombing campaign -- end military action in Kosovo, accept the "framework" of the Rambouillet peace agreement, and accept a NATO-led implementation force.

Primakov met with Milosevic for six hours Tuesday in Belgrade. He said the Yugoslav president was willing to participate in new Kosovo peace talks and would allow the return of "peaceful" refugees, but only on condition that NATO stop its airstrikes and the West stop supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army rebels.

"He thinks negotiations should be constructive, and he is ready to be constructive," Primakov said after the meeting.

A short while after Primakov's talks with Milosevic ended, a Serbian television newscast quoted Milosevic as saying that NATO and Albanian troops massed on the border with Yugoslavia would also have to be drawn down.

Yugoslavia: NATO should halt without conditions

Zivadin Jovanovic, the Yugoslav foreign minister, elaborated in an appearance taped for CNN's Larry King Live.

"If aggression is stopped and if the NATO forces from borders of Yugoslavia, particularly in Macedonia, are withdrawn ... if the assistance, military training, financial ... to the terrorists is ceased, then it would be logical consequences that the forces of Yugoslavia which are there to struggle defending against aggression be diminished," said Jovanovic.

Jovanovic said it was NATO that should halt its military operations unconditionally.

"They (NATO) committed a crime -- crime against peace, crime against humanity," he said. "They are provoking our greatest humanitarian catastrophe in the region by bombing continuously civilians, cities, towns, villages, etc., and they certainly should stop it without any precondition."

Annan: Peace accord must address refugees

At the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed outrage over reports of a "vicious and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing" by security forces in Kosovo and said a resolution to the conflict should provide for the return of the refugees now fleeing the province.

"Civilian populations must never come under indiscriminate and deliberate attack. Such actions are in flagrant violation of established humanitarian law," he said.

"Any solution to the conflict must allow these unfortunate people to return voluntarily to their homes in full security and dignity," Annan said.

Dampening any speculation that Annan might undertake a mission to the region, his spokesman said he "has no plans to travel to Belgrade."


RELATED STORIES:
Primakov: Milosevic ready in principle to talk peace
March 30, 1999
Primakov in Belgrade, meets with Milosevic
March 30, 1999
Russia sends Primakov, others to Yugoslavia
March 29, 1999
Primakov to try to halt NATO bombings
March 29, 1999
KLA leader: Serbs executing, rounding up civilians
March 28, 1999
Russia: NATO strikes hurting relations with U.S.
March 28, 1999

RELATED SITES:
Extensive list of Kosovo related sites
  • Kosovo

Yugoslavia:
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • F-117s arrive at Aviano to support possible NATO operations
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis


Relief:
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page


Media:
  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
  • 1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

 LATEST HEADLINES:
RELATED SITES:
Extensive list of Kosovo related sites
  • Kosovo

Yugoslavia:
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • F-117s arrive at Aviano to support possible NATO operations
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis


Relief:
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page


Media:
  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
  • 1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
 LATEST HEADLINES:
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