 |
| CNN WEB SITES: |
|
| TIME INC. SITES: |
| MORE SERVICES: |
| video on demand |
| video archive |
| audio on demand |
| news email services |
| free email accounts |
| desktop headlines |
| pointcast |
| DISCUSSION: |
| message boards |
| chat |
| feedback |
| SITE GUIDES: |
| help |
| contents |
| search |
| FASTER ACCESS: |
| europe |
| japan |
| WEB SERVICES: |
 | ||||
NATO commander says helicopters to see action soon
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clark speaks to reporters at the Tirana air base | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RELATED VIDEO:
IMAGE GALLERY:Serb television comes under attack again
April 25, 1999
Web posted at: 10:01 p.m. EDT (0201 GMT)
TIRANA, Albania (CNN) -- NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark says U.S. Apache helicopters will soon be in action inside Yugoslavia, stepping up the level of NATO firepower available to attack Serb forces on the ground.
"I don't have a specific date when we will be in operations, but ... it won't be too long," he said Sunday after reviewing NATO military operations in Albania, where the helicopters will be based.
Seven more Apaches arrived Sunday, bringing the number of the sophisticated aircraft in Albania to 18. They are supported by 3,000 U.S. troops, with another 2,000 expected shortly.
Search continues for bodies at Serb TV headquarters
Meanwhile, in the hills above the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, early Sunday, a generator powering a transmitter belonging to Serbia's state-run television was hit by a NATO strike -- marking the second time in three days that NATO has taken aim at Serb TV. Broadcasts ceased for a short time but eventually resumed.
In Belgrade, searchers continued to look Sunday for bodies buried in the rubble of a building housing the headquarters of Serb television and radio, which was struck by a missile Friday. Authorities say at least 11 people died and 18 were injured in the attack.
The alliance has defended attacks on Serbian television by calling it a propaganda tool for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
There is evidence that the attacks on broadcast facilities are having some effect. News programs are less frequent than in the past, and, in Belgrade, the signal has gone on and off.
Increasingly, commercial channels are becoming an important source of information. Officials say more than 100 local TV stations and some 400 radio stations have been unaffected by the strikes against transmitters and relay stations.
Hungary expects use of its bases to step up
| |
| Seven more U.S. Apache helicopters arrived in Albania on Sunday | |
Meanwhile, in Washington, NATO leaders pledged economic and military support to seven non-NATO countries that border Yugoslavia, citing their support of NATO's operations. Those countries are Bulgaria, Albania, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Romania.
"They share our determination to prevail and to see this through, and they are willing to put up with the short-term inconveniences resulting from the Kosovo crisis," NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said Sunday that NATO will probably step up the use of Hungarian bases in the air campaign. Hungary is the only NATO nation that borders Yugoslavia, which has a substantial Hungarian minority in the northern province of Vojvodina.
But Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov, in Washington for the NATO summit, ruled out the use of Macedonian territory to launch a ground invasion of Kosovo. He criticized NATO and the European Union for being too slow to accept for resettlement ethnic Albanian refugees who have flooded into his country.
Chemical factory among latest targets
In raids early Sunday and late Saturday, NATO struck a variety of targets:
Russia resists oil embargo
NATO has now pledged to target oil supplies bound for Milosevic's "military machine," ordering its military staff to draw up plans to search ships bound for Yugoslavia.
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said NATO's "unanimity is total" on the decision to try to keep oil shipments from entering Yugoslavia's ports.
However, Russian officials say they will not honor the embargo, raising the possibility of confrontations on the high seas between NATO warships and Russian tankers.
The embargo also has raised concerns in Montenegro, the other, pro-Western republic that makes up the Yugoslav federation with Serbia.
All of Yugoslavia's sea access is in Montenegro. Oil lands there and is shipped in trucks to Serbia because there are no pipelines and rail links have been bombed.
Montenegro's Western-leaning government fears that an embargo could interrupt trade and further polarize and destabilize the republic. Government officials say NATO should instead try to cut off the overland supply lines to Serbia.
Embargo called 'illegal' by Yugoslavs
Yugoslav officials condemned the U.N. effort to cut off its oil supply.
"The oil embargo would be another illegal, unauthorized activity by NATO, in addition to its aggression and a number of other actions in the field of economic strangulation of Yugoslavia," said Vladislav Jovanovic, the charge d'affaires at the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations.
"So the whole international community should react in the appropriate way in condemning that action and requesting that NATO act and behave in line with international law, and not as a wild and political and military alliance acting on its own and against the charter of U.N.," Jovanovic said.
Shea said Saturday that the procedures determining how ships will be searched and which will be boarded will be developed over the next few days by Clark. His plans will then be submitted to the alliance's political leadership for approval.
Shea did not give a date for when the so-called "visit-and-search regime" to interdict oil shipments would begin.
Correspondents Alessio Vinci, Satinder Bindra and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES:
French waver on NATO plan to choke Yugoslav oil imports
April 24, 1999
NATO beefs up forces, moves to block Yugoslav oil
April 23, 1999
Kosovar men, feared victims of massacres, appear at border
April 23, 1999
NATO marks 50th in midst of Balkan war
April 23, 1999
Red Cross says Yugoslavia won't allow visit to POWs
April 23, 1999
U.S. not sending 2nd carrier to Yugo war
April 23, 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
• Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
• 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:
• U.S. Agency for International Development (Kosovo aid)
• Doctors of the World
• 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
• The Jewish Agency for Israel
• Mercy International
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 windowExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
| LATEST HEADLINES: |