July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 5:26 p.m. EDT (2126 GMT)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen predicted Thursday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will be forced from power by a public increasingly angry with his leadership.

On a flight to Denmark beginning a week-long visit to Europe, Cohen told reporters he believed recent anti-government protests in Serbia were proof of "strong discontent" with the Yugoslav president.

"I think you're seeing more evidence of it now, where you're seeing not only 10,000 people demonstrating but 20,000 people demonstrating and with greater ability to voice their concerns and their discontent. I think that will multiply in number and we will see that continue to spread," Cohen said.

Milosevic will likely try to counter the opposition by cracking down on dissent, Cohen said, but in the long term, "the people will see that they have been isolated internationally, that they have been economically devastated and that they will want a better future than Milosevic could ever provide for them."

Discussing the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, Cohen said the operation was going well, but he cited a need for more civilian police and faster implementation of civil reforms.

Cohen planned to talk about Kosovo and relations with Russia during his trip to Denmark, Norway, Albania, Hungary, Greece and Turkey.

Disparity in NATO defense capabilities on agenda

He also planned to stress the need for NATO countries to improve their defense capabilities and bring them closer to U.S. standards. In the air war on Yugoslavia, the United States supplied the bulk of the high-tech aircraft and smart bombs.

"What has been of concern to me and somewhat troubling has been the growing disparity in capabilities," Cohen said.

"We found that there were some real gaps in the secure communications with some of our allies. Secondly, it became very clear that (regarding) precision guided munitions, the United States had the overwhelming amount of those and therefore carried out those missions."

In his first stop in Denmark, Cohen was greeted by Danish Defense Minister Hans Haekkerup, who is considered by some analysts as a contender to replace NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana.

"His candidacy will be discussed, if he's interested, I don't know. We'll have to find that out," Cohen said.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and Reuters contributed to this report.

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