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July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 10:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- One of Yugoslavia's top opposition leaders got a hostile reception from Serbs in Kosovo on Thursday as he sought the support of Serbian Orthodox Church leaders for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's ouster.

Angry Serbs interrupted a news conference with jeers, and attacked reporters after the meeting between Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic and church leaders at a monastery near Pristina, capital of the Serb province of Kosovo. Some yelled "You're trying to destroy our government."

British peacekeeping troops quickly broke up the scuffle.

The church already has called on Milosevic to step down, as have demonstrators in cities like Leskovac, in southern Serbia. But there was no sign from Belgrade that the Yugoslav leader planned to relinquish power, and the opposition is still small and disorganized.

While protests like those in Leskovac have drawn 10,000 to 15,000 people, those are still small compared to anti- Milosevic rallies in 1996 and 1997 that drew hundreds of thousands of opponents.

Also in Pristina on Thursday, British Defense Secretary George Robertson called Milosevic "a loser" and said the demonstrations show that Yugoslavs are horrified over what Milosevic did in their names in Kosovo.

About 860,000 ethnic Albanians fled or were expelled from Kosovo during a crackdown in the province before and during the NATO bombing attacks against Yugoslavia that began March 24 and lasted 11 weeks.

Milosevic insisted the action was necessary to quell a terrorist-led secessionist movement.

During a visit with NATO peacekeepers in the provincial capital, Robertson turned aside questions about the effectiveness of the allied campaign that led to setting up the KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

NATO did 'enough,' British official says

"When people ask us what damage did we do to the Serb troops, the answer to that is 'enough.' We did enough damage inside Kosovo, and inside the federal republic of Yugoslavia, to get Milosevic to capitulate and to get Milosevic to adhere to the objectives and the demands that we set out," Robertson said.

His visit came as the United States -- which provided most of the aircraft used in the air war -- launched an extensive evaluation review of the conflict.

Robertson: "The message of NATO and the message of these demonstrators is very clear: Milosevic is a loser"

The Pentagon is expected to focus on U.S. shortages of precision-guided weapons and electronic-warfare aircraft, and a need for better intelligence, particularly after embarrassing mistakes such as the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

In addition, the study will examine whether NATO's need for consensus among its 19 members allowed time for Yugoslav forces to pursue a campaign against ethnic Albanian civilians, and hamstrung NATO commanders by limiting risks and targets.

But critics are missing the larger point, Robertson said: Yugoslav troops left Kosovo, and displaced ethnic Albanians are returning.

"That is what at the end of the day matters -- not the bean counting, not the number of damaged tanks."

Two-thirds of Kosovo refugees head home

With NATO troops in place around the province and a U.N. administration taking over, more refugees are returning to Kosovo daily. The first planeload of Kosovars who had sought shelter in Germany returned to the Balkans on Thursday.

Nearly 160 Kosovars left Germany for the Macedonian capital Skopje, before traveling on to Kosovo. Germany is paying for their flights and giving each person about $240 in aid.

Of the ethnic Albanians who fled Kosovo, about two-thirds, or 600,000, have returned since the war ended in June, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates.

Some of those returning knew what had happened to their homes and towns; others were forced to flee by Yugoslav troops before seeing the destruction.

"We only had five minutes to disappear," one woman said.

Many of the ethnic Albanians have turned on the Serbs, many of whom have asked for protection from KFOR troops or an escort out of Kosovo, the UNHCR said Thursday.

The relief agency said the Kosovo town of Strpce has become a sanctuary for about 11,000 Serbs.

Correspondents Alessio Vinci, Jamie McIntyre and Reuters contributed to this report.

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