ALBANIAN PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZES THACI GOVERNMENT... The
Albanian parliament on 12 May adopted a resolution
recognizing the provisional government of Hashim Thaci,
an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Tirana the
following day. Presidential adviser Mentor Nazarko told
RFE/RL that "the provisional government is a temporary
institution, created on the basis of an agreement
between the main leaders in the military, civil, and
political life of Kosova." He added that "the [Kosovars]
must regain the same level of unity that they had at the
Rambouillet talks." Bilal Sherifi, an official of the
provisional government, told RFE/RL that "the Albanian
government has recognized the legitimacy of the
UCK...and the political agreement between [all Albanian
representatives] at the Rambouillet talks on the
creation of a provisional government." He added that the
previous shadow-state structures have "ceased to
function in Kosova...and its people were left without a
political leadership." FS

WHILE OPPOSITION CRITICIZES THAT MOVE. Opposition
leader Sali Berisha, speaking to RFE/RL on 13 May,
criticized the recognition of the provisional
government. He argued that the parliament's resolution
rejects the legitimacy of the elected shadow-state
government of Bujar Bukoshi and its institutions. He
also pointed out that the resolution does not refer to
Ibrahim Rugova as "president of Kosova." Berisha called
on Rugova, Bukoshi, and the shadow-state legislators to
declare the resolution invalid. He added that the
resolution serves "pro-Serbian" interests and is "anti-
Albanian" because it will reinforce the political
division of the Kosovars into UCK and shadow-state
groups. FS

RUGOVA AND THE KOSOVAR POWER STRUGGLE

by Fabian Schmidt

Following more than a month of apparent captivity
in Serbia, Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova arrived in Rome
last week amid a power struggle in Kosova. Kosovar
politicians know that they have to build an efficient
administration quickly in order to win the war and plan
for the future, but past rivalries prevent them from
forging unity.
The Kosovars were at their most united in March,
when a broad- based delegation signed the Rambouillet
agreement. That document offered the vision of peace
under NATO protection and the prospect of democratic
development based on the rule of law--a prospect that
had never before seemed so close at hand.
In early 1990, the Kosovars had responded to then
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's abolition of
their autonomy the previous year by creating a multi-
party shadow-state, which was dominated by Rugova's
Democratic League of Kosova (LDK). In 1991, the shadow-
state organized a referendum on independence, which
passed by an overwhelming majority; and the following
year, it held underground parliamentary and presidential
elections. The LDK won that ballot and Rugova was
elected president. The shadow-state's legislature
appointed a government led by Bujar Bukoshi, who
developed the shadow-state's school and health systems
through financial contributions from the Albanian
Diaspora.
But despite much international sympathy for
Rugova's non-violent political strategy, the shadow-
state failed to gain international recognition. The
Kosovars were left out of the frequent international
conferences on the former Yugoslavia, and many ethnic
Albanians came to the conclusion that the international
community only rewarded those who made war. When the
Dayton agreement ended the Bosnian war in 1995 and gave
the Serbs their own para-state, many Kosovars saw that
belief as confirmed.
In early 1996, the activities of the Kosova
Liberation Army (UCK) first came to public notice. But
despite widespread Serbian repression, the UCK did not
begin to receive broader popular support until Serbian
forces began conducting massacres of civilians in
several villages in February 1998.
By the summer, Serbian police had driven some
200,000 ethnic Albanians from their homes, some 98,000
of whom fled Kosova. The UCK gained in strength, and the
shadow-state politicians had to recognize it as one of
Kosova's key players. It also increasingly received
attention from the international community, as
demonstrated by a well-publicized meeting of U.S. envoy
Richard Holbrooke with UCK leaders in a Kosovar village
in mid-June.
The guerrillas' importance received another boost
when Serbian forces launched "Operation Horseshoe" in
January of this year and drove about 175,000 people out
of their homes, some 75,000 of whom fled Kosova. As a
consequence, the UCK became the only force on which
Kosovar civilians could hope to rely for protection. The
guerrillas' new importance was reflected at the
Rambouillet talks, where the Kosovar delegation included
Rugova and other LDK representatives but was led by UCK
leader Hashim Thaci.
That unity proved short-lived, however. Even during
the Rambouillet talks, now Yugoslav President Milosevic
began his final "ethnic cleansing" campaign as part of
"Operation Horseshoe." Anything left of Rugova's shadow-
state collapsed in the process. On 31 March, less than a
week after the beginning of NATO air strikes, Serbian
forces captured Rugova and his family in their house and
prevented them from establishing any direct contact with
the outside world.
In the ensuing weeks, Thaci and other Rambouillet
participants created a provisional government that has
close links with the UCK, which had set up bases in
Albania and remains the only Kosovar institution still
operating inside Kosova.
Meanwhile, Milosevic used Rugova for several
appearances serving propagandist goals, including at a
meeting with Russian Patriarch Aleksii II. The Serbian
daily "Politika" on 29 April published a declaration
allegedly signed by Rugova and Serbian Premier Milan
Milutinovic. The text called for direct talks between
the Serbian government and Kosovar leaders, leading to
wide-ranging autonomy and respect for the territorial
integrity of Serbia. The declaration said that in these
talks, representatives of the international community
may take part only as "guests."
Meanwhile, tensions between Bukoshi and Thaci
grew. The provisional government demanded that Bukoshi
accept its legitimacy, which, in practice, would have
obliged him to surrender most of the shadow-state's
funds to the UCK. But Bukoshi's sympathizers refused to
give in. They pointed out that they also have a
guerrilla organization, albeit smaller than the UCK,
known as the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosova
(FARK).
An attempt in early May by Albanian Prime Minister
Pandeli Majko to bring the rivals to the negotiating
table failed because of the two sides' refusals to
recognize each other. Meanwhile, the UCK's news agency
Kosovapress has banned the Swiss-Albanian daily "Bota
Sot" from using its news items. The UCK argues that the
daily, which is close to Bukoshi, is making a profit by
living from news that the UCK's journalists gather under
the constant threat of death.
Rugova is now at the center of the strife. He has
so far failed to explain what happened to him in Serbian
captivity and to say whether the declaration in
"Politika" is authentic. He has also failed to state
unequivocally which of the two rival Kosovar governments
he supports. The Albanian parliament's 12 May decision
to recognize Thaci's provisional government will
increase the pressure on Rugova to make peace with the
UCK, which now holds the balance of power among the
Kosovars. It will not be an easy task. And the longer he
maintains silence on key questions, the more difficult
it will become.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Copyright (c) 1999 RFE/RL, Inc.

Ps tried to put news from as much sides in this conflict as possible, and as objective as i can.

This time it's not the Yugoslav army taking journalists on a trip, but the KLA. Wonder how many Serb Journalists were allowed by their government to join the party.


KLA says attacking Serb positions in Kosovo daily
04:54 a.m. May 19, 1999 Eastern


KOSARE, Serbia, May 19 (Reuters) - Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas said they were attacking Yugoslav military positions in Kosovo daily and were receiving recruits faster than they could be armed.


Journalists taken a few kilometres (miles) over the border into the Serbian province from northern Albania on Tuesday night were shown a Yugoslav army post that was captured last month and has now become a command centre for the KLA.


Guerrillas in full battle dress were seen in the area moving up towards the front of a 10-km (six-mile)-deep strip of land taken after peace talks in Paris broke down in March.


The air echoed to the thud of incoming and outgoing artillery fire as Yugoslav troops pounded KLA positions below their command post, which is perched on the side of a mountain.


``Serb propaganda has to be defeated. We are not a spent force,'' said Agip Ramadani, one of the local KLA commanders as he showed reporters around a building with broken windows and scarred by small arms fire.


``We want to show world opinion that the KLA is an organised force, has its own uniforms and has its own emblems.''


About 50 KLA soldiers, some freshly arrived from France with only two weeks' training, were milling around in the courtyard of the building, wearing full battle dress, armed mainly with Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition belts.


Others stood guard, weapons at the ready, looking down into a valley that the KLA calls Free Kosovo. The silence of the leafy valley was broken only by the crackle of small arms fire.


Reporters saw several columns of guerrillas heading off towards the front from rear positions very close to the Albanian border. The fighters looked enthusiastic, even if many of them had only rudimentary military experience.


Several guerrillas died and several more were seriously injured during the exchange of artillery fire on Tuesday night -- a near daily event since the base was captured.


KLA commanders were unwilling to say exactly how much territory they controlled. But individual soldiers said the KLA had captured a pocket that measured about 12 kms (seven miles) along the Albanian border and stretched 10 kms (six miles) deep.


In the Albanian capital Tirana earlier on Tuesday, the self-styled KLA-led provisional government of Kosovo told British Prime Minister Tony Blair the West should either arm its guerrillas or send NATO ground troops into Kosovo.


The KLA leadership said a three-member delegation met Blair and told him the situation of the Kosovo people ``is very difficult'' and the KLA was doing ``its utmost to ease their suffering.''


The rebel movement says it has about 50,000 soldiers on the ground all over Kosovo and its officers say many are joining up every day from around the world.


'At the moment, we have more volunteers than we can arm,'' said one KLA official, who declined to be named.


Evidence that the diaspora of Kosovo Albanians had returned to fight was clear.


Guerrillas, most of them in their late 20s and early 30s, had left lives and families in France, Italy, Germany, the United States and Switzerland to come and fight the Serbs.


The fact that the KLA is equipped mainly with light weaponry and faces a battle-hardened professional army did not seem to dampen their enthusiasm.


``It's going really well. It's just like doing your military service,'' said Nexhet Kelmendi, a Kosovo Albanian who spent the last few years as a doorman and nightclub bouncer in Paris.


Kelmendi and his brother Besnik last month travelled from Paris to the Albanian port of Durres, where they were picked up by the KLA and given two weeks of basic training.


``It's a really convivial atmosphere. We all came here to fight for liberty,'' he said.


But for those unfortunate enough to be wounded in the fighting, it was more of a nightmare. They faced an hour-long drive to the nearest Albanian hospital across bumpy muddy tracks that tested even the most powerful of off-road vehicles.

Zoja

UK's Robertson warns of Milosevic's Balkan ambitions
05:13 a.m. May 19, 1999 Eastern


By Paul Majendie


BUDAPEST, May 19 (Reuters) - British Defence Secretary George Robertson said on Wednesday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing ambitions stretched beyond the borders of Kosovo.


Robertson, the first NATO defence minister to visit Hungary since the bombing of Yugoslavia began eight weeks ago, said on his flight into Budapest that ``For Hungary, the stakes are pretty high.''


As NATO bombing of Yugoslavia intensifies, Hungary has become increasingly worried about the potential impact on the 300,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Serbia, most of them just south of the Hungarian border in Vojvodina province.


``I don't think it is scare mongering to say Vojvodina would be next in the drive for ethnic purity,'' Robertson said.


``It would not stop at Kosovo. Montenegro would be next.''


``We have a seen a unique savagery in Kosovo and there is no indication he (Milosevic) will stop there,'' he added.


Hungary, which joined NATO just two weeks before the bombing campaign started, has approved unlimited use of its airspace and airfields for the NATO bombing operation, but it has ruled out direct involvement in the conflict.


NATO has 20 tanker refuelling planes in Hungary and 24 U.S. F-18s are to come here too.


Robertson firmly ruled out the option of NATO basing any ground troops in Hungary, saying, ``This is not on the agenda.''


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, eager to keep public opinion on side, has said NATO would protect Hungary and provide a security umbrella for the ethnic Hungarians in Serbia.


Robertson, heading into talks with Orban, was quick to acknowledge the domestic sensitivities in Hungary.


``The government is very committed. Public opinion -- as in most of these countries -- is fragile,'' he said.


``I'm encouraging them to remain robust.


``It is a new democracy, it is a new member of NATO and an aspirant European Union member. Both these European clubs are attractive to join and bring benefits. But they both bring heavy responsibilities too.''


Robertson came with assurances that Hungary would be one of the main recipients of financial aid from the ``Marshall Plan for the Balkans'' agreed at last month's NATO 50th anniversary summit in Washington.


The bombing and blocking of the Danube River and other attacks in the allied campaign are set to cost the Hungarian economy up to $500 million a year, according to a recent economic survey.


Zoja

NATIONAL POST, Wednesday, May 19, 1999


How Kosovo plays in the Middle East


Daniel Pipes
National Post


Middle Easterner Muslims seem baffled by Kosovo. Should they, as proud Muslims, sympathize with the mostly Muslim Albanians? Or should they, as stalwart opponents of the United States and NATO, and in some cases long-time friends of Belgrade, sympathize with the Serbs? Indecision and contradiction lead to a curious mish-mash of reactions and an overall inability to respond in a way that might materially affect the outcome of the crisis.


The one Middle Eastern country with a predominantly Muslim population offering heartfelt support for the NATO operation is Turkey, where concern has less to do with Islamic brotherhood than with five centuries of Ottoman imperial rule in Kosovo, the fact that some 60,000 Kosovars speak Turkish as their mother tongue, and there are many family ties between the Kosovars and the citizens of Turkey. "I saw my relatives on television, walking through mud and in pain. I tracked them down and brought them home," says Fahri Turkkan, head of the Kosovo Albanian Solidarity Group in Turkey. This sort of reaction has led to an outpouring of popular support for the NATO operations and to a nearly fever-pitch concern for the well-being of the refugees -- 15,000 of whom have found their way to Turkey, a larger number than to any other member state of NATO. Indeed, so many Turkish families have opened their homes to refugees that government-sponsored refugee camps have had hardly any takers.


In the rest of the region, Muslim opinion is far more negative. Emotions are muted among NATO's few supporters. Yes, the Saudi authorities endorsed the bombing ("We must encourage the Americans and their allies in NATO to stay the course") and even called for ground troops "to finish the job," but they did so quietly, for this position goes against the feelings of most Saudis. More weakly, the government of Jordan condemned the Serb actions without endorsing NATO's air campaign.


To the extent that Muslim Arabs back NATO, they do so to argue for parallels between the plight of Kosovars and Palestinians. Serb and Israeli actions are allegedly "no different": An article with the provocative title "Netansevic" points to ethnic cleansing, deportation of citizens, and destruction of civilian records and property deeds. Advocates of this line sometimes take the next step: "the justifications given by NATO leaders for attacking the Serbs also apply to Israel" and the United States should "handle the Palestinian problem . . . with the same approach, determination, and willpower" as in the Balkans. One Egyptian newspaper columnist even writes about his dream "of a day when NATO forces carry out punishing operations against Israel."


Arab critics of NATO are far more numerous and much more voluble. Many of them simply and emphatically reject the notion that the Americans and their friends are using force on behalf of Muslims. Hezbollah issued a statement declaring that the fighting in the Balkans "does not aim at protecting Albanian Muslims [but is] designed to preserve American interests, and the strongest proof of this is the ongoing killing of Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbs." In other words, Hezbollah completely ignored NATO's proclaimed intention of helping the Kosovars and instead dwelt exclusively on the unfortunate consequences of its actions.


Many others adopted this line and drew conclusions furthering their usual viewpoint. A Syrian newspaper rejected "the story line that the aim of this Third World War, mounted unilaterally by the Atlantic Alliance, is to afford protection for the Muslims of Kosovo," arguing instead that it has the more far-reaching goal of putting "a definitive end to the nuclear and military capabilities of Russia after it has been subjugated economically." This alarmist statement points to the renewed Syrian need to pander to Russia.


In addition to "strongly condemning this tyrannical aggression," the Iraqi analysis dismissed purported U.S. and European concern with the Albanians of Kosovo, calling this nothing more than "disguises concealing other objectives," which it claims are to weaken Yugoslavia and "encircle Russia." It went on to predict that if "the United States targeted Belgrade this time, so the Cruise missiles will echo in Moscow itself and in other capitals" and ended with a rousing call to arms: "O states of the East, be united!"


The Iranians were likewise little impressed by NATO's attempts to safeguard the Kosovars and return them to their homes; they reversed this goal and interpreted the aerial bombing campaign as a way to tamp down the Islamic threat to Europe. "The NATO airstrikes," explained Iran's supreme leader, "contrary to Western propaganda, have not only failed to bring tranquility to Muslims but have worsened their situation . . . The process will continue until Muslims are driven out [of Europe], Islam is wiped out, and the Islamic community is destroyed."


This motley collection of official responses points to two conclusions. First, the Middle East often lives politically in a world of its own making, one that often leads to strange and even false conclusions. Second, on the question of Kosovo, anti-Americanism trumps Muslim solidarity.


Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes, and Where It Comes From (Free Press). Assaf Moghadam helped with the research.

From ANA (Greece), May, 19

FM Papandreou in meetings with Kosovo envoys

Papandreou, who on Tuesday had talks in Helsinki with Finnish
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and counterpart Tarja Halonen, was due
to meet with President Marti Ahtisaari who has assumed a special
mediatory role in efforts to resolve the Kosovo crisis. Papandreou
later referred to talks in Helsinki between the United States, Russia
and the European Union as "the most serious and systematic diplomatic
effort to date... a turning point in the Kosovo crisis". He added that
it would depend on "all sides" whether a settlement will result,
according to an ANA despatch from Helsinki. The US delegation at the
talks was headed by Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Russia
was represented by its Balkans envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin. The EU was
represented by Ahtisaari in his role as special mediator.

U.S. Reports Serb Troop Desertions


By Barry Schweid
Associated Press Writer Wednesday, May 19, 1999; 5:19 p.m. EDT


WASHINGTON (AP) -- As many as 500 Serb soldiers have deserted in Kosovo, a sign that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is ``feeling the heat'' of NATO airstrikes, the State Department said Wednesday.


Some of the soldiers went home to join families demonstrating against the Belgrade government, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said, citing ``credible reports'' without identifying them.


The U.S. spokesman said the desertions Tuesday were more significant than earlier ones because ``it involved entire units.''


``Milosevic himself may now see the writing on the wall and may be looking for a way out of the catastrophe that he has created,'' Rubin said as the Clinton administration claimed progress in the NATO bombing campaign, in its 57th day Wednesday, and on the diplomatic front, as well.


At the Pentagon, spokesman Kenneth Bacon said desertions are concentrated among Serb troops stationed in northern Kosovo, and probably involve reserve units. Some deserters are headed for three Serb villages where demonstrations began May 16 to protest the war in Kosovo, Bacon said.


``They seem to be leaving in groups and they're taking some equipment,'' Bacon said, calling it ``a sign of some disarray.'' But he said it was too soon to tell whether the desertions and protests would have lasting effects.


Speaking Wednesday at a Democratic fund-raiser in New York, President Clinton said he was convinced he had ``done the right thing in the best available way'' in the Balkans.


``I would far rather be here today answering the questions that I have to answer to the American people and to the press about what we have done and why we have done it and how we've done it, than ... if I were sitting on my hands letting those people be butchered and thrown out of their homes and plundered and their records erased,'' the president said.


Still, Milosevic gave no sign of accepting the U.S. and NATO demands for ending the conflict. Among them: withdrawal of virtually all Serb troops and paramilitary units from Kosovo and acceptance of a peacekeeping force with NATO soldiers at its core.


And on the diplomatic front, after another round of talks Tuesday and Wednesday between Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and the Russian mediator Viktor Chernomyrdin in Helsinki, Finland, Rubin said ``clearly there are gaps'' between NATO and Russia on what to demand of the Yugoslav leader.


Russia would suspend the bombing for negotiations and is resisting the inclusion of a large NATO element in the peacekeeping force.


After a trip to Belgrade, Chernomyrdin was scheduled to return to Moscow on Thursday for more talks with Talbott and Martti Ahtisaari, the president of Finland, who the United States has enlisted as a mediator alongside Chernomyrdin. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also is trying his hand at a diplomatic settlement.


White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said the United States expected Chernomyrdin to present Milosevic with the proposed deployment of an international force to keep the peace in Kosovo after the fighting stops.


``I think you're seeing, almost anyplace you look now, signs of problems for Milosevic,'' the spokesman said. ``You have now demonstrations in three different towns where he's having to divert troops to go and try to quell these internal demonstrations.''


The reported Serb desertions were linked by Rubin to demonstrations against Milosevic in some Serb cities. He said some of the soldiers may have wanted to join their protesting families to protect them in the event of government retribution.


Rubin said the demonstrations were to protest the toll the bombing was taking on Yugoslavia.


In southern Serbia, meanwhile, commanders of a Yugoslav army garrison in accused protesters in a series of anti-army rallies of treas

During Lunch, I tried and tried to get the following story's news complemented by the Tanjug/ RTS point of view, but it is not even mentioned. The only thing I find is pieces about Serbian UNITY!

THE NEW YORK TIMES

May 20, 1999


SERBIA


Women Protest Draftees' Kosovo Duty


By CARLOTTA GALL


BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Women in two towns in southern Serbia continued their street protests Wednesday, demanding that their sons be allowed to return home from army service in Kosovo.


Their pleas seemed to be answered in part when truckloads of soldiers arrived home, residents said. NATO officials said in Brussels that the soldiers were deserters.


For the fourth day running, hundreds of mothers, wives and sisters of conscripted soldiers and reservists sent to Kosovo demonstrated in Krusevac and Aleksandrovac, 100 miles south of Belgrade and close to Kosovo.


Army trucks full of soldiers arrived later in the day, one resident said. Some people talked to the soldiers and were told they were on their way to their garrison to return their weapons, he said.


The soldiers' return to Krusevac appeared to be calm, but there were reports of shooting in Aleksandrovac.


According to NATO officials, more
than 500 reservists from the 7th Infantry Brigade in Istok, in Kosovo, hurried back to Krusevac after hearing of the protests.


The women's protests reportedly began after the bodies of seven soldiers were brought back to Krusevac on Friday, and three to Aleksandrovac, together with a number of wounded.


The women had been parading through the two towns, and hurled stones and eggs at the town hall in Krusevac on Tuesday before being dispersed by the police, according to local sources quoted by the Belgrade-based VIP news agency.


One witness reached by telephone said the crowd of women in Krusevac on Tuesday numbered about 1,000. Many blew whistles, a tactic employed by pro-democracy demonstrators during the weeks of protests in Belgrade during the winter of 1996-1997.


The demonstrations do not appear to be politically motivated, but were more a spontaneous event, residents said.


Demonstrations have also been reported in Cacak, not far from Belgrade, where the municipal authorities are run by the democratic opposition.


All such gatherings are technically prohibited under the emergency military rule introduced in Yugoslavia when the NATO air campaign began on March 24. Foreign journalists, who are prohibited from traveling outside Belgrade without permission, have been unable to visit Krusevac and Aleksandrovac.


But the authorities have allowed the protests to continue, probably because they mostly involve soldiers' mothers. Large numbers of reservists have been called up in southern Serbia and have been sent along with regular units of draftees to Kosovo. Units generally spend two weeks in the province and then return home for a two-day break.


The local unhappiness seems to be aimed at the local authorities. The official state news media have been announcing the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo for more than a week now, and families are angry that their sons have still not come home.


No official figures of casualties among police and army personnel in Kosovo have been released.


Some soldiers returning from Kosovo have played down the danger posed by NATO bombing. Two soldiers who returned recently on leave told relatives and friends that they are managing to avoid the bombs by sheltering in deep cellars or trenches.


Nevertheless the demonstrations seem to have ruffled the authorities. The commander of the garrison at Krusevac criticized the organizers and the "destructive character" of the gatherings. "The best feelings of the parents were abused by the organizers, who have mainly been identified," he said in a statement published in the daily Glas Javnosti. "No issue will be resolved on the street."


Opposition parties, wary of a crackdown by the authorities, have been careful to distance themselves from the local demonstrations.


The headquarters of the Democratic Party came under attack Wednesday from stone-throwing demonstrators who, party members said, were almost certainly sent by the police. Twenty tough-looking men with cropped hair and wearing leather jackets drove up mid-morning in half a dozen Mercedeses and BMWs and began throwing stones and eggs at the building. A crowd of 100 people gathered, shouting, "We will not give up Kosovo!" and calling the party members inside traitors.


The police looked on passively, according to Liljana Lucic, the party's vice president, who was inside for most of the two-hour attack.

THE NEW YORK TIMES


May 20, 1999


EDITORIALS


Before Winter Arrives in Kosovo


Summer is still a month away, but next winter is already starting to drive decisions about the war in Yugoslavia. The logic is inescapable: either hundreds of thousands of displaced ethnic Albanians need to be safely resettled in Kosovo before freezing temperatures return to the Balkans or the United States and its allies must winterize refugee encampments in Albania and Macedonia and help Montenegro do the same. If the combination of air power and diplomacy fail to make repatriation possible soon, NATO will quickly have to confront some hard decisions, including whether to retain the option of using ground troops later this year to evict Serbian troops from Kosovo.


The calendar is inflexible. Harsh weather in the region, especially in the mountains, comes as early as October or November. If refugee camps are to be made habitable for the winter, construction work must begin in June. If NATO wants to keep open the possibility of invading Kosovo before snow and ice make military operations extremely difficult, the alliance must start to assemble the soldiers, tanks and other weapons now. It will take two to three months to get an adequate land force in place.


That is why the pace of diplomacy is picking up and debate about the possible use of ground troops is intensifying, with Britain pressing for an invasion, Germany resisting and Washington wavering. Without strong American leadership, crucial decisions may be deferred or fumbled.


Clearly, it would be preferable to reach a political settlement that allows the safe return of the refugees and the presence of a well-armed international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Despite the recent political turmoil in Moscow, Russian and American diplomats are refining a deal that can be brought to the United Nations Security Council. Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Russian envoy, discussed the proposals with Slobodan Milosevic yesterday.


We continue to believe that NATO bombing will eventually compel Mr. Milosevic to support a political settlement that is acceptable to NATO. If the parties can agree on the composition of a peacekeeping force and a timetable for the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, other elements of an agreement will likely fall into place. But if the negotiations falter or fail, NATO should have other options available.


Unless Mr. Clinton and the nation have already concluded that ground forces should never be used in this war, which does not seem to be the case, preparations for an invasion should move ahead. The gathering of an invasion force in the region would itself brace Mr. Milosevic, and many of the NATO units could be used for peacekeeping if the war ends during the buildup. The presence of a robust ground force in the area does not mean it has to be used, but the absence of one makes the invasion threat meaningless.


Planning for winter housing for the refugees should also be advancing. Heated shelter for hundreds of thousands of people cannot be thrown up overnight. Moving ethnic Albanians to Western Europe and America can help, but will not solve the problem. It may not seem like it, but the time for making critical decisions is rapidly approaching.

Copycat Russians on the loose. Hang on guys, the article quoted below is FUN!

Yeltsin Orders Study On Space Use In Yugoslavia
05:12 a.m. May 21, 1999 Eastern

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Boris Yeltsin told Russian
experts Friday to conduct a study of how NATO has used
space technology in its air campaign against Yugoslavia and
whether similar weaponry might be developed in Russia.

``The competent Russian bodies have been authorized to
conduct an analysis of space technology used in NATO's
armed operations against Yugoslavia,'' Yeltsin said in a
statement. ''Based on the results, proposals are to be made
on elaborating a program to create and use corresponding
means and weapons.''

``The president approved the proposal by the leaders of the
space missile sector to extend the summer period of use of
the orbiting Mir station with non-budget funding,'' a statement
released by the Kremlin said.

It gave no more details.

Russia had initially planned to retire Mir, which has had a
series of problems in recent years, in June. But the
government decided it could stay in orbit until August and then
space officials said it could stay longer if private funds were
found.

The Energiya rocket cooperation, which owns Mir, said last
month a Welsh-born businessman had agreed to help raise
the $100 million needed to keep Mir flying for a year. But some
officials have expressed doubts that the money will be found.

Slob Milo's cold feet


The Independent (London), 5-21-99

War in the Balkans - Police rush to
tense town of deserters

By Julian Manyon in Belgrade

The towns of Krusevac and Alexandrovac
in south central Serbia were reported
quiet but tense yesterday after the
return of about 1,000 army deserters to
their homes.

The men, conscripts and reservists,
returned without official authorisation
on Wednesday morning from northern
Kosovo after commandeering military and
civilian transport, according to
reliable reports reaching Belgrade. The
mass desertion is said by informed
sources in the capital to have thrown
the government of President Slobodan
Milosevic into "near panic".

According to sources in the area the
desertions were set in train after
trouble erupted in Alexandrovac on
Monday when about 100 soldiers who had
been on leave were about to return to
Kosovo by bus.

Relatives and friends of the soldiers
who had come to see them off started a
spontaneous protest demonstration in
the town centre and sent a delegation
to the town's mayor, Zivota Cvetkovic,
demanding that the soldiers should not
be sent back to Kosovo.

The mayor agreed to address the crowd
in the town's central square but when
he got there he was immediately
attacked and knocked to the ground.

Contrary to reports in some Western
newspapers, the mayor was not lynched
but escaped bruised and shaken when the
crowd scattered after a soldier fired
his weapon in the air, apparently by
accident. The soldiers then boarded
their buses and returned to Kosovo.

When they got back to their units they
apparently spread news of what had
happened in Alexandrovac and nearby
Krusevac, where on Sunday an anti-war
demonstration was staged by about 1,000
army mothers in front of the monument
to the heroes of the Battle of Kosovo
Polje fought against the Turks in 1389.
This demonstration was sparked by the
return from Kosovo of seven dead
soldiers and a number of wounded.

On Tuesday night about 1,000 men
serving in Kosovo decided to return
home and are said to have commandeered
vehicles and driven through the night
without orders in a spontaneous act of
desertion.

I am told that the motive for the men's
decision was less the casualties they
had suffered from Nato's bombing -
still relatively light - but more their
concern over the relatives who had been
involved in public disorder in the two
towns on Sunday and Monday.

The men apparently returned to their
original recruitment points in Krusevac
and Alexandrovac on Wednesday where
negotiations with the military
authorities, including the general
commanding the Nis army group, took
place.

The result is said to be that the
soldiers had handed in their weapons
and been issued with demobilisation
certificates noting that they had
served in Kosovo and authorising them
to return to their homes.

Of particular significance is said to
be the fact that many of the men come
from agricultural villages around
Krusevac, long a heartland of President
Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party.
"This shows that people there are
turning away from Milosevic," one
source said.

In Belgrade, informed sources are
reporting deep official disquiet over
the desertions, which do not yet affect
the army's defensive capabilities in
Kosovo.

Even before this happened, steps had
apparently been taken to prevent
serious unrest among garrison forces
near the capital, some of which have
been subjected to heavy Nato bombing.
Soldiers serving near Belgrade were
reported recently to have been ordered
to hand in most of the ammunition in
their possession. They had earlier been
issued with 150 rounds per rifle.

Meanwhile, heavy police reinforcements,
including military police with dogs,
have been brought to Krusevac from Nis,
but the situation remains tense. It is
not clear whether the return of the
soldiers will calm the atmosphere or if
disaffection will now spread to other
towns with substantial numbers of
conscripts serving in Kosovo, such as
Valjevo and Kragujevac.

The Independent (London), 5-21-99

Podium - A different European order,
post-Kosovo

Paddy Ashdown

From a speech by the leader of the
Liberal Democrats delivered at
Sheffield Hallam University

It was war and our determination to end
wars in Europe which was the original
driving force behind the creation of
the European Community. The aim was to
bind together the countries of Western
Europe in such a way as to make it
impossible for them ever again to go to
war with one another.

And we have been tremendously
successful. The last 50 years has been
the longest period of unbroken peace in
Western Europe for more than 300 years.
Our destiny is now so inseparable from
that of our European neighbours that it
is unthinkable that war could ever
again break out between us. But while
we have succeeded in securing peace
within our borders, we have failed
miserably in preventing bloodshed
around them.

I travelled to Kosovo three times last
year. On each occasion I warned that
unless we showed more urgency and
resolve in standing up to President
Milosevic, then his aggression would
continue and the atrocities would
escalate.

And so it has tragically proved, with
results that we can see for ourselves
every night on our television screens.
Men, women and children, in their
hundreds of thousands, are being driven
from their homes for no other reason
than their ethnic origin. The looting,
the burning, the rape. The systematic
murder of thousands of innocent people.

To have stood by and allowed this evil
to succeed would have been to acquiesce
in genocide. That is why we had to act.
And indeed, the strength of purpose
shown by the nations of Western Europe
over the last two months has been quite
without precedent.

But that does not alter the fact that,
at almost every stage of this tragedy,
we have acted too slowly and
uncertainly. Once again we have relied
on the willingness of the US to take
the lead in enforcing the will of the
international community against an evil
on our very doorstep.

When the immediate conflict is over,
when - as I hope and pray - Milosevic's
forces have been removed from Kosovo
and the refugees safely returned to
their homes, there are three vital
things we must do to show that we have
learnt the lessons of this tragedy.

First, we need to create an overarching
settlement for the Balkan region. It
will not be enough just to watch over
Kosovo. We must offer all Balkan
nations, including Serbia, a place in
the family of Europe. And that means
offering every one of these nations a
pathway towards membership of both Nato
and the EU.

The fact is that the Balkans have only
ever been at peace when an overarching
power has acted as guarantor. First the
Ottomans, then the Hapsburgs, then the
Communists. The only hope for long-term
stability in the region is for Europe
to step into that breach.

Second, we must fundamentally reform
Nato. Nato has not performed well in
Kosovo. Perhaps we should not be
surprised. Nato was designed for total
war. It has neither the structures, nor
the culture, to fight the kind of
"diplomatic military operation" we are
seeing in Kosovo. But these are the
kind of wars I fear that we will have
to fight more and more in the future.
If Nato is going to cope effectively it
will need fundamental restructuring at
both the political and the military
level.

And the third thing we are going to
have to do in Europe is to start taking
defence a lot more seriously. Europe
has become an economic heavyweight, but
it remains a military lightweight.

Despite the fact that we have a
population half as large again as the
US, we spend just two-thirds as much on
our defence, and our ability to deploy
forces beyond our borders is just one
10th of America's.

We can't go on relying on Uncle Sam to
bail us out every time there's trouble
in our back yard. Because one day we're
going to call for the cavalry, and the
cavalry won't come. There is a
desperate need for a Europe-wide
defence review, to look at how, by
co-ordinating our efforts more closely,
we can get better value for money and
greater effectiveness for our military.

And yes, this may well mean a review of
defence budgets. Too many European
countries have been freeloading on
defence and defence spending for too
long. Spain, for example, spends just
1.3 per cent of its GDP on defence, and
Germany and Belgium not much more. This
will have to end if we are to have an
effective defence capability on our
continent, preserving our continent's
peace.

Let us be clear. Kosovo has raised the
stakes. From here, we are going to be
in a very different European order, one
that will require a stronger and better
organised EU, and a properly resourced
common foreign and security policy.

Abducted Kosovo men tell of ordeal by Serb army
11:45 a.m. May 20, 1999 Eastern

By Crispian Balmer

ULCINJ, Montenegro, May 20 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanian men
abducted by Yugoslav soldiers have returned to their refugee
camps here amazed to be alive but shaken by an ordeal which
included beatings and sexual humiliation.

Soldiers rounded up around 100 men as they tried to leave this
small Yugoslav republic for Albania on Saturday, busing them
across country to Serbia and then back to Kosovo before
unexpectedly returning them and freeing them on Monday.

During their three-day ordeal, the refugees, aged between 15 and
55, said they were beaten, robbed and, in some cases, forced to
strip naked and perform oral sex on each other.

``When they brought us back to Montenegro and I saw
Montenegrin police on the roads it was like being born a second
time,'' said one 26-year-old agricultural worker, who, like all his
companions, refused to give his name.

After their release most of the men have been brought to campsites in
Montenegro's Adriatic coastal resort of Ulcinj, home to some
30,000 Kosovo refugees. All said they now wanted a police escort
out of the country.

``We won't feel safe until we have left Yugoslavia,'' said one gaunt
young man.

Montenegro is Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav federation,
and although it is hostile to Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic's government it plays host to thousands of federal
troops who take their orders from Belgrade.

The refugees were separated from their wives and mothers on
Saturday morning when soldiers set up a random roadblock at the
Albanian border. Some 30,000 ethnic Albanian refugees have
travelled safely through Montenegro on their way to
Albania over the past eight weeks and Saturday was the first time a
group had been stopped by the army.

``The soldiers told us: 'You are completely safe. We are taking
you back home','' said a 26-year-old from the southwestern
Kosovo town of Istok. ``We thought we were dead.''

As soon as the three army buses started to drive them north, the
violence started. The men said soldiers randomly hit their
captives, demanding money and jewelry.

Some refugees still had bruises on their faces, cut noses and large
red contusions across their backs on Thursday.

Once they crossed into Serbia several more Serb reservists,
some wearing black masks, climbed aboard the buses.

``Me and the person next to me were forced to take off our clothes
and made to do things that I do not do with my wife,'' said a lanky
youth in a black and red tracksuit.

Another of the men said later that the youth had been forced to
perform oral sex. A pair of elderly men were treated similarly. ``They
held knives to their throats and laughed at them, called them
homosexuals,'' said the young man. Other refugees confirmed
his story.

At first the men were taken to the small southern Serbian village of
Tutin and put in a police compound, where they were interrogated.

``They kept on saying we were members of the KLA (Kosovo
Liberation Army). But we are not, we are normal people,'' said a
man from the Kosovo city of Pec.

The refugees said the police treated them well, and added that
Tutin residents gave them food.

the next day the army picked them up again and drove them into
Kosovo -- but then enexpectedly turned around and took them back
to Tutin, where they spent Sunday night.

The following morning all but five were bused to the northeastern
Montenegrin logging town of Rozaje and released without
explanation. The refugees said they knew the names of three of
the five and did not know what had happened to them.

Montenegro's pro-Western government said it was NATO
bombing which forced the buses to turn back and drive out of
Kosovo. It said the men had finally been freed because of its official
protests.

The army said in a statement they detained the men because they
were eligible for Yugoslav military service and were considered
potential deserters.

Far from wanting to fight for Yugoslavia, some of the refugees
said their abduction had made them think about joining the KLA.

``I would fight now, but I am the only man in our family and if I died
who would look after my mother and sisters?'' said the youth in the
red and black tracksuit, staring intensely at the ground.

U.N. team hampered from visiting Kosovo villages
02:56 p.m May 21, 1999 Eastern

PRISTINA, Serbia, May 21 (Reuters) - On his first full day in
Kosovo, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator was
allowed to stray from the route agreed with his Serbian hosts only
once.

They told Sergio Vieira de Mello it was not safe to visit Muhadzer
Babuc, a village off the main road from the regional capital Pristina to
the border with Macedonia. But he overruled them and set off with a
small group towards the houses.

They were intact, with chickens wandering around and cows
grazing in the fields.

But when he tried to find people to speak to, there was no one there.
Inside the houses, clothes, bedding and household items
were strewn all over the floor -- signs of looting or a hasty
departure. Outhouses and barns were deserted.

``Silent confirmation,'' Vieira said.

He and his team had come to Yugoslavia to assess the
humanitarian needs of the population in the midst of NATO's
air strikes campaign which has been accompanied by the exodus
of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. Western
relief officials fear there may be many more hiding out, with little
food, water or shelter, in woods and mountains inside Kosovo.

Many of the refugees reaching neighbouring Albania or
Macedonia say they were driven out by Serb security forces.
Serbian officials say they fled NATO's bombing, which continued
on Friday in other parts of Kosovo.

The alliance, which had been warned of the U.N.'s route 48
hours in advance, hit a prison where Serbian officials said at
least 19 people were killed.

In the town of Urosevac, one of the few places along the U.N. route
which was humming with people, ethnic Albanians on the street said
they were trying to flee but had been turned back at the station by
police, who told them to return home.

``They said go back, I don't know why,'' one young man told the U.N.
delegates in halting English.

Asked why he wanted to leave Kosovo, he said he was afraid of
the army and police.

At other points on the route Vieira de Mello tried to visit villages off
the main road but officials accompanying the convoy of white
U.N. vehicles refused.

At the border town of Djeneral Jankovic, several hundred tractors
and trailers full of mattresses, blankets, carpets, cradles and
other belongings stood abandoned in a large cement plant near the
crossing to Macedonia. A lone donkey wandered braying among
the vehicles.

In nearby Kacanik many shop windows were smashed and
houses and blocks of apartments which had housed ethnic
Albanians were empty.

Some ethnic Albanians in the town said the inhabitants had fled
because of heavy fighting between the separatist ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Liberation Army and Serb forces after the air strikes began.
Others said police ordered them out. The floor of one apartment
was strewn with clothing, dishes, toys and a family photograph
album. A pot of cold tea stood on the table, a dried-out house plant
leaned against the wall.

In the town's mosque were four old men, two of them diabetics
who had had limbs amputated. The third, Imer Caka, had stayed
to take care of them along with an elderly neighbour whose family
had left without him.

``They were afraid,'' said Caka. ``There was shooting day and
night. I would have left but I have to take care of my brothers.''

There were soldiers on the streets of Kacanik, while others drove
between villages in civilian cars to avoid NATO bombs.

In the town of Kosovo Polje, the army had used a blue and white
sheet from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to
disguise one of their trucks, prompting a complaint from Vieira
de Mello.

The team also found a shop selling aid packets from the U.N.'s
World Food Programme in Urosevac. Local Red Cross
officials said they did not know how they came to be on sale.

The first stop on their route was Kosovo Polje, a town etched in
Serb minds. Firstly because of a 14th century battle which paved
the way to almost 500 years of Ottoman rule, and then because it
was where Slobodan Milosevic, now Yugoslav president, began
his rise to power and awakened Serb nationalism by assuring a
crowd of Serbs that no one would dare to beat them.

Regional administrator Veljko Odalovic said that whereas 20
years ago there were no ethnic Albanians in the town, they
accounted for about half of its 30,000 inhabitants before the
bombing prompted fierce fighting between the security forces and
the KLA which he said had driven many of its leaders to Albania.

``Serbia, all the way to Tirana,'' said a piece of graffiti on the wall
of one burnt-out building.