Cloud blocks NATO raids, diplomacy picks up<\/p>\n
BELGRADE (Reuters): NATO blasted targets in Yugoslavia on
\nSunday, but cloudy weather again blocked some raids and, while
\nthe Western alliance beefed up its forces, diplomatic moves to
\ntry to end the conflict gained momentum.<\/p>\n
Yugoslavia's official news agency Tanjug said explosions had
\nbeen heard in the Kosovo regional capital Pristina at 11:30 a.m.
\n(4:30 p.m. Jakarta time) after more than 50 missiles hit the area
\novernight.<\/p>\n
It gave no details of damage in Pristina but said there had
\nbeen casualties after an attack on the village of Merdare 30 km
\nnorth of the provincial capital.<\/p>\n
Earlier, it said two main roads leading into Pristina had been
\nbombed overnight, causing \"huge\" damage but no casualties.<\/p>\n
In Brussels, a NATO official said bad weather had again
\nhampered air strikes and some missions had been canceled.<\/p>\n
But NATO had hit at Yugoslav military radar and anti-aircraft
\nmissile sites, an Interior Ministry Special Police headquarters
\nand a fuel dump near Pristina.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was flying to
\nEurope for talks with NATO and Russia's foreign minister on the
\nair campaign, which shows no signs of ending after nearly three
\nweeks and increasingly threatens relations with Moscow.<\/p>\n
Albright, a key Clinton administration advocate of using force
\nto influence Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was headed
\nfirst to Brussels, NATO's headquarters.<\/p>\n
Tensions rose on Friday when Russian President Boris Yeltsin
\nsaid he had told NATO not to push Moscow, which has close ties to
\nits fellow Slavs, into the conflict because that could spark a
\nEuropean or even a world war.<\/p>\n
But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who is to meet
\nAlbright in Oslo on Tuesday, repeated denials that Yeltsin had
\nordered Russia's nuclear missiles to be aimed at NATO countries
\nin response to the air strikes in Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
In an interview in Spain's Diario 16 newspaper, he said he
\nbelieved his talks with Albright could lead to a solution.<\/p>\n
\"What we have to do is put an end to this war, which does
\nnothing but complicate things, and resume political dialog,\"
\nIvanov was quoted as saying. \"From our point of view that is
\npossible.\"<\/p>\n
\"Russia is not going to be the country that unleashes the
\nThird World War or any other military conflict of an
\ninternational nature,\" he said.<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told BBC radio there were
\nsigns that Milosevic's position was starting to shift and he was
\nhopeful of \"positive\" diplomatic movement in coming days.<\/p>\n
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul again called for an end to the
\nconflict and a resumption of talks, uniting in prayer with
\nOrthodox Christians in Yugoslavia and elsewhere who were
\ncelebrating Easter.<\/p>\n
As NATO deployed more planes and an aircraft carrier, British
\nForeign Secretary Robin Cook said: \"We are turning the screw on
\nPresident Milosevic and piling on the pressure.\"<\/p>\n
He said Serbian forces were low on fuel and communication
\ncenters had been hit so hard that field commanders had to
\ncommunicate by mobile phone. He insisted in an interview on BBC
\ntelevision that unity among the NATO allies had strengthened.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon said last Saturday that 82 more planes were being
\nsent to Europe. Britain said its aircraft carrier HMS Invincible
\nwould join NATO's armory.<\/p>\n
NATO has around 600 attack and support planes which, with
\nwarships firing cruise missiles, have been attacking Serb
\nstrategic and military targets since March 24.<\/p>\n
The campaign aims to press Milosevic to reverse what NATO
\ncalls ethnic cleansing of the mainly Moslem Albanian majority in
\nKosovo and allow the refugees to return and a NATO-led military
\nforce in the southern Serbian province to protect them.<\/p>\n
Belgrade says its forces in Kosovo are merely responding to
\naggression by the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army and by NATO, which
\nit accuses of violating international law, sponsoring terrorism
\nand seeking to dismember Serbia.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday night, several thousand Kosovo refugees streamed
\ninto northern Albania after Yugoslavia reopened its main border
\ncrossing and carried out another wave of expulsions.<\/p>\n
Some NATO governments have put on hold their offers to take in
\nthousands of the 500,000 people who have fled Kosovo since March
\n24 because the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR urged that
\nrefugees stay in the region if possible.<\/p>\n
In Brussels, NATO officials said Operation Allied Harbor,
\nwhich is to deploy 8,000 NATO troops in Albania to help aid
\nagencies care for the 300,000 Kosovo deportees sheltering there,
\nwas due to be approved by NATO members in the course of Sunday.<\/p>\n
Albania said it was ready to accept more NATO troops.<\/p>\n
In Macedonia, which has also been flooded with refugees, two
\nmain border crossings with Yugoslavia, at Blace and Jazence, were
\nempty on Sunday. Macedonian guards said no one had crossed
\novernight from Kosovo.<\/p>\n
NATO says the number of ethnic Albanians expelled or uprooted
\nin the past year is now estimated at 960,000. A 1991 census put
\nKosovo's total population at just under two million.<\/p>\n
Attacks -- Page 4<\/p>\n
More stories -- Page 5, 16<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cloud-blocks-nato-raids-diplomacy-picks-up-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }