Tuesday May 4,1999

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The Yugoslav president and supreme commander, Slobodan Milosevic, heard in Belgrade on Tuesday, the reports of the Third Army District's commander, Colonel General Nebojsa Pavkovic, and the police headquarters commander of the Serbian Interior Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija, major general of the police forces, Sreten Lukic.

After a detailed analysis carried out with the participation of Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, chief-of-staff Colonel General Dragoljub Ojdanic and other personalities, it was concluded that the tasks for the purpose of the country's defense, the anti-terrorist struggle and the establishment of security in Kosovo-Metohija were being successfully carried out. With great sacrifices members of the army and police have prevented the world's biggest aggressor from taking even an inch of our soil, at the same time repelling all attempts by terrorist gangs to cross our border and, in the country's interior, completely to destroy units, headquarters and the infrastructure of the terrorist organization calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army. The civilian authorities

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We are closer to a diplomatic solution, the Russian President's special envoy on Yugoslavia, Viktor Chernomyrdin, told the press following his talks with Bill Clinton in Washington.

During an hour and a half, Chernomyrdin and Clinton discussed a political settlement of the Kosmet crisis and the situation caused by the aggression against FR Yugoslavia. The key topic was a halt to Nato's bombing, the Russian envoy underlined. Chernomyrdin did not reveal the content of the letter addressed by Yeltsin to Clinton which is said to stress the need for putting an immediate end to the crisis. Likewise, the details of the talks between Chernomyrdin and Clinton have not yet been disclosed. The Russian envoy on Yugoslavia said he was due to meet US Vice President Al Gore to continue the talks. The US media did not provide coverage of this important meeting and avoided to quote a statement by the Russian envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin.

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US President William Clinton will pay a visit to Brussels on Wednesday, where he is due to meet NATO commanders Wesley Clark and

Klaus Naumann, as well as NATO Secretary General Javier Solana.

NATO spokesman Jamie Shea told a press conference this was Clinton's first visit to NATO Headquarters since the beginning of NATO's aggression on March 24. Shea rejected NATO's responsibility for the massacre against the civilian bus north of Pec on Monday, when over 20 people died and over 40 passengers were wounded. There is no indication that NATO was involved in this assault, said Shea, although western journalists reported, quote: "NATO warplanes bombed a bus full of passengers - mostly mothers with children" - unquote.

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German Foreign Minister Joscka Fischer has said in Strasbourg that a meeting of Group 8 member-countries' foreign ministers on the situation in Kosmet will be held in Bonn on Thursday.

Speaking before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Fischer also said that pending the Bonn meeting, the G-8 political directors, who are preparing the ministerial meeting, would meet once again. Published in Bonn on Tuesday were also the details of the draft document of the ministerial meeting, which envisages ~international civilian and security presence in Kosmet~.

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The political directors of the foreign ministries of G-8 countries reached agreement to place the process of settling the Kosmet crisis under UN authority, the first Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev said in Bonn on Tuesday.

At a meeting of political directors held in Bonn on Monday, agreement was reached that any future international presence in Kosmet could be only under UN auspices. In this manner, the Russian diplomat explained, at issue was no longer a Nato operation or even a ground offensive but that the UN will deal with ending the conflict in the southern Serbian province. We agreed that international presence must include two components, Avdeyev said. The first component is civilian presence which would ensure conditions for organizing the life of the population in the province. Another is the security one which would provide for the international community to ensure safety in Kosmet which is extremely important since it would make possible the disarmament of the so-called KLA. The working document, endorsed at the Bonn meeting, also set out the stand it was necessary to end violence in the fastest possible manner, Avdeyev said. He explained that now the working Bonn document would be presented at a meeting of G-8 foreign minsters in Bonn next Thursday.

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Official Paris spoke in favour of holding as soon as possible a meeting of the Group 8 countries' foreign ministers on resolving the Kosmet crisis, thus confirming the existing disagreement with Washington, which believes conditions have not yet been created for holding such a gathering.

France maintains there is not a single reason for postponing the G-8 ministers' meeting on Kosmet. The political directors of the foreign ministries have prepared the meeting well and it is necessary for it to be held as soon as possible, said the French Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, Anne Gazeau-Secret, on Tuesday.

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The Strazevica Hill near Belgrade came under fresh assault at 9.45 p.m on Monday. Tanjug reports there is no accurate information about the aggressors' objective. Two strong detonations rocked Batajnica at 10 p.m on Monday. Several blasts were heard in the broader city region and the Yugoslav Army's air defences were activated.

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Enemy Nato aircraft hit the Novi Sad TV building at 9.50. on Monday.

Two strong blasts disrupted electric power supply in several districts in Novi Sad. The director and editor-in-chief of Novi Sad TV, Stevica Smederevac, told Tanjug that in the Nato aggressors' onslaught on this media house, there had been no casualties. Enemy Nato warplanes overflew the capital of Vojvodina between 10.10 and 10.15. p.m. but the Yugoslav Army's strong response drove the enemy away.

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No matter how much NATO endeavors and tries to abolish our media and the public word condemning its crimes and bombardment, it will not succeed in this, said Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Sremska Kamenica on Tuesday.

In a statement to the domestic and foreign press, after visiting the Television Novi Sad building following its overnight bombardment, he emphasized as special cynicism the fact that the aggressor destroyed this media company precisely on World Freedom of the Press Day, thus best showing how much he cares about the freedom of the press and information, Vucic added. All of us are Serbia today and we are all fighting for our freedom and our fatherland, Vucic pointed out. The director and editor-in-chief of Television Novi Sad's news section, Stevica Smederavac, told the press that despite the bestial bombardment of this media company's building, its employees are creating programs today again, and no one will stop them in this.

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Nato aggressor aircraft struck at the Krusik company with three air-to-ground missiles in Valjevo on Tuesday injuring two people, Tanjug reports. At the moment of the attack, members of civil defence cleared away the debris caused by Nato's previous assault on the company.

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Enemy Nato warplanes launched an aerial attack on the broader Kraljevo region at 9.15 p.m. on Monday, Tanjug reports. Several enemy projectiles slammed into the region of Ladjevci. The Yugoslav Army's anti-aircraft defences fiercely responded

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Shortly after midnight and then at 3.30 again, the Nato aggressors fired four projectiles on a densely-populated north-east suburb of Vranje. No casualties have been reported but immense material damage was caused.

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In Pristina at seven a.m four detonations were heard to be followed by another two from the direction of Vucitrn shortly before 10 a.m.

At seven o'clock, the Nato aggressors targeted with several missiles the region between Goles and Slatina airfield. Overnight, enemy aircraft overflew the broader region of the southern Serbian province's capital.

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Twenty civilians were killed and another 43 were injured in a criminal Nato strike at a bus on the Pec-Kula-Rozaje road near the village of Savine Vode at midday on Monday.

All the injured passengers aboard the Djakovica bus, operating on the Djakovica-Podgorica regular line, were tended to in Pec hospital. The director of General Hospital in Pec, Dragutin Vujosevic, told Tanjug the life of two persons were endangered while 23 civilians sustained heavy injuries.

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French President Jacques Chirac once again addressed the French in regard to the situation caused by Nato's aggression against Yugoslavia.

Chirac's address was dominated by a message that Nato and France would not change their strategy but he did not forget to say that France continued to search for a political settlement of the crisis. Chirac once again emphasized Russia's role and told the nation that he would meet Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow on May 13 in an effort to step up the search for a political solution, Chirac said.

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Greece is against a Nato ground offensive in Kosovo and its troops will not take part in those possible operations, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis told Monday evening's special session of the Greek Assembly.

He repeated what he had told President Clinton recently during their meeting in Washington that the Kosovo problem could be solved exclusively by peaceful means. Opening the debate, Simitis informed the MPs about the Greek government's intensive diplomatic activity aimed at finding a political solution to the Kosovo issue. In the course of the afternoon, I discussed with German Chancellor Schroeder a peace initiative for the Balkans which is to be launched soon and is currently being discussed in Washington and Moscow, the Greek Prime Minister said.

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Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov met in Moscow on Tuesday with German Interior Minister Otto Schili.

He once again sharply condemned NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, reiterating Russia's well known stands in this regard. The only road for resolving the complex problems in Kosmet and the humanitarian catastrophe, caused by the bombing of Yugoslav territory, is the urgent cessation of the air strikes and a return of the resolution of the problem to political tracks, with a greater role of the United Nations, said Primakov. The statement published by the Russian government's press service after the meeting, says that the German minister agreed with such an assessment, stressing that Russia had special possibilities for finding a solution for the Kosmet problem.

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Nato's aggression against FR Yugoslavia has brought Europe to the brink of a large-scale war catastrophe, Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said in the Norwegian city of Stavanger.

In his address to a meeting of the defence ministers of northern European countries, marshal Sergeyev said that Nato, ignoring principles of international law, had embraced the right to resolve problems on the European continent by means of arms, Itar-Tass reports. If the Nato aggression against Yugoslavia continues, Russia will be forced definitely to freeze its military and technical co-operation with the alliance member-countries, primarily with the states taking part in bombings, Sergeyev said.

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The future chairman of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, spoke in European Parliament in Strasbourg in favour of organizing a large international Balkans conference, in order to reach complete and lasting stabilization in this part of Europe.

Setting out the future plans of the European Commission member-countries, Prodi expressed expectation that the European Union would play a key role, especially when arms fall silent, when violence gives way to reason and when the Yugoslav Federation returns to the auspices of European nations. The role of EU in the territory of former Yugoslavia is far greater than pertaining solely to overcoming the present crisis, said Prodi, adding that Europe should offer greater prospects aimed at a permanent settlement of the current conflict. Prodi spoke in favour of the establishment of a joint policy and defence of the European continent.

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Religious leader Jesse Jackson's diplomatic initiative and strong voice in favour of peace should not be ignored but supported, cautioned the head of the FR of Yugoslavia's mission with the United Nations, Ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic, in interviews with US TV stations NBC and CNN.

Jackson's appeals coincide with other diplomatic efforts and represent a positive step which must be supported in order to find a way out of the crisis, emphasized Jovanovic. The Yugoslav ambassador stressed that the fact that NATO and America continued the air campaign against Yugoslavia, despite everything, represents a continuation of the policy of total war, which should be of concern to all. He reiterated Yugoslavia's resoluteness to find a peaceful solution, to which direct talks with the leading Kosmet Albanian political leader, Ibrahim Rugova, also lead.

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FR of Yugoslavia is exposed to an unheard of aggression. It is, however, certain that our country will defend itself through the unity of the army and people and the determination of all to preserve our freedom and state, said Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic in Podgorica on Tuesday.

Bulatovic said that the term - war, was too mild to describe the criminal attack of the 19 most powerful countries of the West on FRY. In question is a bestial aggression in which systematically being destroyed is what our nation built for decades and centuries. They kill people, pull down hospitals, kindergartens, schools and factories. In other words, at issue is an aggression which has not been seen so far or registered in the history of warfare, Bulatovic said.

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Representatives of labour and communist parties of over 70 countries adopted in Brussels on Tuesday a ~Resolution on NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia~, requesting the immediate cessation of the bombardment and finding ways for a peaceful way out of the Kosmet crisis.

The aggression was carried out, as is cautioned, without the UN Security Council authorization, thus drastically violating all international regulations and the UN Charter. As a regional military alliance with America and Germany at its helm, NATO had no right to take military action against a country which is not an aggressor; by causing, as they put it, an ethnic conflict, the Western alliance found cause for a military attack. The resolution stresses that a large number of civilians suffered the consequences of NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia, that being destroyed were economic facilities, cultural and historical monuments, hospitals, schools, bridges, telecommunications. Participants in the conference believe that the Kosmet issue can be resolved only in a peaceful manner in order for Kosmet to gain wide-ranging autonomy within Serbia and Yugoslavia, and for all its citizens to be guaranteed equal rights. The gathering addressed an appeal to all peace-loving people of the world to condemn NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia and help its renewal in order to eliminate the consequences of the aggression as soon as possible.

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Following with great attention the diplomatic efforts for putting an end to the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, the Chinese media on Tuesday cite special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin as saying, after his talks with US President Bill Clinton, that a diplomatic solution has become closer.

The SINHUA news agency points out that the conditions under which the NATO bombardment would be halted, were the main topics of the Russian-American talks. Considerable publicity has also been given in Beijing to the statement by US religious leader Jesse Jackson to take advantage of the Yugoslav gesture of good will for a diplomatic breakthrough towards a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

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Noticeable in London are efforts to suppress the significance of the latest diplomatic initiatives for ending the crisis caused by NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia.

The British government and Prime Minister Tony Blair, analysts recall, are still in favour of the continuation of the aggression and a belligerent policy, therefore trying to stifle all initiatives that could lead to peace and a halt to NATO's aggression. British commentators believe, however, that diplomatic initiatives have already been set in motion and that it is now quite certain that the settlement of the crisis will come through political agreement. It is completely clear now, assess London diplomatic circles, that an agreement will be reached between Washington, Moscow and Belgrade, with the formal participation of the UN.

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The Kosmet Albanians who have fled to Albania are exposed to humiliation and violence, London reported on Tuesday.

The Times reporter claims that local criminals in the settlement of Fier in central Albania are abducting Kosmet Albanian girls and youths and taking them to Italy and Greece, where they use them for prostitution. Similar problems, according to UNHCR spokesman Chris Janowski, exist in northern Albania. The terrorists of the so-called KLA are forcibly mobilizing refugees and seizing all valuables others carry with them.

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The four proposals for resolving the situation over Yugoslavia set out by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have been given considerable publicity in the Belgian media which assess that this week could mark a turning point in finding a peaceful solution for the problems.

According to the Brussels press, the essence of the proposals set out by President Milosevic is to have the war and violence immediately cease, to have all citizens return to their homes, to ensure a broad autonomy that would guarantee equal rights for members of all the national communities living in Kosovo-Metohija and to accept a UN mission. The press stresses that these proposals will be the topic of numerous diplomatic talks expected to take place in the course of the week.

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The private German television station SAT 1 on Monday evening aired a story on a German mercenary, calling himself Frank, who has been hired, for a large sum of money, as a sniper in the terrorist so-called Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo-Metohija.

Frank, born in Stutgart, claims that there are more mercenaries who have joined the Albanian terrorists. According to his own admission, this mercenary has been trained in the United States. I am wherever there is a war, said Frank adding that to kill people is for him a job just like any other. The Hamburg daily BILDT recently wrote that there were over 100 German mercenaries among the ranks of the so-called Kosovo-Liberation Army.

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The Russian ministry for extraordinary situations has announced that their plane AN-124 RUSLAN, with humanitarian aid for Yugoslavia, did not take off from Moscow on Tuesday, since Bulgaria did not permit its landing in Sofia.

Bulgaria reportedly did not set out its reasons for refusing to open its air corridor for the Russian plane. This same plane on Monday already transferred to Sofia five trucks, a fuel tank and three jeeps, which were regularly to commute between checkpoints for collecting humanitarian aid and the most afflicted areas of Kosmet, as well as other parts of Yugoslavia. The delivery of humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia is being achieved as part of a joint initiative of Russia, Greece and Switzerland, which have joined forces in order to transport and distribute aid throughout Yugoslavia.

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The 34th successive protest concert entitled THE SONG HAS SUSTAINED US has been held in Belgrade's Republic Square. At it, around three thousand Belgraders, on Tuesday again, expressed their protest and bitterness over NATO's merciless aggression against Yugoslavia.

Support to Belgraders and Yugoslavs has also been offered by representatives of Greek trade unions, who carried a sign saying LONG LIVE THE FRIENDSHIP OF OUR PEOPLES. The famous Yugoslav rock band ZABRANJENO PUSENJE also performed at the concert.

Copyright (C.) Radio Yugoslavia