President Clinton warned President Slobodan Milosevic that "he will have to choose either to cut his mounting losses or lose his ability to maintain his grip on Kosovo".
Serbia needed a democratic transition from the "belligerent tyranny" of Mr Milosevic, he said. The "best answer" for Kosovo was not independence because it "lacks the resources and infrastructure to be viable on its own. Moreover, Yugoslavia's long-suffering neighbours fear that an independent Kosovo would be unstable and that the instability itself would be contagious, Mr Clinton said in an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in San Francisco. As Americans were shocked at the pictures of the NATO-bombed convoy of Kosovan refugees, there were grim warnings that there will be no quick end to the allied campaign.
Secretary of Defence, Mr William Cohen, and General Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when asked at a Senate hearing if it could continue for "many, many, many weeks or even months" replied "yes".
President Clinton repeated the conditions for an end to the NATO bombing. These are withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo, the return of the Kosavan refugees and an international security force to protect them.
Repeating that "there is no intention to use ground troops in a hostile or non-permissive environment," Mr Cohen warned senators that "this is not going to be quick or easy or neat".
Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, told members of the House of Representatives that NATO was determined to press ahead. "We're prepared to inflict such damage on his [Milosevic's] military that he either accepts the outcome we seek, or the balance of power in Kosovo will shift against him at a time when his actions, far from destroying his opposition, are galvanising its strength and determination." Mr Cohen said that the Kosovo Liberation Army was still a threat to the Serbian forces. "I should point out that Milosevic may think he has eliminated the KLA but he has not. According to intelligence reports some hundreds were killed. But we have many more who have been radicalised by the brutality carried out by Milosevic's forces," Mr Cohen said.
The soaring costs of the US role in the NATO operation were discussed on Capitol Hill where the Senate majority leader, Senator Trent Lott, said later that estimates by officials were in the range of $4 billion to $8 billion. The Clinton Administration wanted the money to be found in the expected budget surplus but many members of Congress would be insisting that some of the costs should be paid by cuts in the budget, he said.
Meanwhile, the FBI has sent out an alert to military bases, nuclear weapons laboratories and other installations after reports that Serbian-Americans were being urged to attack them. Several Orthodox churches are said to have received a letter by fax urging terrorist attacks on US installations.
Agencies Add:
The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, said yesterday that the German government was ready to meet the newly appointed Russian Balkans envoy, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, to discuss a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis. Mr Chernomyrdin yesterday cautiously welcomed the German peace initiative.
"We have to look for a peaceful solution to the conflict and what Germany offers today - to halt bombing for 24 hours and search for compromise - deserves attention," Mr Chernomyrdin said.
Mr Chernomyrdin told reporters he did not believe a compromise in the Yugoslavia conflict could be found before NATO stopped its air attacks against the country.
The German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, said yesterday Belgrade would have to prove it was pulling troops out of Kosovo before NATO stoppedbombing and began peace initiatives. --(Reuters/AFP)