Campaign:
A decision on ground troops will have to be made soon if hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians are not be left to spend the winter in makeshift camps in Albania and Macedonia, military analysts warn NATO. Britain steps up its efforts to persuade its allies to contemplate sending ground troops into Kosovo without the agreement of Belgrade.
Robin Cook insists that London is not arguing for NATO to launch "a major invasion against organised armed resistance", but asks allies (notably Washington, Berlin and Rome - Paris is onside) to "examine very carefully" how much longer it will be before the Yugoslav army is incapable of putting up much of a resistance. He's still adamant that there is no split with Washington on the issue.
Military planners now believe 50,000 soldiers will be needed, nearly twice the 26,000 troops estimated at the start of the air campaign on March 24th, even with peace accord in place.
Meanwhile, Nebojsa Pavkovic, Third Yugoslav Army commander warns that Yugoslavia's borders are secure and "engineering works" (mines) are in place. Tells NATO to expect "hell on earth" if it attempts to send in ground troops. His remarks are designed to put wind up Washington as pressure mounts on Clinton because of growing doubts that air power alone will force Belgrade to negotiating table. Serb forces are said to have added thousands of mines to Kosovo's natural defences.
Diplomacy:
Diplomats and politicians criss-cross Europe in an increasingly desperate search for a way out of the Kosovo crisis: Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar (left) discusses the crisis with Viktor Chernomyrdin in Moscow and says he believes diplomatic breakthrough is possible in the next few days. In Helsinki, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder enthusiastically backs Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as "international mediator". EU Foreign Ministers are in conclave with their Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, the pro-West President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic and moderate Kosovar leader, Ibrahim Rugova.
At Cannes, Yugoslav filmmakers appeal to participants at film festival to use their clout to pressure NATO to end its air campaign against Yugoslavia, the Serb daily, Glas Javnosti reports: " . . please do what is in your power to bring an end to the bombings and the war in Yugoslavia".
Refugees:
A train packed with 1,000 to 1,500 Kosovo Albanian refugees squeezed into four or five cars, pulls into Djeneral Jankovic, on the Serb-controlled side of Macedonian border, only to be turned back, for no apparent reason.
The incident is of special concern to refugee agency, UNHCR, which had predicted swelling numbers after nearly 1,000 people expelled from their homes in town of Urosevac, crossed on Sunday. Macedonia, its economy hard-hit by the Kosovo conflict, already hosts 230,000 refugees, of whom 80,000 are in sprawling camps and 150,000 are staying in private homes.
Prisoners:
Details are still being worked out for the release of two Serb soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Kosovo Liberation Army and turned over to the US military. They're being held in Stuttgart and are expected to be released to the Red Cross.
G8 plan:
It emerges that the G8 peace plan, wrong-footed by the NATO "mistake" in bombing the Chinese embassy, calls for "international civil and security presences" in Kosovo, the return of displaced refugees and a search for a durable political solution. An interim administration for Kosovo is also mooted, though not in detail. The plan, in addition, seeks UN endorsement and mandates G8 political directors to "draw up a road map on further concrete steps towards a political solution to the Kosovo crisis".
Quote of the Day:
"We are trying to win a war without waging one and it's a shame. The White House are trying to cut a deal and hope to spin it into a victory and keep the Dow Jones index going up, but we will pay a heavy price for this." Senator John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate.