War Briefing: Day 63

"War Criminals":

"War Criminals":

The Hague-based independent International War Crimes Tribunal has decided to indict Slobodan Milosevic on war crimes charges, a tribunal source confirmed last night, and a formal announcement is expected this morning. It will be the first time that such an indictment has been handed down against a sitting head of state, and could have serious implications for any negotiations with him.

Opinion poll published in Greek newspapers shows that 69.2 per cent of Greeks (whose country is a member of NATO) want Bill Clinton to face war crimes charges for his role in the Kosovo conflict, while just 14 per cent want Slobodan Milosevic tried; and over a third want Tony Blair to face charges. Significantly, only 14 per cent believe Milosevic should face international sanctions for his role in the repression and expulsion of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population. Nearly 85 per cent attribute the NATO operation to a US "show of force" and only 2.5 per cent see it as a reaction to "ethnic cleansing". The poll confirms the overwhelming opposition of Greeks - 99.5 per cent - to the NATO action in Yugoslavia.

NATO Campaign:

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Two children are killed and a third injured in NATO air raid on Radoste, a village in south-western Kosovo, according to Serb information centre.

A 13-year-old child is killed immediately and a second dies on the way to hospital, it said. In another attack, a woman and her child are injured when three missiles hit a Serb farm in a village near Zubin Potok, central Kosovo.

Diplomacy:

In Moscow, US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott insists after meeting Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov that NATO must form the "core" of any future presence in Kosovo, and excludes the presence of armed Serb forces in Kosovo following the conflict's end. Moscow wants NATO to allow Yugoslavia to keep a small armed force in the separatist province once a ceasefire is called. There are indications, however, that NATO may support a minimal Serb presence in Kosovo following a full pullout.

In Bonn, German Chancellor Schroder praises Bulgaria's "important role" in south-east Europe's stability after meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov. Refugees:

Moderate Kosovan leader Ibrahim Rugova makes his first visit to Macedonia since leaving Yugoslavia on May 5th, touring refugee camps and calling for more aid to deal with the refugee situation: "I have come here to see my people. NATO's action is an act of peace, not of war. The refugees want to return home and I also want to go back."

And . . .

NATO has backed away from plans to physically enforce an oil embargo against Yugoslavia, opting instead for a voluntary "visit and search" regime for ships in the Adriatic Sea.

Quote of the Day:

"It's the worst kind of signal that we could give in the middle of a conflict." Senator Carl Levin on the rejection by the US Senate of a measure that would have barred the use of troops in Yugoslavia without Congressional approval.