You are currently viewing a print of the file: Linkname: NATO orders strikes on Serbia - ITN March 23, 1999 URL: [4]http://www.itn.co.uk/World/world19990323/032301w.htm This file appears to have been moved or deleted from the itn.co.uk site. D.S. NATO orders strikes on Serbia NATO has ordered air strikes against Yugoslavian Serb forces. Secretary General Javier Solana said all efforts to reach a negotiated settlement had failed and there was now no choice but to take military action. harrier.jpg (4666 bytes) Mr Solana said the Allies had a duty to strike at an "authoritarian regime repressing people in Europe at the end of the 20th century". "All efforts to negotiate a political solution to the Kosovo crisis have failed and no alternative is open but to take military action," he said in a statement from NATO's Brussels headquarters on Tuesday night. "We are taking this action following the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's refusal of international demands," Mr Solana added. The order had now been passed to NATO commander General Wesley Clark to carry out military strikes - which could take place at any time. [kla_p.jpg] NATO forces were poised for military action against Serbia as last-ditch attempts to try to break the Kosovo deadlock met with stiff opposition from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The Serb leader rejected peace efforts from US envoy Richard Holbrooke earlier on Tuesday. And NATO had warned it was ready to launch air strikes against Yugoslavia - raising the spectre of a new war in Europe. After two days of talks in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, Mr Holbrooke said Milosevic had refused to halt the Serb military offensive in Kosovo. And the Yugoslav premier was continuing to deny entry to NATO troops sent to implement autonomy for the majority ethnic-Albanian province, the US Balkan special envoy added. After the talks broke down, US President Clinton said: "NATO is now united and prepared to carry out its warning. If President Milosevic is not willing to make peace, we are willing to limit his ability to make war on the Kosovars." blair_itn.jpg (5896 bytes) British Prime Minister Tony Blair told ITN: "If we don't act to stop the repression in Kosovo many thousands of innocent people will be killed or subject to appalling brutality and we will have - right on the doorstep of Europe - chaos and disorder spreading into the whole of Europe." In the wake of the failed talks Milosevic's lieutenant - Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic went on state television to say the government had declared "a state of immediate threat of war, given that there exists a threat of an aggression". Russia warned any use of force could destabilise the world. "We are categorically against this, categorically," Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said before cancelling an expected visit to Washington. Moscow also called for a United Nations arms embargo against Yugoslavia to be lifted. But the allies appeared determined to press ahead. Italy spelled out plans for strikes, which Western officials have said could start within hours, and Britain and France said they were ready to take part in any bombing. In Kosovo, homes burned and shellfire echoed over the central Drenica region as the Yugoslav military pursued an offensive against strongholds of separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Aid workers say the fighting has driven 40,000 people, a vast majority of them ethnic Albanians, from their homes over the last week since international peace monitors left the province in anticipation of possible NATO bombing. It is a cruel irony that NATO air strikes could trigger terrible reprisals against the very ethnic Albanians the West hopes to protect. Serb hard-line politicians have sworn they will take revenge on ethnic Albanians in the wake of any attacks by the West. Moscow earlier denied claims it was supplying weapons to Yugoslavia - after authorities in Azerbaijan say they stopped a cargo plane bound for Yugoslavia with MiG jet fighters aboard. Russian opposition to strikes against the Serb regime raises the political temperature and even the fearsome prospect of wider Balkan war. "It defies common sense and could destabilise the situation in the world," Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said in Ireland before heading back home rather than flying on to Washington as originally planned. The former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia closed its borders with Kosovo to Yugoslav citizens on Tuesday. It is afraid of trouble within its own territory - where the ethnic Albanian minority has been inspired by the conflict in the Kosovo. Aid workers left Kosovo for Macedonia and Western embassies in Belgrade began evacuating their remaining staff. Around 10,000 NATO troops are on stand-by in Macedonia to enter Kosovo - if Milosevic backs down and invites them in. Western officials have denied Belgrade's suggestions that NATO troops will force their way into the Yugoslav province regardless of the outcome. Holbrooke who was briefing NATO allies in Brussels said this was the 'bleakest situation grimmest moment since he began trying to restore peace to the Balkans after Yugoslavia's bloody disintegration four years earlier. Holding out one last opportunity for peace, he said communication lines were still open if Milosevic changed his mind, accepted the autonomy plan drawn up during lengthy negotiations in France and gave the go-ahead for a 28,000 NATO-led force to police it. But the Serbian parliament seemed to slam it shut by voting unanimously to reject the key demand for permission to bring NATO troops into Kosovo. There was no comment from Milosevic, who rose to power on a wave of Serb nationalism only to oversee the collapse of the Serb-dominated multi-ethnic Yugoslav federation. Milosevic, whose apparent shyness belies his authoritarian rule, has run circles around the West with his brinkmanship over his decade in power. But allowing war to engulf Serbia would bring him into uncharted territory. Meanwhile thousands of ethnic Albanians continue to flee from their homes as Serb forces blast their way through the Kosovo heartland, destroying villages and setting fire to buildings. And Downing Street has said the Serb leader President Milosevic appeared "hell-bent on provoking the humanitarian disaster that appears to be developing". If NATO does embark on a strategy of air strikes it seems likely that the attack will be limited to Cruise missiles launched from some distance away. Experts have said that NATO will be wary of committing fighter planes to fight against the well equipped Serb army. But the Kosovar Albanians are still pleading for NATO to act. ITN's Bill Neely is in Kosovo and witnessed first hand the calls of the people who have suffered in the ongoing conflict. He spoke to villagers who claimed to have witnessed the Serb police splitting men and women apart and carrying out summary executions. They feel trapped in the middle and worry that NATO may not carry out its promise defend them. "Does the world see what's happening here?" said one refugee. "Europe keeps talking to Milosevic, how much time do you want? Bomb, or give us the guns. But do something." Ethnic Albanians make up 90 per cent of the two million inhabitants of Kosovo, a province of Serbia, which is Yugoslavia's main republic. Fighting broke out last year after Milosevic cracked down on ethnic Albanian separatists.