U.S. ready for airstrike

Richard Holbrooke and Milosevic held discussions late into the night yesterday, meeting for the sixth time in seven days in talks that signaled U.S. determination to search for a peaceful way out of the deadlock.

Holbrooke said early yesterday that he would "continue an intense effort to find a peaceful, acceptablelly verifiable compliance system as an alternative to the other choice" - meaning the use of force.

But he also said NATO would meet today to authorize action if his mediation effort fails.

In Washington, national security adviser Sandy Berger told CNN that Milosevic "is not in compliance as of this point."

"He can come into compliance or he can face military action by NATO" at any time, Berger said.

The Americans and Europeans are demanding that Milosevic halt the crackdown he launched Feb. 28 against the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army.

The major obstacle appears to be Holbrooke's demand that Milosevic agree to an expanded international monitoring mission to verify compliance with demands of the U.N. Security Council.

Those demands include an immediate cease-fire, a withdrawal of special troops in the province, allowing refugees to return home and beginning talks with ethnic Albanians on Kosovo's future.

Kosovo is a province of Serbia, the main republic of Yugoslavia. About 90 percent of its 2 million people are ethnic Albanian, and most of them want independence or substantial self-rule.

Meanwhile, journalists heard sporadic gunfire yesterday and saw white and gray smoke rising from about six houses in the ethnic Albanian village of Makrmalj, about 20 miles west of Pristina.

Ethnic Albanian rebels claimed the activity was part of a Serb police operation. Police prevented the journalists from getting closer than about a half-mile from the village.

The Pentagon is continuing military preparations if Holbrooke's mission fails. Six U.S. B-52 bombers arrived in Britain yesterday and a contingent of A-10 anti-tank planes flew from Germany to Italy.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), warned yesterday that Americans be killed in the bombing raids. "There will be significant jeopardy there because the Serbians have a very good defense system," the former Navy pilot said on "Fox News Sunday."

In Bucharest, the Romanian government agreed to allow NATO to use its airspace in "emergency and unpredictable situations" if the alliance launches airstrikes against Yugoslavia.

The positioning of more U.S. planes within range and preparing them for attacks were clearly designed to convince Milosevic of Washington's resolve to force compliance with U.N. demands.

After a late-night session with Milosevic, an exhausted-looking Holbrooke insisted early yesterday "nothing has changed" in the Yugoslav leader's stand. Holbrooke called the situation "very serious" and said he was looking for "peaceful, acceptable" alternative to the use of force.

A statement from Milosevic's office, issued after the talks and distributed by the government's Tanjug news agency, said all U.N. conditions have been met for a political settlement.

But Milosevic seemed to be separating U.N. demands from the U.S. insistence on verification.

Serb sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Milosevic has refused to budge on a monitoring force. Washington is pressing for that because Milosevic has broken promises in the past.

A source close to Milosevic indicated that he was ready to comply with other conditions.

International efforts to end the seven-month crisis have accelerated following allegations that Serb police massacred scores of ethnic Albanian refugees. Concern is mounting that winter will bring a humanitarian disaster if thousands remain homeless by the first snowfall.

The United Nations has condemned recent massacres of ethnic Albanians, but has not endorsed airstrikes. The Clinton administration, however, believes it does not need a new U.N. resolution for the attacks.

Russia, which fiercely opposes NATO airstrikes, called its NATO representative and ambassador to Belgium back to Moscow yesterday for emergency consultations on the potential attacks.

"Everything should be done to prevent bombing," Dmitry Yakushkin, President Boris Yeltsin's spokesperson, told reporters.

10-12-98