War Briefing: Days 52 & 53

Diplomacy:

Diplomacy:

EU foreign ministers are to have talks in Brussels tomorrow with roving Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova. They will also meet Russia's Foreign Minister in an effort to cement solidarity despite the latest civilian casualties in the war and political upheavals in Moscow. But NATO spokesman Jamie Shea tells press briefing these and other diplomatic initiatives are no reason to back off in the military campaign.

The foreign ministers are expected to reaffirm their determination to keep up the military momentum - while also looking ahead to the task of rebuilding the region once the war is over. Shea suggests helpfully that "it will be an opportunity for the foreign ministers to finalise some of their proposals ahead of the conference in Bonn on the stability pact for south-eastern Europe on May 27th".

Sheaspeak:

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Force has to help diplomacy - and diplomacy helps force. This is not the moment to relax the pressure, certainly not on somebody with Milosevic's track record.

These are minimum conditions: you can compromise on a maximum - you can't compromise on a minimum.

Milosevic has begun to move. He has a long way to go but he will never go the whole nine yards unless Nato keeps up the pressure.

There are 80 recorded incidents of the use of refugees as "human shields" in Kosovo.

We are aware of the problem, but through good analysis and good intelligence we can work our way around it.

Pilots have returned with their weapons still intact, saying they saw civilians. Our pilots are well aware of this problem.

Refugees:

The Yugoslav army seizes up to 150 male Kosovan refugees as they attempt to flee to Albania and Bosnia via Montenegro, according to local refugee organisations. Reports say the ethnic Albanians, aged between 15 and 48, have been transported back into neighbouring Kosovo, leaving their families stranded in the small Yugoslav republic.

Montenegro's reformist government, which is strongly opposed to Milosevic, denounces Yugoslav army action and calls on the military to leave the border areas. More than 70,000 ethnic Albanians have escaped to this small, mountainous republic since the start of the NATO bombardment. Around 30,000 have since left for Albania or Bosnia to seek lost friends and family.

Many Kosovo deportees bring with them first-hand reports of "ethnic cleansing", including massacres, rape and beatings carried out by Serb forces.

And . . .

Tony Blair denies press reports of growing discord between him and Bill Clinton over eventual deployment of ground troops in Kosovo.

NATO says it is unaware of any split between Gen Wesley Clark and US leaders over the use of Apache helicopters in Kosovo - and says it awaits the green light from Washington to deploy them.

Italy's Prime Minister, Massimo D'Alema, urges UN Security Council to seek Chinese and Russian support for a proposed resolution to end the war in Kosovo.

Quote of the Weekend:

"I was incredulous that NATO seemed to have no military strategy except to bomb Serbia to smithereens. I could not believe that bombing a defenceless country was the right way to wage a holy war." Robert Skidelsky, Tory peer and front-bench Treasury spokesman.