MAIN PAGE  WORLD  ASIANOW  U.S.  LOCAL  POLITICS  WEATHER  BUSINESS  SPORTS  TECHNOLOGY  NATURE  ENTERTAINMENT  BOOKS  TRAVEL  FOOD  HEALTH  STYLE  IN-DEPTH  Headline News brief  daily almanac  CNN networks  CNN programs  on-air transcripts  news quiz   CNN WEB SITES:  TIME INC. SITES: Go To ... Time.com People Money Fortune EW  MORE SERVICES:  video on demand  video archive  audio on demand  news email services  free email accounts  desktop headlines  pointcast  pagenet  DISCUSSION:  message boards  chat  feedback  SITE GUIDES:  help  contents  search  FASTER ACCESS:  europe  japan  WEB SERVICES:		Albright suggests some Serb forces could stay in Kosovo RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jonathan Aiken talks to military analysts about the logistics of sending ground troops into Yugoslavia (April 11) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K NATO's Jamie Shea says targets hit near Pristina (April 11) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Dr. Steve Salvatore tries the smart shirt on for size Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Yugoslavia, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K IMAGE GALLERY: Burning flags and rock concerts: Protesting the NATO strikes Devastation of Kosovo capital The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO NATO: Aerial photo may show mass graves in Kosovo Missing relief worker 'confesses' to spying on Serb TV Refugee flow slowing as more said to be hiding in Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS NATO officials describe attacks from day one through day 17

Top Clinton aide says Milosevic must go

April 11, 1999
Web posted at: 9:08 p.m. EDT (0108 GMT)

In this story: Holy sites in Kosovo could be set aside Washington mulls Milosevic, troops RELATED STORIES, SITES

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Arriving in Europe on Sunday for meetings with NATO and Russian officials to shore up support for airstrikes on Yugoslav targets and defuse U.S.-Russian tensions, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hinted that Yugoslavia could keep armed forces in Kosovo after the conflict ends between Belgrade and the alliance.

NATO, now in the 19th day of its air campaign, has demanded that Yugoslavia withdraw its military and police forces from the province, but stopped short of explicitly stating that all of them must leave.

In Brussels, Albright dined with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and will meet with NATO foreign ministers on Monday.

On Tuesday, she will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Oslo to try to stem a deterioration in U.S.-Russian ties over the NATO air campaign. Russia has expressed strong criticism of the action against its longstanding ally, Yugoslavia.

In a pre-conflict peace accord between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces, Yugoslavia would have kept several thousand police and army troops on border patrol in Kosovo.

Albright said the conflict could change the numbers allowed by Western nations. "We are not stating specifically what the numbers are ... We have to be realistic and flexible as we look at the future," she said Sunday.

Holy sites in Kosovo could be set aside for Serbs

Albright insisted the United States is not promoting independence for Kosovo or some other kind of partition of the province.

She called that option "premature" although she said she could foresee a situation where arrangements could be made to protect holy sites in Kosovo so Serbs could visit them.

Solana hinted that some kind of diplomatic progress might be expected soon. But Albright said she had seen "no indication whatsoever" that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was prepared to comply with NATO demands.

Washington mulls Milosevic, troops

Looking beyond NATO's military campaign, John Podesta, President Clinton's chief of staff, said Sunday that Yugoslavs must replace Milosevic as their leader if the nation wants to join a democratic Europe.

"For them to create a stable situation, it looks to me like they are going to need a new leader," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." But the NATO airstrikes were not intended to oust Milosevic, he added.

The mounting call for at least a plan for using ground troops in Kosovo led Podesta to say that there is a contingency plan.

"We have a substantial elaborate plan to insert a force in the event that there's a peaceful ... permissive environment for them to go into," he said.

But as Congress prepares to convene this week, some Capitol Hill leaders were critical of the current NATO policy of no ground troops.

"It's just not logical, and the administration has to change their position on that issue in my view," said Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who plans to introduce resolutions in both houses authorizing Clinton to use ground forces.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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