U.S.: For peace, 'key' Serb forces must leave Kosovo

Rubin says NATO airstrikes will continue until Milosevic withdraws his forces  ALSO Clinton calls military 'America at its best' NATO vows to prevail in Yugoslavia CARE, Australia demand release of aid worker who confessed to spying on Yugoslavia  MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Kosovo RELATED VIDEO With the imminent arrival of another aircraft carrier, the skies around Yugoslavia are going to become more crowded with military planes. CNN's Rusty Dornin is on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt. (April 12) Windows Media 28K 80K

Clinton visiting B-52 base to back Kosovo policy

April 12, 1999
Web posted at: 8:59 a.m. EDT (1259 GMT)

In this story: Some Serb forces may stay Russian peacekeepers possible President's pep talk for pilots RELATED STORIES, SITES

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Seeking to clarify comments by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, her spokesman said Monday that Washington wants all "key" Serb forces to leave Kosovo once the NATO war against Yugoslavia ends.

"All key Serb (military, paramilitary and special police) forces should leave... Any suggestion to the contrary is simply not correct," State Department spokesman James Rubin said in Brussels, where Albright and other officials from the 19 NATO countries met at alliance headquarters to demonstrate their unity.

Albright on Sunday appeared to leave open the possibility that Yugoslavia might be able to retain some security forces in Kosovo as part of a peace agreement.

NATO, now in the 20th day of an air campaign against Yugoslavia, has demanded that Belgrade withdraw its military, police and paramilitary forces from the province, using words that imply all forces must leave, but not explicitly saying that.

Speaking to reporters on her plane trip from Washington to Brussels, Albright pointedly refused to say that all these forces must leave.

"We are not stating specifically what the numbers are ... We have to be realistic and flexible as we look at the future," she said.

Some Serb forces may stay

Under the peace proposal that Yugoslav President Milosevic rejected last month, prompting the NATO airstrikes, Yugoslavia would have been entitled to have 2,500 police personnel in Kosovo for up to one year, as well as 1,500 Yugoslav army troops on border patrol.

But Albright told reporters: "I think there has to be a reconsideration of that" because the peace plan has been "overtaken by events."

A U.S. official said on Monday that Albright, in refusing to say that all Serb forces must leave Kosovo, was faithfully adhering to language approved by NATO political leaders.

"Her job is to reflect the consensus," the official said.

He said that while the United States and some other NATO members were ready to state that all key Serb military, police and paramilitary forces should leave Kosovo, others in the alliance were not prepared to go that far.

Russian peacekeepers possible

Rubin, meantime, told CNN that NATO had not changed its objectives and was "not pursuing a political solution."

The air war will continue, he said, until Milosevic withdraws forces "that have committed these terrible atrocities" and allows Kosovo refugees to return under the protection of a NATO-led international peacekeeping force.

Rubin said the peacekeepers could include troops from Russia, a non-NATO nation opposed to the airstrikes.

"We've always envisioned the possibility that this NATO-led force, which would form the core of any international security force, could work together with Russia or other countries, just the way we've worked together with Russia (which) has troops on the ground in Bosnia," he said.

President's pep talk for pilots

President Clinton is expected to give a pep talk to U.S. pilots on Monday morning during his visit to Barksdale Air Force Base. The Louisiana base is home to some of the B-52s deployed to Yugoslavia.

Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, planned to accompany the president.

National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said the president would deliver a message of support to the men and women in uniform and their families.

Clinton is due back at the White House later in the day to meet with congressional leaders on Yugoslavia.

Correspondent Chris Black and Reuters contributed to this report.

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