NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana has repeatedly threatened to intervene in Kosovo to prevent a full-scale war between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbian security forces.

When he learned of a civilian massacre near the village of Racak in January, Solana warned that NATO "will not tolerate a return to all-out fighting and a policy of repression in Kosovo."

So far, his threats of military force have not been carried out. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic managed to avert NATO airstrikes in October through a U.S.- brokered cease-fire. But Milosevic's failure to withdraw troops from Kosovo as promised has again pushed Solana and his fellow NATO leaders to the brink.

Solana served as Spain's foreign minister for three years before being picked to succeed Willy Claes as head of NATO in 1995. Claes resigned over a corruption scandal in his native Belgium.

Solana was educated in the United States. Prior to serving as foreign minister, he was a university physics professor. He evolved from an anti-military student activist during the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco to a minister in a firmly pro-NATO government.