-WAR IN Kosovo
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 15, 1999 - 9A
enrmany
calls for 1
day halt of
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - In a
diplomatic drive to bring peace to
Kosovo, Germany unveiled a plan yes-
terday calling for a one-day suspension
of airstrikes if Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic begins withdraw-
ing troops from the province.
NATO called the German plan a
"food-for-thought paper," but did not
immediately endorse it. Spokesperson
mie Shea said it was a "very useful
and necessary contribution" to the
debate on how to get Milosevic to back
down.
German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder, current president of the 15-
nation European Union, convened a spe-
cial EU summit yesterday evening to dis-
cuss the peace plan and to meet with U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Annan is
scheduled to speak at the University of
Michigan commencement on May I.
Alliance officials feel the air cam-
paign has begun to stagger Milosevic
and are hesitant to ease up and give him
a chance to recuperate.
In Washington, State Department
spokesperson James Rubin called the
German proposals constructive and
said they were in line with the condi-
tions that NATO has laid down. He
described them as a beginning of a dis-
ussion of how the conditions would be
nplemented.
Under the German plan, presented in
Bonn, NATO would suspend its
airstrikes on Yugoslavia for 24 hours to
give Milosevic time to begin moving
his troops out of the province, and per-
manently suspend the attacks once the
pullout is complete.
The proposals call for a U.N. military
force to move in as Yugoslav army and
ecial police forces withdraw. That
would be followed by a return of the
hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Albanian refugees who have fled to
Albania and Macedonia and an interim
U.N. administration of Kosovo.
"We need to allow for the return of
refugees, to allow for the deployment of
international troops to protect the
refugees and the population of
Kosovo," said Schroeder.
Annan met with NATO Secretary-
general Javier Solana before going to
the EU. No details of their discussions
Panelists discuss aid for
refugees fleeing Kosovo
REFUGEES
Continued from Page 1A
should start by writing letters. "Tell your congressman, sena-
tor, president, what you think" he said.
Those who want to take a more active role should do a
needs assessment of their own, Heisler said, adding that con-
tributing to groups helping refugees should also be exam-
ined.
"It is better to send a check to an organization and tell them
what you want it to do rather than a stack blankets. Sending
a bulk of items will create extra transportation costs" Heisler
said.
Stein stressed the fact that individuals should not be
concerned with immediate action, saying reading about
the situation and gaining knowledge are equally as impor-
tant.
"Don't necessarily feel that you have to do anything right
now. Heightening awareness for the future may be the most
useful thing you can do," Stein said.
Websites of relief funds
recommended by the panelists:
* Interaction:
http://w ww.interaction.org/kosovo/index.htmi
An umbrella organization that provides information on
the activities of non-governmental organizations.
* ReliefWeb:
http://www.notes.reliefweb.int/
A project of the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
5 UNHCR Refugees Daily:
http://www.unhcr.ch/news/media/daily.htm
A digest of the latest refugee news reported by the
world's media,
N U.S. Committee for Refugees:
http://www.refugees.org
A non-profit organization devoted to advocacy on behalf
of uprooted people regardless of their nationality, race,
religion, ideology or social group.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder addresses a special meeting of the
European Union yesterday in Brussells, Belgium.
BALKANS
Continued from Page 1A
"It was a plane and I saw it' said
Qazim Tata. "I don't know whether the
plane was Serb or NATO, but probably
it was Serb because NATO would not
attack us."
Yugoslav Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Nebosja Vujovic reported
that 75 people were killed and 25
injured in the incidents.
Uncertainty over what happened was
compounded by erroneous and confus-
ing reports issued by Pentagon and
NATO authorities during the day. Gen.
Wesley Clark, NATO's top commander,
first suggested that the attacks on the
refugees may have been perpetrated as
a retaliatory action by Yugoslav forces,
who were part of a convoy of refugees
and whose trucks had been targeted by
NATO warplanes.
But by early evening, Clark had
retracted that theory. He said he could not
yet account for the civilian casualties.
"There were aircraft working the area
all day," the general said in a telephone
interview. "We're talking to the pilots,
looking at the video, listening to the
cockpit recordings, going through every
single weapon that was dropped in that
area to determine what happened."
Clark said the pilots reported hitting
only military trucks and believed the
trucks had come from Djakovica earlier
in the day, where Yugoslav forces were
seen burning houses and jumping into
the vehicles. He said the trucks were trav-
eling in a long convoy, spaced about 100
yards apart, and each one was targeted
separately.
were released, but Shea said Solana told
Annan that the allies "are united and
determined to push this through to its
logical conclusion."
The U.N. chief called on diplomats to
intensify efforts to find a political solu-
tion, but acknowledged after a meeting
with British Prime Minister Tony Blair
that "it's not going to be easy."
Annan denied reports he plans to
travel to Belgrade to discuss the
German plan.
In a gesture to Russia, the German
plan does not insist on a NATO peace-
keeping force, rather it suggests a
"robust" contingent of international
troops under a single commander.
Russia was part of the six-nation
Contact Group - along with the
United States, France, Britain,
Germany and Italy - that negotiated a
peace agreement for Kosovo in
Rambouillet, France, in February. That
agreement was signed by the Kosovo
Albanians, but rejected by the Serbs.
Russia, nonetheless, has strongly
opposed the NATO air operation and
has severed its relations with the
alliance.
"We welcome the Russian effort in
the current crisis to try to bring a
positive influence to bear on the gov-
ernment in Belgrade," Schroeder
said. "I am firmly convinced that
Russia will act as a stabilizing factor
in Europe."
Schroeder told the EU Parliament in
Strasbourg, France, earlier yesterday
that "the terrible developments in
Kosovo are not solely a domestic policy
issue for Yugoslavia."
"Europe's voice has to remain res-
olute" and help create a situation in
Kosovo where refugees can safely
return to their homes, he said. Eleven of
the EU's 15 members are also part of
NATO.
Martin Erdmann, a spokesperson for
German Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer said the proposal was "coordi-
nated" with Germany's allies in intense
diplomacy in recent days.
The main points of the plan include:
Setting a timetable for the with-
drawal of Serb military, police and
paramilitary forces from Kosovo, with
a clear threat that airstrikes would
resume if Milosevic stalls.
A cease-fire by ethnic Albanian
rebels, who would later be disarmed by
the international force.
- The return of refugees and dis-
placed people once Yugoslav forces
have pulled out.
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