June 6, 1999
Web posted at: 1:54 p.m. EDT (1754 GMT)KUMANOVO, Macedonia
(CNN) -- Yugoslav and NATO officials took a break Sunday after nearly
10 hours of talks aimed at clarifying NATO's demands for a Yugoslav
withdrawal from Kosovo.
The two sides will reconvene at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) and "go through
till the end," said Maj. Trey Cate, a NATO spokesman.
"There is very little chance," Cate said, that talks would be suspended
and restarted Monday.
After two days of talks, the Yugoslavs were balking at signing the
document that details a timetable and routes for the troop withdrawal,
the official said.
NATO officials hope to have a six-page document outlining plans for
a Yugoslav withdrawal signed by the end of the day. Lt. Gen. Michael
Jackson of Britain, commander of NATO's Rapid Reaction Force, headed
the negotiations for NATO: The Yugoslav military delegation was led
by two deputy chiefs of staff of the Yugoslav army, Gen. Svetozar Marjanovic
and Gen. Blagoje Kovacevic.
Though talks have been described as "constructive," NATO vowed to
press on with its air campaign, now in its 11th week, until it sees
evidence of a Serb withdrawal.
"These talks ... could take some time to conclude," said NATO spokesman
Jamie Shea, "but I must stress it is in the interest of the Serbs for
the signing to be as rapid as possible. The linkage is simple: We will
not stop until they start, and as they are not starting their withdrawal,
we are not stopping our operations."
Shea warned Yugoslav troops against "shilly-shallying or dilly-dallying"
during the withdrawal, particularly for the purposes of looting as the
army moves out of the Serbian province.
"Those forces will be subject to NATO air power," he said.
Fighting continues
More than 30 NATO missiles hit targets in Kosovo over the last 24
hours, according to Serbian media, striking the cities of Pec, Prizren
and Kosovo Polje.
NATO said it struck strategic targets near Vrsac, in Serbia and Pristina,
Kosovo's capital. But NATO officials said they were particularly concerned
with ongoing ground battles between Serb forces and Kosovo Liberation
Army troops.
"The fighting isn't over yet," said NATO military spokesman Gen.
Walter Jertz. "Serb forces will not halt their operations until their
commanders give them the order. There is hope that will happen soon."
Serb mortar shells fell into Albania for the second day Sunday, forcing
aid workers and refugees to scramble for shelter. At least one person
died and several were hurt in the attack, according to Andrea Angeli,
a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Peacekeeping force builds up
While the withdrawal talks continued, NATO was "accelerating preparations
for implementation of a peace agreement, and building up forces in the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be ready to enter Kosovo as
soon as the Serb forces withdraw," Shea said.
Plans call for the province to be divided into five sectors, with
the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and France each overseeing
a sector.
Just what role Russian forces will play in the Kosovo peacekeeping
force remains unclear. Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who
helped broker the peace deal, said if Russian forces do participate,
they will not be part of NATO's force.
"We have not even discussed this question," he said. "Under our law
and under our morality, we will never be under NATO."
NATO's decision to continue the air campaign while the peace deal
is on the table didn't sit well with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
"The main task ... is to stop bombing. After that, Russia is ready
for working out the U.N. resolution, which will give the basis for post-war
settlement in Yugoslavia," Ivanov said.
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