May 11, 1999
THE SERBS
Belgrade Says Pullout in Kosovo Has Begun
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By STEVEN ERLANGER
ELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The Yugoslav army announced Monday that
it had completed its operations against the insurgent Kosovo
Liberation Army and had begun a partial withdrawal of military and
police forces from Kosovo.
An army statement said the withdrawal began at 10 p.m. Sunday,
but did not specify the numbers or types of troops being withdrawn.
Once an agreement is reached with the United Nations on "an
international mission to Kosovo," the statement said, Yugoslavia
will reduce the number of its security forces to "a peace-time
level."
The announcement, which led the state news programs, was widely
understood here as a gesture intended to accelerate negotiations on
a peaceful settlement on Kosovo that would bring an end to NATO's
widespread bombing of Yugoslavia.
The partial withdrawal is intended to be "one more positive
step forward" toward a negotiated peace settlement, a senior
Yugoslav official, Goran Matic, said in an interview Monday.
He added, "But we cannot always make such steps without a
response."
NATO officials immediately said bombing would continue, and
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called the announcement "a
half measure."
Serbian officials had begun to say last week that some Yugoslav
army troops and police forces were being withdrawn from Kosovo at
the rate of about 100 to 150 a day. They said that the rebel force
had been largely destroyed and that there was no longer any reason
for huge numbers of police and army units, all of which needed to
be fed and cared for, to remain in Kosovo under NATO air attack.
Monday, Matic confirmed that a withdrawal had begun before this
announcement, but said, "It will be intensified now."
He said the Yugoslav government had decided to reduce its forces
in Kosovo to peacetime levels, "but the intensity of the
withdrawals will depend on NATO."
About a month ago, around the time of the Orthodox Easter, the
Yugoslav government announced that all offensive operations were
over in Kosovo. That was clearly not the case, as the army and
police continued actions to break the organized structure of the
Kosovo Liberation Army and push remaining rebel fighters deeper
into the mountains.
Currently, according to senior Serbian officials interviewed in
Kosovo, rebel fighters now operate in small bands, like partisans,
and remain active in the hills northwest of Podujevo, around
Bajgora; in the hills around Jezerce, near Stimlje, Dulje and Suva
Reka, and in the Kosare area, near Djakovica, where the rebels are
trying to establish a land corridor for infiltration from Albania.
President Slobodan Milosevic has said Yugoslavia currently has
about 100,000 army and militarized police forces in Kosovo, up from
a peacetime level of some 11,000. According to the army statement
Monday, these levels would be sufficient to cope with "individual
terrorist attacks by small groups of the disintegrated KLA."
NATO, however, says the number of Yugoslav forces now in Kosovo
is closer to 40,000. Washington insists that in any peace
settlement, the vast majority of Serbian security forces would have
to depart Kosovo, leaving probably no more than 2,000, some
officials say, and they would remain only until a new Kosovo police
force could be formed that would not answer to Belgrade.
Albright, in her statement in Washington, repeated that NATO
would continue its bombing campaign until its five demands are
accepted. Those are an end to the violence against the ethnic
Albanians, a verifiable withdrawal of Serbian forces from the
province, the safe return of refugees, an international military
presence in Kosovo and the opening of discussions on the province's
political future.
Albright said there must be "demonstrable, verifiable
withdrawal of forces before we would even consider any kind of
suspension of the bombing."
Still, NATO in its meetings with the Russians and other members
of the Group of Eight industrialized countries has softened its
earlier positions to come closer to Belgrade's demands. It has
accepted a U.N. mandate for the international security force and a
recognition of Serbian and Yugoslav sovereignty over Kosovo,
apparently dropping talk of turning the province into an
"international protectorate."
The main sticking points -- on which the Russian envoy, Viktor S.
Chernomyrdin, is working -- include the size and composition of that
international force, who will lead it and how it will be armed.
Chernomyrdin canceled a trip to Belgrade and went instead to
Beijing, where he is discussing his proposals with a Chinese
leadership that is infuriated over the NATO bombing of its embassy
in Belgrade.
Milosevic has said he wants a U.N. force that would carry only
side-arms for self-defense and would not contain nationals of the
NATO countries now bombing Yugoslavia. He was described as "very
firm in his position" by Yasushi Akashi, a former U.N. envoy in
Bosnia, who met Milosevic over the weekend.
But the Yugoslav government is annoyed with Chernomyrdin, whom
they had expected here on Sunday, the anniversary of the end of
World War II in Europe. Yugoslavia was liberated by the Soviet
Union, and Chernomyrdin was supposed to honor the dead and lay a
wreath here, as well as talk to Milosevic about a peace settlement.
Instead, Chernomyrdin returned to Moscow to have talks with U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott before going to China.
Monday's announcement by the army has all the indications of
having been planned for Chernomyrdin's visit on Sunday, as a
Yugoslav gesture to him and his search for a settlement.
When Chernomyrdin did not come, the state-run newspaper Politika
seemed to reflect official anger. "It remains unclear what
prevented Chernomyrdin coming to Belgrade and why he first has to
talk to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in Moscow,"
Politika said.
Chernomyrdin had said in Bonn that he had briefed Milosevic by
telephone about progress in drafting a settlement and was
encouraged by his reaction. But the Politika commentary did not
reflect that view.
Instead, Politika criticized Chernomyrdin, saying, "The bombing
of the Chinese Embassy was in fact a reason for Chernomyrdin to
come and see for himself the crimes committed by the U.S.-led
NATO."
Serbian officials have often been caustic about Russia, saying
privately that Moscow, despite its professions of support for
Belgrade, is largely doing Washington's bidding in the hopes of
gaining more financial aid from the West.
