(16 Oct 1998) English/Nat
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and two top commanders have signed a deal with the Yugoslav army, allowing spy planes to monitor the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo.
Solana's trip to Belgrade for the signing has also been used to reinforce the compliance message - considered essential to help the thousands of refugees in Kosovo.
Solana says that despite some progress, Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic still has a long way to go to meet NATO's Saturday deadline for troop withdrawal.
NATO Chief Javier Solana was in Belgrade on Thursday night to sign an air surveillance deal, which calls for unarmed spy planes to watch over the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo.
One of the key aims of the Kosovo deal is to allow refugees to return home but many claim Serb forces are still firing machine guns in the area, to scare them away.
The demands were spelled out in a breakthrough agreement reached earlier this week by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U-S envoy Richard Holbrooke.
NATO is keeping up the pressure on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to pull out more Serb forces from Kosovo before Saturday's deadline.
The air surveillance deal was signed between NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General Wesley Clark and Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff General Momcilo Perisic.
After the signing, NATO's secretary-general told reporters that Thursday's agreement is not the end of the story, rather it's the first step in ending the conflict and relieving the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo.
Solana is urging President Milosevic and the Kosovan ethnic Albanians not to squander this opportunity.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Let me finally say a word to the people of Yugoslavia, to the people of this country. There has been too much suffering, too much intolerance and too much violence in this country and this region over the past few years. Much of this has been caused by political leaders who have misused their political power. Late examples are very clear with the closure of independent newspapers. Apart from the terrible humanitarian tragedy the result has meant Yugoslavia has been increasingly isolated from the European democratic family of nations. I urge you, the people of this country, to open a new chapter in your history and to work for solutions through dialogue and reconciliation. The alliance, the countries that belong to the alliance, the European countries are there to help you in this endeavour, but you too must accept your responsibility and look to the future. This is a proposal and the words I have passed to President Milosevic and that's the position of the allied countries and NATO."
SUPER CAPTION: Javier Solana, NATO Secretary-General
Meanwhile in the U-S, the Pentagon has confirmed that NATO will have the right to defend its reconnaissance missions if Yugoslavia's leadership violates the agreements.
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon says that air reconnaissance missions will be carried out by unarmed planes.
If they are attacked, NATO reserves the right to act defensively with a quick reaction force, deployed outside Kosovo, that could include U-S forces.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is very clear, it should be very clear from everything that has been said so far, from everything that will be said today in Belgrade by General Clark and from what I am going to say here, that if there is any violation of this agreement such as you have mentioned, etc, that NATO reserves the right to take defensive action, and it will be fully able to do that."
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