(12 Jun 1998) Natural Sound

As the eight leading industrialised nations met in London on Friday, demanding an end to the bloody crackdown in Kosovo, streams of ethnic Albanian refugees were still fleeing the troubled province.

NATO ordered allied military authorities on Thursday to conduct air exercises over Albania and Macedonia in a bid to escalate pressure on the Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic.

But despite NATO's decision, overnight shelling and the burning of houses in Kosovo continues.

The United States along with other leading industrialised nations are demanding an end to the Serbian offensive against ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Kosovo Province.

The alliance is planning to stage mock air attacks in neighbouring Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia within the next few days.

It is hoped the show of power will send a message to Serbia and display the alliance's ability to project a massive force rapidly into the crisis zone.

U-S diplomats, close to the Yugoslav border with Albania, are monitoring the region to ensure the conflict does not spill into neighbouring Albania and Macedonia, as well.

U-S and Albanian troops and Security Officials anxiously scan the horizon for signs of shelling in the Field of Kosovo.

They are also on the lookout for refugees who have been fleeing the fighting in their thousands.

But despite the warning from NATO, many houses are aflame in Kosovo and Serb gunners are still shelling villages in the ravaged region.

Yugoslavia has warned that it will not tolerate unauthorised NATO actions on its territory.

As the fighting continues, the flow of ethnic Albanians caught up in the Serb artillery offensive against separatists in Kosovo does not stem.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population, are fighting to gain independence from Serbia, one of the two republics in the Yugoslav federation

In all, more than 300 people have been killed.

And about 60-thousand people have been forced to flee their homes in Kosovo since fighting in the Serbian province began in March, this includes nine-thousand now in Montenegro.

Many refugees trapped in the cross-fire as they flee the area, have also been injured.

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