HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST:
Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, head of the Yugoslav Human Rights Lawyers' Committee, told BETA news agency the Belgrade authorities plan to put up to 28,000 people on trial for avoiding military service during the Kosovo war as part of a bid by the authorities to crush political opposition in the country.
"It has been assessed that, mostly under the accusation of avoiding the military call-up and fleeing abroad during the state of war, between 23,000 and 28,000 trials have been initiated in Yugoslavia," Kovacevic-Vuco told Beta.
"These are mainly young people...Many oppose the regime and did not want to take part in the war," she said, adding "All opponents of the regime are threatened. They did not want to go to war, and they certainly do not want to go to prison." she added.
Kovacevic-Vuco said some prominent opposition figures, such as Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic, may not be threatened because the authorities feared an adverse reaction from the public.
Djindjic, who fled to Serbia's sister republic Montenegro during the NATO bombardment after he was publicly branded a traitor by ultra-nationalist groups, is due to appear before a military court in Belgrade on July on charges of avoiding the military call-up during the state of war.
"The situation is different, however, with the less well-known, but nevertheless prominent, opponents of the regime who are in great danger," said Kovacevic-Vuco.
She called for an amnesty for all those who avoided war service, saying she was amazed that the issue had not been included among NATO's conditions for ending its 11-week bombardment of Yugoslavia.
The Belgrade authorities issued a general amnesty for people accused of avoiding the draft in Yugoslavia's 1991 war against Croatia when Zagreb declared its independence from the old Yugoslav federation.
Editor's note: Although Milosevic's government declared amnesty, all who were indicted were still forced to serve military and those known to openly oppose Milosevic were sent to prison under different indictments. Some who refused to commit war crimes in Kosovo were sentenced to 4 years and 10 months of imprisonment. Conscripts have right to refuse to participate in war crimes organized by criminals like Milosevic and Milutinovic.
BELGRADE - Eunet Yugoslavia, in cooperation with banking transaction systems will enable donors from the entire world to send humanitarian aid over the Internet, Eunet Yugoslavia said Wednesday. Many people abroad are ready to help, but are unable to send money in conditions when Yugoslav banks are practically cut off from the world. That is why Eunet Yugoslavia has opened a site on the Internet called Human to Human, on www.h2h.org.yu, whose pages provide information how it is possible to send aid, the statement said.
Editor's commentary: All aid will be converted to cold hard cash distributed to Milosevic and his mobsters. Eunet is government controlled ISP provider known to deny access to those who oppose Milosevic or they are not doing things that dictator wants them to do. After owner and editor-in-chief of "Dnevni Telegraf", Slavko Curuvija, as well as couple of reporters, were sentenced to prison terms, Eunet removed web site of "Dnevni Telegraf". The same thing happened with BK (Brothers Karic) TV web site that was removed after Karic attempted to ran to Cyprus. Eunet is also known for encouraging people to commit Internet crimes, hacking Western government web sites and sending spam to them. Humanitarian organizations and aid meant for them are often target of con artists and criminals who like to exploit human sufferings and misery. Humanitarian aid must be strictly monitored and inspected by international community to prevent Milosevic's mobsters from scam operations. Ever since Milosevic came to the power in Serbia, money sent from abroad is regularly stolen by security police as well as valuable merchandise. Medicine sent to hospitals is taken to the black market and sold for big money.
The Serbian Parliament has formally repealed a number of decrees introduced during the Nato bombing, including a ban on public gatherings.
A measure allowing police to conduct searches without a warrant was also lifted, as was another restricting the movements of people suspected of undermining the country's defence.
The parliamentary session came as the anti-government campaign continued to gather momentum across the country.
About 10,000 protesters took part in an opposition rally organised by the Alliance for Change in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac.
High-ranking opposition leaders addressed the crowd in the town, which was bombed several times by Nato during the Kosovo conflict.
Leaflets handed out at the rally said: "Now is the time for the change. People of Serbia have the right to live in a rich and happy Serbia."
In the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, hundreds of pensioners marched to demand regular payment of their pensions.
Several pro-democracy activists were severely beaten while collecting signatures on a petition calling for the removal of President Slobodan Milosevic, an official of the Alliance for Change said.
In Vojvodina, four people were arrested for advertising an anti-government rally.
The opposition has vowed to keep up its protests against President Milosevic. It hopes they will lead to mass rallies on the streets of Belgrade.
Tax laws
Although the Serb parliament lifted some of the war restrictions, it also passed a law endorsing a number of other emergency decrees on finances and taxes.
It said these were necessary to help the country's reconstruction.
BBC Belgrade Correspondent Jacky Rowland says the government places particular importance on tax and finance laws.
The opposition had argued that now the war was over, all the war decrees should be lifted.
Assembly boycott
A number of MPs showed their disapproval of the government by boycotting the parliamentary session.
The Serbian Renewal Movement led by Vuk Draskovic and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians did not attend, while the Vojvodina Coalition walked out the assembly before the voting took place.
A leading member of the Renewal Movement, Milan Mikovic, said: "Passing laws is a serious business, which means that it cannot be done by giving the deputies the materials on the day of the session."
At the beginning of the meeting, it was announced that the New Democracy Party had been expelled from the Socialist-led ruling coalition.
The party's leader, Dusan Mihajlovic, said he was grateful that the Serbian Assembly had thrown his group out of the government coalition, the Serbian news agency Beta reported.
He said he was not surprised at the move, as the Serbian Radical Party had been demanding the decision from its partners "for a long time" .
But he said that revoking his party members' mandates as MPs was illegal, because a deputy's mandate only ended when he left his party, "and it is clear that we have not quit the New Democracy".
On July 13 Belgraders continued to sign the petition calling for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's resignation at several spots in the capital, but the police told the organizers - the representatives of the Democratic Party - that "this gathering is banned."
The representative of the Democratic Party's city chapter, Dragan Kopcalic, told BETA that a small group of members of the Yugoslav Left beat up two members of the Democratic Party at the collection spot on Terazije Street at 2:00 p.m. local time. The chairman of the Radical Party Nikola Pasic, Sinisa Vucinic, and two other men attacked Democrat activists and broke their improvised stand for collecting signatures.
Several thousand people gathered in downtown Valjevo on July 12, to protest the policies of the Serbian government.
The anti-government rally was organized by the non-partisan organization Civic Resistance Valjevo, and one of the organizers, artist Bogoljub "Maki" Arsenijevic said the main goal of his organization was to see that "Milosevic and his wife, Mirjana Markovic, are arrested" to face trial in Yugoslavia. He also criticized the Serbian opposition, which he said does nothing but "organize rallies and marches and petitions, nothing that can really endanger the survival of the dictator."
Near the end of the protest, about 1,000 demonstrators attempted to storm the city council but encountered a police cordon. BETA's correspondent reported that a group of demonstrators did manage to enter the building but was soon forced out again by police. Windows on the city council building were broken, and sources at Valjevo Hospital told BETA three policemen and one civilian were hurt in the clash.
Demonstrators were still present in front of the city council building at nightfall, and they have announced their intention to continue protesting in the days to come.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Milan Milutinovic has sent to the republican parliament a package of 16 decrees, in force during the state of war, demanding their reviewal and confirmation.
Under the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the president of the republic, at his own initiative or at the proposal of the government, adopts acts during the state of war on issues stemming from the competences of the Serbian parliament, but is under the obligation to submit them for confirmation to parliament as soon as it is able to convene.
Milutinovic's letter, sent together with the decrees to Serbian Parliament Speaker Dragan Tomic, recalls that after the start of the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on March 24, the federal parliament had declared a state of war.
Milutinovic said that he had delcared the 16 decrees on the basis of this.
Since the federal parliament lifted the state of war on June 24, the Serbian president acted in keeping with his constitutional obligations and submitted all the decrees to the republican parliament for consideration and confirmation.
On the occasion of July 7, Insurrection Day in Serbia in World War II, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic awarded 910 members of the Serbian Interior Ministry, 168 individuals, economic, health, information, and other companies, the state-run Serbian TV reported.
They were awarded for their "great contribution to the heroic defense of our nation and country from the NATO aggression, and for expressing patriotism, courage, readiness to sacrifice, humanity, solidarity, skill, self-initiative, and great efforts in carrying out their duties during the state of war," said the announcement by the Yugoslav president's General Secretariat.
The Order of the Yugoslav Flag first class was awarded to: the Serbian Interior Ministry Public Office Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Vlastimir Djordjevic, Assistant Serbian Interior Minister, Gen. Obrad Stevanovic, and Gen. Sreten Lukic.
The President of the Kosovo Temporary Executive Committee, Zoran Andjelkovic, was awarded the Order of the Yugoslav Flag, first class, for outstanding merit and action in which he expressed great patriotism.
The state-run Serbian TV, the state news agency Tanjug and the Politika publishing company were awarded the Order of Services to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The organizer of a protest in Leskovac, Ivan Novkovic (34), a technician at the local television station, was sentenced to 30 days in prison on July 6, for organizing a rally without reporting it to the authorities.
Explaining the ruling, the felony judge in Leskovac, Mirjana Markovic, said that Novkovic, "as an organizer of a public gathering, rallied citizens in the Bulevar Oslobodjenja street, in front of the Beograd department store, on July 5 at 6:00 p.m., without previously informing the authorities."
It was said in the sentence that Novkovic "scheduled a new rally" for July 6 during his speech at the protest in Leskovac.
Novkovic, who was working in the Leskovac television's production room, aired his call to citizens to gather in the center of Leskovac on July 5, and called for the resignation of the head of the Jablanica district, Zivojin Stefanovic.
Novkovic made the call of his own accord instead of airing commercials during a break in the quarter-finals game between Yugoslavia and Germany at the European basketball championships in France.
More than 20,000 people in the southern Serbian city, which with its local municipality has a population of 165,000, responded to his call and demonstrated demanding the resignations of both Stefanovic and the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Novkovic's wife Vesna told BETA that Ivan was sent to the Leskovac prison to serve his sentence.
LESKOVAC, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Spurred by a local television editor's call for action, thousands of protesters packed the streets of a southern Serbian city on Monday, demanding political change in Yugoslavia.
Alternately chanting "Thieves, thieves" and "Changes, changes," at least 10,000 demonstrators marched through Leskovac, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Belgrade.
Police made no attempt to stop the rally, which was not organized by any opposition party. Instead, it came in response to a plea from a Leskovac television station technician, Ivan Novkovic, who last week interrupted local programming to air a message demanding the resignation of a local official, Zivojin Stefanovic, a member of the ruling Socialist party.
Novkovic accused Stefanovic of abusing his authority as governor by destroying the local economy and organizing the massive mobilization of local army reservists during NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia.
But as Novkovic addressed the crowd during Monday's protest, residents turned the demonstration into an anti-government rally, calling on Stefanovic and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to step down. Many yelled "Go away, Slobo" and "Beat it, Slobo," the Beta news agency reported.
Residents were joined by Yugoslav Army reservists who have been staging sporadic protests across Serbia to demand unpaid wages for time served in Kosovo during the 11-week NATO campaign. Beta said the reservists ordered a local television station to record and broadcast the protest or they would break into the station.
More protests planned
The protests came on the eve of another rally scheduled for Tuesday in the town of Uzice, in central Serbia. That rally has been called by a main pro-democracy group in Serbia, the Alliance for Change.
The opposition coalition is demanding Milosevic's resignation, formation of a transitional government and free and fair elections in Serbia. Last week, 10,000 people joined a protest in the town of Cacak, calling for Milosevic to step down.
The Alliance for Change claims 50,000 members, a much smaller backing than that of the larger Serb Renewal Movement, led by Vuk Draskovic, who once served in Milosevic's government.
The two opposition groups have so far failed to unite their efforts, though the Alliance for Change said the key for combining their movements rested in Draskovic's hands.
"The basic difference between the Alliance for Change and Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement is that (Draskovic) still believes this regime could somehow be repaired or revitalized. It is a mistake. A political corpse cannot and should not be reanimated -- we all know where corpses should lie," alliance coordinator Vladan Batic said.
But Draskovic did not appear ready to join forces with the Alliance for Change or with one of its leaders, Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic, who fled Yugoslavia during NATO's bombing, saying his life was threatened by "criminals" within the government.
"He ran away from the country during aggression, he ran away from the nation and from his own party," Draskovic said of Djindjic. "People cannot forget and cannot forgive this."
Draskovic, who led tens of thousands of protesters through the streets of Yugoslavia during weeks of demonstrations in early 1997, has dismissed the Alliance for Change as a group of small parties with little following.
He has also refused to organize new demonstrations, saying people are still weary from the war.
Analysts say the split in the opposition plays into Milosevic's hands. But those who hold Milosevic responsible for leading Yugoslavia into a devastating conflict with NATO believe the end of his regime is nearing anyway, with or without a united opposition.
Correspondent Alessio Vinci, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Meanwhile, a top Serb opposition leader -- braving a military court investigation -- returned to Serbia on Sunday to face accusations of draft-dodging and to campaign for the ouster of President Slobodan Milosevic.
Zoran Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party, landed at Belgrade airport and immediately dismissed the accusations against him, seen by many as Milosevic's attempt to crack down on forces demanding democratic reforms in Yugoslavia.
"I think it is utterly cynical and ironic that they are after me because of the war that they organized, caused and led without themselves fighting it," Djindjic said at the airport.
The war was the 78-day NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia triggered by the Kosovo crisis, which ended with government troops withdrawing from the province in Serbia, the larger of two Yugoslav republics. During the bombing, thousands of Yugoslav reservists were called up.
After the bombing started March 24, Djindjic went to Montenegro, Yugoslavia's other republic, mainly in fear of Milosevic's crackdown against opponents. Djindjic later traveled to western Europe while the army tried to serve him with a draft notice.
"My stay in Montenegro and abroad enabled for re-establishing the credibility of a democratic Serbia in the world," Djindjic said. "I think I was of more use to Serbia (there) than if I stayed ... just watching the NATO planes unable to do anything."
Djindjic and his party have spearheaded protests against Milosevic, rallying support from increasingly dissatisfied and impoverished Serbs. Already in international isolation and struggling economically by previous wars in the region, Yugoslavia was badly damaged in the NATO raids.
"Our first task is removal of Milosevic and his regime ... Changes must come very soon so that people can survive the next winter," he said.
He also said the most important task the opposition faces is to avoid civil unrest while ensuring a change in government.
Djindjic said once Milosevic is no longer in power, the country should establish a transitional government to end the country's pariah status and then hold elections.
It was unclear when he would testify in the draft-dodging investigation. Under Serbian law, a court investigation is necessary to determine if there is enough evidence to indict.
A conviction on the charge can carry a prison sentence of 20 years.
BELGRADE - Yugoslav businessmen are interested in continuing and expanding cooperation with partners from Iraq within the Oil for Food Program, it was said on Tuesday at the Yugoslav Chamber for Commerce at a meeting between the newly-appointed Yugoslav ambassador to Iraq Srboljub Vasovic with the representatives of Yugoslav companies.
The secretary of international cooperation board of the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce, Svetozar Krasin, said that Iraq, acting on the basis of the U.S. Security Council resolution and the Oil for Food Program, can easily import food and pay in oil.
Krasin set out that so far Iraq owes Yugoslavia 1,656 dollars and that the sanctions against Iraq are preventing these payments.
War crime clues beneath Kosovo rubble
DJAKOVICA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Investigating a crime scene is standard duty for an FBI agent, but when the scene is a house in Kosovo, burned down after 20 people inside were shot to death, even experienced agents are stunned.
The site -- in Djakovica, a city in western Kosovo -- is one of six named in an indictment from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, accusing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and four of his military and government aides with crimes against humanity.
An FBI team, made up of dozens of forensic scientists and other specialists, is in Djakovica to see if there's enough evidence to link the crimes committed there to specific individuals.
Skeletal remains uncovered
That means digging through the rubble of a house on Milos Gilic Street, a place where human remains have been found.
War crimes prosecutors say mass murder took place here in late March or early April. It's alleged that Serb troops, determined to rid Kosovo of ethnic Albanians, herded 20 people, mostly women and children, into the house where they were shot to death.
The troops then allegedly burned the house, causing the roof to collapse and burying corpses underneath. Ironically, say investigators, the rubble actually helped preserve human remains and other evidence.
"To see the skeletal remains of young children, and people in general, it's not something that FBI agents are confronted with on a day-to-day basis," said FBI agent Paul Mallett as his colleagues nearby sifted through debris.
"It's taken its toll on our people," he told CNN.
The FBI will also excavate at least one other site in Djakovica, a place where prosecutors allege six ethnic Albanian men were executed and buried in March.
It's expected to take a few more days to complete the work, which includes photographing human remains, cataloging the scene and taking samples to be used in war crimes prosecutions.
"We're sifting through (crime scene rubble) to look for any skeletal remains that are still there, as well as evidence of atrocities," said FBI crime lab scientist Allyson Simons.
"Whether it be shell casings or (something else), we're looking for that," she told CNN.
'Whole city burned out'
Residents of Djakovica say the 26 deaths under investigation are just part of the story.
They've come forward with "400 or 500 names of men who remain missing and whose fate is utterly unknown," David Scheffer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, said Thursday.
For now, the two sites in Djakovica are the only official crime scenes. Even so, explains Mallett, "all of Djakovica" resembles the house on Milos Gilic Street.
"This whole city of 50,000 or 60,000 has literally been burned out," he told CNN. "(We've been told that) if you were to look into any one of these homes, underneath the fallen roof tiles, you'd find bodies."
"In any one instance it's tragic," says the FBI agent, "but when you put them all together, it's staggering."
Correspondent Mike Boettcher contributed to this report.
The U.S. FBI examines one of the scenes of possible wartime atrocities in Kosovo on behalf of the international war crimes tribunal. CNN's Mike Boettcher reports.
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BELGRADE - The Yugoslav government on Thursday put out of force all regulations which it has passed in line with its constitutional authority in a state of war, the Yugoslav Information Ministry said.
In a session, chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, the government reviewed and positively assessed effects of the regulations that were in force during the state of war.
The government decided that a decision on direct price control remain in force within preparations for drafting the country's new economic policy dictated by consequences of NATO's aggression. The decision will remain in force until the new economic policy is not adopted.
The government also defined amendments to a number of federal laws with a view to creating condtions for the country's intensive reconstruction, submitting them to parliament for adoption.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO officially ended its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia on Sunday after the alliance's top general reported that all Yugoslav forces had left Kosovo.
"Acting under the authority granted me by the North Atlantic Council, I have accordingly decided to terminate with immediate effect the air campaign, which I suspended on June 10," said NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana in a statement.
Solana's announcement came after Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander, notified the alliance that all Yugoslav army and special police units were out of Kosovo, well ahead of a midnight Sunday (2200 GMT, 6 p.m. EDT) deadline.
The campaign of air strikes began on March 24 and was aimed at forcing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to pull his troops from the Serbian province. Solana suspended the campaign when Milosevic agreed to a deal negotiated by Russia, the United States and the European Union.
The pullout was completed 11 hours ahead of a midnight Sunday deadline.
In Pristina, Kosovo's capital, NATO spokesman Lt. Col. Robin Clifford said that Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson -- the commander of the KFOR peacekeeping mission -- was still awaiting written confirmation that armed civilians and paramilitary groups had withdrawn along with the uniformed forces.
"Personnel belonging to either of these categories who remain in Kosovo after midnight tonight will be subject to robust KFOR enforcement," Clifford said.
Refugees and suspected war crimes
As the last Yugoslav troops left the war-torn province, more reports of suspected war crimes emerged.
German peacekeeping troops pulled the body of a 62-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo and 11 others from a well in Dragacina, near Prizren, on Saturday as NATO peacekeepers continued to discover sites of the reported atrocities.
A suspected mass grave site was found just outside the village of Izbica. Witnesses told international war crimes investigators that they saw Yugoslav forces rounding up and shooting ethnic Albanians at the site near the end of March.
People who escaped the alleged massacre say that as many as 150 bodies may be buried at the Izbica site.
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians fled their homes as the conflict's intensity increased. Those people are now returning, from mountain hideouts within Kosovo and from outside the country altogether.
Over 60,000 people have returned from Albania in the past five days, said Capt. Wolfgang Greven, a spokesman for NATO's Albania force, AFOR. Another 30,000 have crossed the border from Macedonia, said the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
But as ethnic Albanians returned, Serbs -- fearing reprisals -- fled. Kosovar Albanians were reported on a burning spree, torching Serb homes, in the German-held sector of Kosovo.
KLA a question mark
NATO peacekeepers faced other problems across the province --notably from the pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army.
It was the KLA's armed struggle against the Yugoslav government in the predominantly ethnic Albanian province that triggered a military crackdown in February 1998, beginning a chain of events that led to NATO airstrikes.
KLA members agreed to demilitarize as part of the peace framework for Kosovo worked out between NATO and the Yugoslav government. But some KLA members have vowed not to lay down their weapons, saying they consider themselves a legitimate army guaranteeing Kosovo's security and independence.
NATO soldiers in Pristina have ordered KLA soldiers on the streets of the provincial capital to remove their armbands. But in other locations armed KLA members dressed in camouflage drill openly, in sight of KFOR troops, disquieting both Serb civilians and KFOR commanders.
Representatives of KFOR and the KLA have been negotiating over demilitarization and are reportedly near an agreement. Whether guerrillas in the field will go along with any deal calling for them to lay down their weapons remains an open question.
French President Jacques Chirac said Sunday that such a deal had been signed, but at least one KLA commander has told CNN that his forces would "never disarm."
Correspondents Richard Blystone, Matthew Chance, Jim Clancy and Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.
COLOGNE, Germany (CNN) -- The world's economic powers haggled over Yugoslavia's part in a massive reconstruction plan for struggling Balkan nations during meetings Saturday in Germany.
Western leaders flatly refused to consider economic aid for Serbia so long as President Slobodan Milosevic, considered a war criminal by NATO nations, remains in power.
"So long as Milosevic is there, the money will not be there," a British spokesman told reporters covering the Group of Eight summit in Cologne.
But Russia, which helped negotiate an end to the recent Kosovo conflict, disagreed.
"The conduct of one man must not penalize 10 million Serbs," Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin told French President Jacques Chirac on Friday night, French officials said.
German officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that seven of the eight nations attending the summit were trying to block the Russian push.
But European Commission officials said they were preparing to offer a multi-million aid package regardless of Yugoslavia's leadership. The Commission estimates it will make available 150 million euros ($155 million) in 1999, and 500 million euros ($516 million) in each of the following three years to rebuild roads, homes and other buildings.
"The 500 million is going to be available whether Milosevic is there or not," said European Union financial expert Joly Dixon.
Russian debt on the table
On the second day of their three-day summit, G-8 leaders also planned to discuss Russia's financial situation, including about $70 billion in debt run up by the former Soviet Union.
Russia is balking at paying back money owed by former Soviet republics that are now independent. Following a breakfast meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Stepashin said he was confident a deal was on the way.
"We more or less successfully are coming to a conclusion on the issue of Soviet debt," the prime minister said. "In principle, we reached an agreement."
Stepashin added, "There are a few wrinkles, but I consider that the result is almost 100 percent."
He said Schroeder also agreed to push the International Monetary Fund to release $4.5 billion in Western aid that was blocked when Russia's financial markets collapsed last August.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Stepashin had assured Western leaders that Russia fully intended to comply with the IMF's terms for release of the funds.
"He talked about the efforts they are making with the Duma to pass the necessary legislation to meet the prior actions requirements of the IMF agreement and their hope is that in July that they would be able to go forward with the IMF," the officials said.
The IMF wants a series of revenue-raising measures implemented before it releases the aid package.
Musicians protest debt plan
The G-8 leaders will also likely consider a U.S.-backed proposal to help Russia keep control of its nuclear arsenal. On Friday, they approved a program to drop $100 billion in debt owed by the world's 33 poorest nations.
But religious groups and others -- who have pushed for more generosity from the world's wealthiest nations -- said the plan fell short of what is needed to relieve the crushing burden of debt.
The Jubilee 2000 Coalition, with Irish rocker Bono of the group U2 and other musicians at the forefront, were organizing a human chain Saturday to ring the site of the G-8 summit.
Bono was to meet with Schroeder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair later in the day.
Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
On June 17th Serbian police has taken web site of Media Center replacing it with B92net (run by Serbian police) web site. You can find many statements and news from Yugoslav Left (Mira Markovic's party) as well as anti-NATO and pro-government links. Original B92 has new site, FreeB92. There has also been another attempt of Milosevic's security agents to silence truth about Serbia. Veran Matic's B92 web site has link to pro-government web site called Free Serbia - Other Voices from Serbia. Owners and editors are unknown but just checking that web site tells you who is behind it. Free Serbia Net is the only Serbian news source on the world wide web not controlled by Milosevic. This case is similar to the one about Media Center. Milosevic's agents opened Pristina based Media Center in order to make confusion and divert people from Belgrade based Media Center. Even that wasn't enough so Milosevic took their web site as well.
On the occasion of Yugoslav Army Day, June 16, Yugoslav President and Supreme Commander Slobodan Milosevic promoted Chief-of-Staff Colonel General Dragoljub Ojdanic to the rank of the General of the Army. Many of the Yugoslav Army's senior officers were also promoted.
Ojdanic has become the first officer to carry the rank of General of the Army since the Yugoslav Army was established. Milosevic also decorated Ojdanic and the commander of the Yugoslav Third Army General-Colonel Nebojsa Pavkovic with an Order of Liberty.
The announcement issued by the Yugoslav Army supreme commander's office said that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic decorated 3,000 officers, noncommissioned officers, soldiers and the Yugoslav Army's civilian employees. Of that number over 90 percent of the decorated were soldiers.
BADOVINCI - Another batch of Russian troops that have participated in the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) for Bosnia crossed into Yugoslavia at the Badovinci border crossing at around 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
According to eyewitnesses, the Russian convoy includes six armoured personnel carriers and a number of other vehicles.
The convoy is to reinforce Russia's peacekeeping contigent stationed in Pristina, chief city of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province.
BELGRADE - Commander of Yugoslavia's Third Army General Nebojsa Pavkovic said late Friday that the Third Army and the Pristina Corps had fulfilled all tasks set by the country's supreme command, had prevented NATO's ground aggression and secured a major victory over a far more superior enemy.
Speaking for Serbian Radio and Television (RTS), Gen. Pavkovic said that, "During NATO aircraft's 79-day campaign, 161 troops were killed, 299 wounded, while losses in materiel were minimal. Thirteen tanks were destroyed, of which figure seven were destroyed by NATO aircraft, as well as six armoured personnel carriers, eight artillery weapons, 19 anti-aircraft guns and a radar. For this type of aggression and operations against our forces, this is really minimal."
"We downed 34 enemy aircraft and 25 unmanned drones. We shot down five helicopters in our territory as well as 52 cruise missiles," he said.
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The advance guard of NATO's peacekeeping force arrived Saturday in Kosovo's provincial capital, where a small Russian force awaited them at the city's airport.
British armored units arrived at the airport at Pristina at 3:50 p.m. (9:50 a.m. EDT). The airport will be a staging ground for supply shipments to the peacekeeping force, known as KFOR. Occasional celebratory gunfire echoed through Pristina as the British arrived.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said the Russian contingent was making preparations to cooperate with KFOR's advance units, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton said the British and Russians had a "cordial" meeting in Pristina.
After an 11-week air war, British and French units led the way into Kosovo, followed by U.S., German and Italian troops. Chinook and Puma helicopters carrying paratroopers and members of Britain's elite Gurkha rifle regiment flew across the border as Operation Joint Guardian -- one of the biggest military undertakings in Europe since World War II -- got under way.
Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander, said NATO would have "several thousand troops inside Kosovo" by nightfall to stabilize the province as the Yugoslav army pulls out.
"Our forces are entering difficult territory, but they know their cause is a right one," Clark told reporters at allied headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
So far, 7,000 Yugoslav Army regulars and Serbian security police have left Kosovo under a withdrawal agreement reached Wednesday, Clark said.
NATO peacekeepers swooped into Kosovo aboard helicopters and trucks at dawn Saturday on a mission to clear land mines for NATO ground troops and to prepare for the safe return of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees.
A massive convoy of British and French military vehicles rolled into Kosovo around the same time, transporting the first NATO foot soldiers to step into the province since the 19-member military alliance began its 79-day air war.
Russians meet British in Pristina
While Serbs in Kosovo offered a subdued welcome to the KFOR troops, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo greeted the arriving soldiers with chants of "NATO, NATO" and "Tony Blair, Tony Blair." The British prime minister was one of NATO's most hawkish leaders during the Yugoslav conflict.
But NATO's entrance into the Yugoslav province was upstaged by the arrival early Saturday of a Russian contingent in Pristina, its purpose uncertain.
The Russians' pre-dawn arrival stunned NATO and U.S. officials. The move came in direct conflict with Moscow's assurances to Washington that it had no plans to move into Kosovo ahead of NATO troops.
"It certainly was a precipitous action, leading to some confusion," Cohen said.
But U.S. officials told CNN that the arriving British troops had a good meeting with the Russians, with no tension between them.
Russia has urged NATO to give it control of a sector of Kosovo as part of the peacekeeping force. NATO has refused to do so.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the move into Kosovo was a mistake and the troops would be pulled back. But Kremlin officials soon contradicted him: Russian President Boris Yeltsin's senior international policy aide said Yeltsin ordered the troops into Kosovo to lead its peacekeeping force.
Yeltsin left the timing of the deployment up to the military, the aide, Sergei Prikhodko, told CNN. Yeltsin then promoted the detachment's commanding general for his performance.
Asked about how the Russians surprised NATO with their move into Kosovo, Clark said, "I think there's a lot of explaining that will have to be done on a lot of matters in time."
NATO, Russians meet in Macedonia
Smiling and waving, Russian soldiers in camouflage fatigues entered Pristina in the pre-dawn hours Saturday. Russia and Serbia, the dominant republic in the Yugoslav federation, are traditional allies. Pristina's Serb residents lined the streets, cheering, chanting and tossing flowers onto the convoy of trucks and armored personnel carriers.
Russia's role in peacekeeping efforts was still unsettled: A Russian military delegation arrived in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Saturday to discuss that question with its NATO counterparts.
While NATO has balked at putting Russia in control of part of Kosovo, Russia has balked at putting its forces under a NATO officer -- in this case, British Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson, KFOR's commander.
Clark said he welcomed Russian troops' participation, "and we're working now to see that they're deployed within an effective and unified chain of command."
NATO troops are familiar with many of the Russian officers in Pristina from their service with the Bosnian peacekeeping mission, Clark, said Saturday.
"We know we will be able to work this out, as soldiers always do," Clark said.
Pleurat Sejdiu, a representative of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, said the Russians' ties to the Serbs should prevent them from controlling any part of Kosovo.
"It's very clear this is a first step toward partition of Kosovo," Sejdiu said.
KFOR moves quickly through Kosovo
Although peacekeepers met no resistance as they went into Kosovo, they were on high alert for explosives and traps.
KFOR troops reported mortar fire shortly after crossing the frontier; they had to disarm several Serb soldiers and encountered members of the KLA, who they instructed not to interfere.
The NATO convoy then passed through a number of villages and did not see a single civilian. Signs of human tragedy were evident, following the massive exodus of Kosovo refugees over the past few months. Hundreds of abandoned cars, pieces of clothing and shoes were strewn about.
Yugoslav army officers at a checkpoint at Grlica protested that they needed more time to retreat from their positions to allow the NATO peace force to proceed.
British officers were not ready to compromise, and they insisted the Serbs get out of the way. After about 30 minutes of argument, the Serbs turned their vehicles around and NATO's advance resumed.
There were clear signs of Yugoslav forces giving way before the British thrust, as called for under Wednesday's withdrawal agreement with NATO. At least four flatbed trucks carrying Serb tanks were seen driving north, away from KFOR's advance.
More than a million ethnic Albanians were displaced by the ethnic strife in Kosovo. They made up 90 percent of the province's population of 2 million before the war, and more than 800,000 fled the country.
One of KFOR's top priorities is to resettle those refugees, but the peacekeepers need some time to consolidate their hold on the province, Clark said.
"We just ask that the refugees give us a little more time, until the situation is more stabilized, before they return," he said.
In Pristina, the ripple effect of NATO troops' swift advance started to show, with greater numbers of Serb residents packing cars and trailers to leave. Fearing reprisals from returning Albanians, many Serbs are leaving Kosovo to settle elsewhere in Serbia.
The city's market was thronged with hundreds of people trying to buy fresh food for their departure. And on the southern outskirts of Pristina, several plumes of smoke spiraled into the sky, apparently from fires set by Serb nationalist diehards in empty Albanian areas.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States will not help to rebuild war-torn Yugoslavia while Slobodan Milosevic remains head of that country, President Bill Clinton says.
In an Oval Office address to the American people Thursday night, Clinton delivered a stern message to the Yugoslav people: "As long as your nation is ruled by an indicted war criminal, we will provide no support for the reconstruction of Serbia."
Clinton said NATO must make sure the hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians forced from their homes return safely, that Yugoslav troops withdraw from the province within the specified time frame and that international peacekeepers move in "to protect all the people of that troubled land."
Clinton said The United States and its NATO allies "achieved a victory for a safer world" in Kosovo.
"For the first time in 79 days, the skies over Yugoslavia are silent," Clinton said. "An unnecessary conflict has been brought to a just and honorable conclusion."
Clinton said now the job is to prosecute war criminals, rebuild war damage and return refugees. He said NATO's victory brings new hope that the world will not look the other way when people are persecuted for their race or faith.
Clinton also thanked the men and women of the U.S. armed forces for their service, and thanked the American people for "standing up to ethnic cleansing" and helping the Kosovar refugees.
Clinton plans to visit Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Friday to express his appreciation to some of the troops who participated in the air war, which began March 24. Whiteman is the base for B-2 bombers that were used in the war.
In his speech, Clinton also praised the unity of NATO during the campaign against Yugoslavia.
"NATO has achieved this success as a united alliance ... Nineteen democracies came together and stayed together through the stiffest military challenge in NATO's 50-year history," he said.
The American leader also reached out to the uncertain ally of Russia.
"Thanks to President (Boris) Yeltsin, who opposed our military effort, but supported diplomacy to end the conflict on terms that met our conditions," Clinton said. "Now, I hope Russian troops will join us in the force that will keep the peace in Kosovo, just as they have in Bosnia."
Albright calls Milosevic 'clear loser'
A few hours before the president spoke, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was interviewed on CNN. She denied critics' claims that the war in Yugoslavia was "Madeleine's war."
"It was a war by the democracies, led by President Clinton, against what is a basic evil that had to be eradicated at the end of the 20th century," Albright said.
"I have spent a lot of time with my colleagues from the 19 democracies -- it's their war, it was all our war, and now it's everybody's victory," said Albright, adding that one leader involved in the conflict came up short.
"There is a clear loser, and that is Slobodan Milosevic, who has led his country to disaster and who has lost control over Kosovo," she said.
Clinton also sent a message to the people of Yugoslavia during his televised address.
"You should know that your leaders could have kept Kosovo as a part of your country ... without inviting a single NATO bomb to fall on your country," Clinton said.
"You endured 79 days of bombing, not to keep Kosovo a province of Serbia, but simply because Mr. Milosevic was determined to eliminate Kosovar Albanians from Kosovo, dead or alive," said the president.
"As long as your nation is ruled by an indicted war criminal, we will provide no support for the reconstruction of Serbia," Clinton warned. But he promised humanitarian aid and he said the United States would help Serbia build a better future when "its government represents tolerance and freedom, not repression and terror."
Earlier Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen said that the precision bombing of Operation Allied Force pummeled Yugoslavia's military machine while limiting civilian casualties in the country.
"We achieved our goals with the most precise application of air power in history," Cohen said.
"Three months ago Yugoslavia was a heavily armed country with a significant air defense system," Cohen told reporters. "We reduced that defense system threat by destroying over 80 percent of Yugoslavia's modern air fighters and strategic surface-to-air missiles."
Cohen said NATO missiles and bombs destroyed more than 50 percent of Yugoslavia's artillery and more than 33 percent of its armored vehicles.
The alliance reduced the country's capacity to make ammunition by 66 percent and destroyed its oil refining ability at more than 40 percent of its military fuel supply sites, he said.
'Just 20 instances of weapons going astray'
He said 35 percent of the bombs and missiles used were precision guided, with the majority dropped on oil refineries, ammunition storage sites and troop staging areas, enabling NATO to hold down civilian casualties.
"Of more than 23,000 bombs and missiles used, we have confirmed just 20 incidents of weapons going astray from their targets to cause collateral damage," he said.
About 75 percent of Belgrade and 35 percent of Yugoslavia overall remains without electrical power due to the NATO bombings, said Army Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He said NATO used both "hard-kill" and "soft-kill" weapons on Yugoslavia's electrical systems. Soft-kill weapons allow power to be restored within 72 hours or weeks, while hard-kill weapons cause damage that could take years to repair, the general said.
The judicious weapon choice by NATO was the only reason all of Serbia was not in the dark, Shelton said.
'Magnificent job' by pilots
Cohen cited the "magnificent job that our pilots did" for the record of 78 straight days of air attacks with no fatalities and only two planes lost.
As for criticism by some that ground troops would have ended the conflict sooner, Cohen said that the debate among NATO members about the need for ground troops made it impossible to make a quick decision to deploy them.
The air campaign "was the best option under the circumstance, and ultimately has proved successful," Cohen said.
"This was a fight over values, a fight against ethnic and religious hatred, a lack of tolerance for others and the right to live in peace," he added.
Peacekeepers face risks
Cohen warned that the upcoming peacekeeping mission to Kosovo was not without risk to NATO troops.
The peacekeeping operation is likely to cost U.S. taxpayers $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year, Cohen said.
That figure does not include the cost of returning the hundreds of warplanes and thousands of troops that the Pentagon has sent to the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe since March 24 to carry out the airstrikes.
Pentagon officials said Yugoslav forces are required to withdraw from different parts of Kosovo in phases with three distinct deadlines.
By June 15, Yugoslav forces must be gone from an area designated as zone one.
By June 18, they must be out of zone two.
By June 20, all Yugoslav forces must be withdrawn from zone three.
BELGRADE - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said the following in an address to the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on Thursday -
"Dear citizens, the aggression is over. Peace has prevailed over violence. Dear citizens, I wish you a happy peace!
At this moment, our first thoughts should be with the heroes who gave their lives in the defence of the motherland, in the struggle for freedom and the dignity of the people. All their names will be made public.
However, at this moment I wish to inform you that since March 24 until today, 462 members of the Yugoslav Army and 114 members of the police of the Republic of Serbia were killed in the 11-week war. We will never be able to repay them for this. We must do what we can and what is our duty, and that is to take care of their families and to be always ready to defend the freedom, dignity and the independence of this country for which they gave their lives.
All the people participated in this war: ranging from the babies in maternity wards and seriously ill patients in intensive care units, to soldiers in trenches, in the anti-aircaft defence and in border units. No one will forget the heroism of those who defended bridges, the citizens, those who defended factories, squares, their cities, their jobs, their state, their people. The people are the hero - this is maybe the shortest possible conclusion about this war. The people are the haro and this is why they should feel heroic and act heroically, meaning in a dignified, noble and responsible manner.
Early this year, numerous rallies were held throughout the country. Their united message was WE SHALL NOT GIVE UP KOSOVO. We have not given up Kosovo.
The Group of Eight most developped countries of the world and the United Nations guarrantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. This guarrantee is also contained in the draft resolution. The Belgrade agreement has closed the open issues of the possible independence of Kosovo at the time prior to the aggression. The territorial entirety of our country cannot be threatened. We have presevered and succeeded in defending the country because we brought the entire problem to the summit of the world authority - the United Nations, and handed its resolution to be sought under U.N. auspices and in keeping with the U.N. Charter. The international forces being deployed in Kosovo with the task of equally ensuring the safety of all citizens will be under U.N. auspices, as will be the political process which will be based on the principles which stem from previously conducted discussions, but are also equally based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. This means that only autonomy, and nothing else outside that, can be mentioned in this political process.
By emerging before the United Nations we were not only defending our country, but have returned the United Nations to the world stage as it was not functioning since before the start of the aggression 80 days ago. This is our contribution to the efforts of the entire freedom-loving world, to the tendencies to create a multipolar world, and not accept the creation of a world which will be ruled by the dictate of a single power from one centre. I believe that this contribution to history will be great and that the heroism of our people in resisting a bigger and stronger enemy will mark the end of the 20th century. I am certain of that. We have demonstrated that our army is invincible and the best in the world. When I say army, this should be taken in a general sense to include the armed forces, police and all state defence forces. They have shown the entire world how the people should be defended, how to stand firmly and united because the people were the army and the army was the people.
Never before in the entire previous history, have the people been so united as in this war. We have never had so few cowards who fled the country to wait for the end of the war in safety.
At this moment, we are facing many new problems which will open up many new tasks at the end of the aggression and at the start of peace. These are primarily problems regarding the provision for those who are in the greatest need, the full provision for the families of those who were killed, but also those who were wounded and partially disabled to carry out their functions, provision for all those workers and farmers and citizens of all professions who sufferred damages in the war and who need to be helped according to criteria which start from those in the greatest need. Everyone needs to be helped.
We face the reconstruction of the country. We will immediately start rebuilding our bridges, our roads, factories, and revive a huge development which will express the readiness and vitality of our people, our citizens, our state and its entire population.
When I speak about our people, I have in mind all the citizens of Yugoslavia and all nationalities. We have suceeded in defending the multinational community, the sole multinational community which remains from the former Yugoslavia.
I consider this also one of the great achievements of our defence.
The forces which are coming to Kosovo will be in the service of peace, regardless from which countries they are coming from. The army always carries out orders, and the orders here are - to protect the citizens and preserve peace.
The great work which we are
facing will require largescale mobilization. I view the unity
achieved in this difficult period as a big achievement which we
must preserve during the reconstruction period as well, because
we need unity and a large mobilization to successfully carry out
the reconstruction and successfully start a new development. In
this, I wish much luck and happiness to all the citizens of Yugoslavia."
TOKYO - Former vice president of Yugoslav government and the president of Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic suggests creation of coalition government with president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic. Draskovic said, in his interview to Japanese paper "Jomiuri", that he would like to see transitional government formed by Milosevic that will include opposition parties. He also suggested that elections for federal and republical parliament should be scheduled for September or October. That would stimulate democratization and privatization of state owned companies as well as new diplomacy based on friendly relations with Europe, USA and Japan.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Independent news agency FONET has reopened.
The Serbian Radical Party announced on June 5, it would abandon its positions in the Serbian cabinet if the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police "completely withdrew" from Kosovo or if NATO troops from the U.S., Great Britain, France and Germany were deployed on Serbian territory.
"The proposal for a peaceful solution to the alleged Kosovo crisis, which was brought on NATO's behalf to Belgrade by Martti Ahtisaari and Viktor Chernomyrdin, completely thwarts the Serbian people's struggle for survival, the preservation of Serbia's and the FRY's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said a statement issued by the party's main board.
"U.S., British, French and German troops would be occupiers, and not representatives of anyone's peace mission. Ahtisaari's and Chernomyrdin's proposal completely excludes Kosovo from Serbia's legal system. The withdrawal of Serbian army and police from Kosovo would provoke a catastrophic exodus of all Serbs from that southern Serbian province," said the statement.
Serbian state television reported, however, that the Serbian Radical Party had "decided on participating in the Serbian cabinet with the goal of defending Kosovo and preserving Serbia's sovereignty, at all costs."
The state television failed to make mention of the Serbian Radical Party's criticism of the peace agreement for Kosovo, while the part of the statement concerning the party's possible withdrawal from the Serbian cabinet was played down.