By Susan Ellis - USIA Staff Writer

Washington -- Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering told international journalists April 19 that the military machine of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia "is fueled by petroleum...and if we are going to bring to a halt that machine, one way of doing it is to go after its logistics and communications base. And petroleum figures very heavily in that."

Targets high on NATO's priority list have included refineries "all of which have reportedly been knocked out, and fuel storage and transfer points," he said. "So not only pipelines flowing into the country but also the use of tanker deliveries of petroleum are very important ways that one can bring about the end of the supply of petroleum" used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for military purposes.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1160 prohibits arming Serbia, including Kosovo, Pickering said. That resolution, he noted, advances the objective of the allied air strikes: to diminish the military capacity of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Therefore, Pickering said, "Visit and Search would be another way to approach that. The term 'Visit and Search' means exactly what it says with respect to ships at sea that may be moving toward Serbia."

He said the term, while normally applied to ships destined for a port, might even relate to vessels leaving from a port "depending on how it is defined by those carrying out Visit and Search procedures. But if it relates to material contributing to war activities, then it may be only on the inward side. Sometimes one visits and searches to make sure the ship is outbound rather than inbound."

As to NATO's goals in Kosovo, he said, there will be "an end to the bombing" when Yugoslavia accepts the conditions NATO has set out: the withdrawal of Serbian forces; the return of refugees; the presence of an international implementation force with NATO at its core; and the re-establishment of the negotiating process built around the framework of Rambouillet. Pickering added that "these are extremely important and very significant objectives of the United States and its allies in this particular region."

At the same time, he said, the NATO allies are "busy collecting evidence" of the "many, many reports we are receiving of the ravages committed against the people of Kosovo -- and obviously Mr. Milosevic, as the commander of the military forces and the leader of the state carrying out those particular ravages, must be held responsible."

This evidence will be reported to the international tribunal set up by the Security Council and the legal process will take its appropriate course, he said.

Pickering rejected the notion that continuing contacts with the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) suggest U. S. permissiveness toward Kosovo independence.

"You have to be very clear in your understanding that the objective of the United States and its allies in Europe has always been a Kosovo within the framework of Yugoslavia and Serbia," he said.

The territorial integrity of Yugoslavia is "an objective which we wish to continue to maintain," he said, adding, "We have sought (in Kosovo) the fullest amount of self-government under autonomy and the withdrawal of Serb military forces carrying out repression, but we have felt it has been in the application of these principles which were very prominent at Rambouillet that one could achieve the right sort of balance."

He added that the United States will continue "to maintain contact with members of the delegation of Kosovar Albanians that went to Rambouillet, some of whom are members of the KLA....That is part of our diplomatic strategy, to bring them along with the agreement."

Pickering said that the United States "does not support... recruiting efforts of the KLA in the United States or the travel of U.S. citizens to join them."

Asked what role the subject of Kosovo might play at NATO's 50th anniversary summit April 23-25 in Washington, Pickering said, "The Alliance is engaged in perhaps its most important activity in its 50-year history, facing up to a situation in which a dictator is creating huge amounts of ethnic deprivation and repression. And, indeed, quite probably as a result of all the reports of killings in the heart of Europe" NATO can take the opportunity of "this very important summit to examine that issue; to examine its solidarity...and the road ahead."