Yugoslav, NATO Generals Sign Peace Agreement for Kosovo / Alliance will end air campaign when Serbian troops pull out

1999-06-10 04:00:00 PDT Kumanovo, Macedonia -- Yugoslav and Western generals signed a military agreement yesterday to end NATO's 78-day air war against Yugoslavia, provided that the Balkan nation's armed forces begin a "demonstrable" withdrawal from Kosovo by this afternoon and complete the pullout in 11 days.

The agreement calls for an immediate cease-fire in Kosovo and provides for a pause in NATO's bombing campaign beginning perhaps as early as today if the Yugoslav forces start removing troops and equipment.

"The war has ended," Yugoslav General Svetozar Marjanovic, one of the negotiators, declared to reporters in this Macedonian border town after the pact was signed.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said he would order a halt to the air strikes, which began March 24, upon word from General Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander, that the pullout had begun.

A NATO official said Clark would "wait for the gray light of dawn" today, then send reconnaissance aircraft over Kosovo to see if Yugoslav troops and police had begun to quit the ravaged province.

Solana hailed the Kumanovo ac-

cord as "a great day for the cause of justice and the people of Kosovo."

President Clinton was more cautious, calling the agreement "another important step" but warning that NATO would "watch carefully" to make sure Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic complied with it.

Yesterday's military accord fleshes out a basic deal that was struck a week ago between Western leaders and Milosevic.

The discussions that began on Saturday and led to the military agreement nearly broke down several times over a number of tricky issues, including whether Yugoslavia would begin withdrawing its troops before NATO declared a pause in the bombing.

NATO declared no pause yesterday, and its commander of the Kosovo operation, British General Michael Jackson, said the alliance would continue air strikes until it saw proof of a "verifiable and orderly" retreat by Yugoslav troops and police from the Serbian province.

There were no reports of NATO bombings after the agreement was signed, however.

Nebojsa Vujovic, who represented the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry at the military-technical talks here, told reporters after the signing that the withdrawal would start "in a matter of hours."

The U.N. Security Council, playing its role in the delicate choreography of peace, met yesterday to discuss a resolution authorizing the peacekeeping force that would protect the returning refugees and the civilian administration that would govern Kosovo.

The session ended without a vote, due largely to China's insistence on amendments to severely limit future NATO military actions. The council was expected to reconvene early today.

The military agreement provides that once NATO has verified the beginnings of a Yugoslav withdrawal, the alliance will call a bombing pause and simultaneously seek a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorize a peacekeeping force to enter the province.

The planned 50,000-strong force, to be constituted primarily of NATO troops and led by NATO commanders, is to enter Kosovo on the heels of the departing Yugoslavs, to prevent an anarchic and dangerous power vacuum and begin preparations for the eventual return of more than 800,000 ethnic Albanian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes.

With the deal signed, NATO began moving the first peacekeeping troops toward Kosovo.

The first to deploy -- well before all Yugoslav forces have withdrawn -- will be a team of British de-mining experts, members of the famed Gurkha unit in the Fifth Airborne Brigade. Their task will be to help clear explosives that were installed by Yugoslav troops on a dozen or so bridges and tunnels along the road north of the Blace border crossing to block a NATO ground offensive that never came.

U.S. Marines landed on the shores of Greece early today, then headed for Macedonia. The troops were greeted by signs that read "Baby Killers" and "NATO go home." Many Greeks, who share cultural and religious ties with Yugoslavia's Orthodox Serbs, have opposed the NATO airstrikes.

U.S. Army units from Germany and Albania also were to start converging on Macedonia.

One key aspect of the peacekeeping force remains unresolved: whether and how Russian troops will participate in the effort alongside NATO troops, which are to be under unified alliance command. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott is to arrive in Moscow today to discuss the issue.

For purposes of the withdrawal, which is a complex logistical task, the plan divides Kosovo into northern, central and southern zones. Yugoslav forces are to make a "demonstrable" -- if not complete -- withdrawal from the northern zone within the first day, freeing up territory that troops now in the central and southern zones can move into on their way out of the province.

Five days later, all forces are to be out of the southern zone. After another three days all forces are to be out of the central zone and, by the 11th day, all the forces are to be out of the province completely.

Clark will use surveillance photos and intelligence from other sources to make this judgment. U.S. officials said NATO would give the Yugoslavs some wiggle room, provided they were clearly trying to meet the deadlines.

The swift vote by NATO ambassadors to endorse the deal allows NATO's military arm to resume the bombing without further permission in case the Yugoslav forces fail to follow through on yesterday's agreement. Officials said this was designed to prevent Milosevic from trying to divide the 19 allies over the potentially difficult issue of resuming the air strikes.

NATO designated roads in the northern end of the province that the Yugoslav forces can use to depart without risking attack by NATO aircraft. Once all troops are gone, NATO will declare the air campaign to be officially ended.

One urgent question is whether the cease-fire will be observed by the Yugoslav forces and the ethnic Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The two forces have continued to battle fiercely in the southwest corner of the province.

But alliance officials insisted that the KLA is on board. In a statement late yesterday, the rebel army said it would honor a cease-fire once the Yugoslav forces stop their operations in Kosovo and start to withdraw. The KLA also said it would reserve the right to return fire if Serb units attack.

Yesterday's accord ended five days of maneuvering in which Milosevic tried to use ambiguities in the peace plan he accepted last week to gain time and new concessions on the timing of the withdrawal and the halt of bombing.

For the Yugoslav government, the consequences of the delay seemed to have been terrible. During the week since the general agreement was reached, NATO claimed to have attacked and destroyed 29 tanks, 93 armored personnel carriers, 209 field artillery pieces, 11 anti-aircraft gun positions, 86 mortars and many support vehicles and prepared positions. Hundreds of Serb soldiers are believed to have been killed.

THE NEXT STEPS

The signing of the Koovo peace plan set in motion a number of steps to be taken to end the Kosovo conflict.

-- YUGOSLAVIA TROOPS: Belgrade says it will begin pulling its forces from Kosovo today. Yugoslavia has 11 days to withdraw all police , paramilitary and military forces and remove land mines and booby traps.

-- AIR STRIKES: NATO air accack will be suspended once Yugoslavia's compliance with the agreement can be verified.

-- U.S. PEACEKEEPERS: The lead elements of the U.S. peacekeeping contingent will enter Kosovo 24 hours or more after Serb forces begin withdrawing.

-- MULTINATIONAL PEACEKEEPERS: A 50,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force to ensure the safe return of refugees will be sent into Kosovo, along with its rules of engagement. The U.N. Security Council and NATO's political body, the North Alantic Council, must formally approve an order for the peacekeeping mission to start.

-- WAR CRIMES: The U.N. War Crimes Tribunal is preparing to send investigtors into Kosovo along with a peacekeeping force to gather evidence of war crimes, including wide-spread murder and rape.

-- REFUGEES: The complicated process of repatriating ethnic Albanian refugees will begin. 860,000 people, mostly etnic Albanians, have fled Kosovo since NATO's air attack began March 24.

Associated Press