JAMIE SHEA AND GENERAL GIUSEPPE MARANI

TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY
JAMIE SHEA AND GENERAL GIUSEPPE MARANI
IN BRUSSELS
ON WEDNESDAY, 14 APRIL 1999

JAMIE SHEA:
Welcome to our daily briefing. After the last two days, as you can see,
we're back on at the normal time of 3 p.m. or thereabouts. A new face at
the podium today, I would like to introduce him, he is General Giuseppe
Marani of the Italian Air Force, from SHAPE of course, and he will be
giving you the military operational up-date in just a few moments.

I'd like to start today by reminding everybody that last week NATO defined
its five core objectives for the resolution of the Kosovo crisis, these
were both endorsed and reiterated of course on Monday at the meeting of
NATO foreign Ministers:

a verifiable end to all Serb military actions and the immediate end of
violence and repression;

the withdrawal of all Milosevic's military police and paramilitary forces;

the stationing in Kosovo of an international military force;

the unconditional and safe return of refugees and internally-displaced
persons;

unhindered access for the humanitarian relief organisations;

and finally, the credible assurance of a willingness to work towards a
political framework based on the Rambouillet Agreement.

So having last week defined the objectives, the task of the Alliance this
week is to set out the building blocks which are going to help us to
implement these objectives fully and rapidly.

We are developing a strategy for success and there are three essential
elements in this strategy for success:

The first, of course, is to win decisively the air campaign. We have
chosen the most effective modus operandi in line with our values which are
not to be at war with the Serb people, which are to avoid wherever we can,
as much as we can, collateral damage and also, thirdly not to inflict any
unnecessary pain on the Serb people or their economy. Indeed, we want to
strike only at the root of the problem which is of course the Serb military
force conducting the campaign of repression in Kosovo.

But it's no longer a question of if we will win but simply of when. Every
morning when President Milosevic wakes up he counts his losses of the night
before and in the past 24 hours there's been another heavy tally: he has
lost two more bridges, this time Lima River, another significant chunk of
his integrated air-defence system, more command-and-control installations,
more military fuel installations and more lines of communication. We are
also neutralising another factor which is the weather factor by being able
to operate even in the thickest clouds and the heaviest rain which was the
case last night.

And every morning, as President Milosevic wakes up and realises that in the
last 24 hours he has become weaker, he also sees that NATO is becoming
stronger. 300 additional aircraft have been requested, they will be on
their way to forward operating bases shortly to join the 82 additional US
aircraft that were authorised a few days ago. In a couple of days, we
will have three aircraft carriers in the Adriatic, we will also within a
matter of days have 24 Apaches and over 2,000 US forces in Albania. You
noted the decision yesterday by the United Kingdom to reinforce the NATO
Enabling Force on the ground in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
and just to give you a few examples of other Allies, Canada, France, Italy
have all in recent days contributed further aircraft and support to this
operation and NATO forces, albeit for a humanitarian mission, are now
beginning their deployment to Albania so with more or less a thousand
aircraft on-stream very soon we will be able to maintain a continuous
operation to tighten the screw on the Serb forces in Kosovo.

Our second key element in our strategy for success is to contain and
ultimately to solve the humanitarian crisis. Today, we are launching
Operation Allied Harbour, the ACE Mobile Force (Land) under General Reith
(phon) is deploying to Tirana, 16 Allies are participating and we have also
had offers from five Partner nations to be part of this force. The rules
of engagement are currently before the NATO Council and I expect them to be
approved in the next few hours thereby clearing the way for this operation
to go ahead expeditiously.

Our immediate aim is to do for Albania what we have done in recent days for
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, that is to say, to help the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees to stabilise the humanitarian
situation, to provide essential relief, to build tent-camps, to carry out
distribution of supplies and to preserve the security at the camps and you
have to bear in mind in this respect that Albania has taken in about three
times the number of refugees as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
which shows that the situation there of course is a very serious one, there
are still plenty of people in Kukes that do not yet have shelter so there
is an urgent need to get Operation Allied Harbour under way as quickly as
possible.

In a few moments, the Secretary General will be receiving Madam Ogata, the
Head of the UNHCR, he is obviously going to assure her of NATO's support
for her organisation and its activities. We are sharing our planning with
the UNHCR, the operational plan for Allied Harbour was passed to Geneva
yesterday. We are helping UNHCR in the management of the airlift
operation co-ordinating the flights into Tirana and into Skopje; we are
helping the UNHCR by offloading the aid cargoes - NATO teams in Tirana and
Skopje have already offloaded more than 500 flights to date - and we are
securing the onward transportation of supplies, for instance we have now
deployed 33 helicopters including some US Sea Dragons, which have a
particularly large carrying capability, in Tirana to shuttle food and
supplies up to Kukes. We are helping the UNHCR by setting up refugee camps.

As you know, NATO in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has built
five such camps, not only built them but also equipped them and we are, of
course, as NATO countries, helping the UNHCR by being prepared to accept on
a temporary basis refugees on our territories pending the moment when they
can return. NATO countries together have accepted or offered to accept
about 100,000 refugees, 23,000 of which have already been sent to NATO
countries and of course, we are maintaining a close liaison with the UNHCR
- there will be another co-ordination meeting between our two organisations
in Geneva on 15 April.

As far as the situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is
concerned, I understand that the hand-over of the camps from NATO to
international relief organisations and civilian authorities will be
completed by the end of the week but NATO will stay on the scene to
continue to provide essential services until civilian arrangements are
fully in place. We will continue to have a small security presence as
well inside those camps.

Our third and final key element in this strategy for success is to maintain
the broad support for Operation Allied Force within the wider international
community. Milosevic may have hoped to divide NATO from the rest of the
world but instead he has brought NATO and the rest of the world more
closely together.

Today, just a few moments ago, the Secretary General, Dr. Javier Solana, as
you know, met with Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations,
for another of their periodic exchanges of view on the situation; the
Secretary General assured the United Nations that the Allies are united and
determined to push this through to its logical conclusion but together the
two Secretary Generals looked also to future comprehensive arrangements to
help integrate the wider region into the European mainstream.

At the moment, just a few moments ago in fact, we began here at NATO
headquarters a meeting of our Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council with our 27
Partner countries to brief them also on the situation and the latest
developments and also to listen to their views and voices on this
operation. Naturally, we continue to have concern for the security of
those neighbouring states and in this respect we are alarmed at the reports
yesterday - which seem now to be confirmed - of a border incident in which
Serb security forces entered the village of Kamenica and destroyed a number
of houses. I see that the Yugoslav Army Information Centre has denied
this operation as a "heinous lie" but our indications are that such a
border incursion did in fact take place and of course NATO reiterates that
any attempt to threaten or attack Albania as a result of the stationing of
NATO forces in Albania would have the gravest consequences. We continue to
consult with the seven neighbouring countries, there will be another
meeting before the end of the week here at NATO headquarters.

And finally, I think that the European summit this afternoon will, in a
statement, once again declare its solidarity with our fundamental
objectives and the necessity to continue this operation without relenting.

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to stress that all NATO Allies
believe strongly that if there is to be a stable future for Kosovo, for
Jugoslavia, for the region as a whole, justice has to be done and must be
seen to be done. We have reported from this rostrum in recent days about
atrocities based on what refugees have been telling not just our diplomats
but also human rights organisations and international relief organisations.
As you know, some of the reports over the last few days have added to the
distress, the rape of women in Djukavicka (phon), the fact that Serb forces
are reported to have shelled pockets of refugees in Maleveso (phon), Shala
(phon) and the Kanackik (phon) areas, the fact that we've had reports of
people being killed returning from the border with the former Republic of
Macedonia at a village called Dogavanic (phon), we have heard of 15
villages having been burned since 10 April, looting in Maleveso on 10 April
exactly and reports of mass graves at Gladnic (phon) - 24 bodies -
Lapastica (phon) - 30 - and Pristina 100.

Again, I stress that we don't have evidence at the moment but I've never
believed that the fact that we do not yet have evidence is a reason to
simply dismiss claims that atrocities may well have been committed. In
fact, one of the most appalling stories is simply of large numbers of
Kosovar Albanians being herded around Kosovo like groups of migratory
cattle, sent to the border, then sent back to their villages by Serb
security forces, then told to leave again as if they are sort of pawns
being moved around on a chessboard and of course this permanent movement,
lack of shelter, according to the information that we now have,is producing
incidences of typhoid, cholera, scabies and pulmonary infections. I
remember the phrase of the English philosopher Hobbs that you all know that
goes as follows: "Life is nasty, brutish and short!", I think that's
certainly true for the people inside Kosovo today unfortunately.

Later on today, as you know, Justice Louise Arbour, the Chief Prosecutor of
the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague will be here to meet the
Secretary General and again we will assure Justice Arbour of the
willingness of NATO governments to assist her investigations as much as we
possibly can and she will be on hand at around 6.30-6.45 to speak to you.

My conclusion before I hand over to SHAPE is clear: in the coming days, we
are going to move ahead on both the military fronts and the diplomatic
fronts, we will intensify our air campaign, we will continue our efforts to
relieve the humanitarian crisis, we will obviously monitor diplomatic
initiatives which are ongoing to prepare for the end-game so that we can
implement our core principles when the appropriate time comes and we will
obviously support all efforts to ensure that war crimes are both
investigated and are followed up.

Thank you and I now hand over to the General.

GENERAL MARANI:
Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. As you may recall, yesterday there
was a question regarding the difference in estimates of numbers of
displaced people in Kosovo. The UNHCR estimate is in line with the lower
figure given by SACEUR of around 260,000. However, given the continuing
displacement of people, the worst-case figure could be as high as the
750,000 mentioned by Secretary Albright. Without people on the ground, we
cannot confirm this estimate.

Moving on to the last 24 hours, once again weather affected NATO aircraft
operations. Five packages flew, two were cancelled and two packages were
only partially executed due to bad weather.

As shown on this map, we continued to attack fielded forces in Kosovo,
including successful attacks on trucks, armoured personnel carriers and
Yugoslav forces headquarters. Strategic targets were also attacked,
including petroleum facilities, military lines of communication and
command-and-control facilities. Results are still awaited. All our
aircraft returned safely.

There is evidence of increased use of helicopters by the Yugoslav forces.
This is probably an indication that movement within Yugoslavia is becoming
increasingly difficult as we continue to strike strategic lines of
communication. Once again there was AAA activity and some manned portable
missiles were fired. None of our aircraft were hit.

On the ground, Yugoslav army and special police force activity continued in
the areas outlined on this map. you can see circled on the map the areas
where such activity took place. You may remember reports of VJ forces
crossing into Albania yesterday. This occurred in the area shown when
Yugoslav Army units pursued UCK forces across the border. There was some
activity around the village of Kamenica and artillery was fired from Kosovo
into Albania. All Yugoslav forces quickly returned to Kosovo after the
action.

In recent days, there has been a successful NATO attack against the special
police assembly area in the proximity of Livadica. This series of three
pictures shows the damage to the strategic rail tunnel and the storage
buildings in the area.

On other issues, this picture, taken yesterday, shows burning houses in the
village of Randubrava. The nearest NATO strike was over 30 km from the
area which suggests that ethnic cleansing action continues. This area has
been noted for the activities of the 549th Mechanised Brigade.

This final picture shows displaced persons in the area of Malisevo and the
expanded section shows makeshift shelters built in the area.

In summary, despite challenging weather conditions, our military pressure
continues to increase to include targeting for ground forces in Kosovo.
NATO air strikes in the last 24 hours included military infrastructure and
strategic targets. FRY military supporting infrastructure and security
forces are vulnerable to collapse. Once again, all our aircraft returned
safely to their base.

Since the beginning of Allied Force, NATO air forces have flown short of
6,000 sorties. Our strikes are effective and we will continue to
intensify the air campaign.

NATO forces also continue to deploy into Albania under Allied Harbour.
They will organise operations at Tirana airport and provide assistance to
the Albanian authorities and aid agencies in support of humanitarian
relief. During the last 24 hours, 30 aid flights flew into Fyrom with 95
tonnes of food and water and 12 tonnes of medical supplies. There were 38
aid flights to Albania with a proportional amount of material.

Thank you.

JAMIE SHEA:
Giuseppe, thanks very much. We'll go to the questions now.

CHARLES:
You mentioned that you are neutralising the weather. I know you are not
going to want to speak specifically about any special services, but can you
tell us how you are managing to neutralise the weather? That is a question
to both of you.

JAMIE SHEA:
The point, Charles, I was trying to make was that of course I am not
denying for one moment that the weather is diminishing the momentum of the
operations vis-�-vis what we could do if we had perfectly blue skies, but
what I am trying to show, and I think as you saw from General Marani's
briefing and what I said, despite very bad cloud last night we were still
able to prosecute a large number of operations. So clearly we are able to
operate in bad weather and continue to strike a number of militarily
significant targets. And as we bring in aircraft which have all-weather
capabilities and the rest we will continue obviously not to be hampered by
the weather. You know there is a famous proverb, or saying, where I come
from which says "we will weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether
we like it or not", and I think that is the motto of our pilots. I don't
know whether General Marani has anything to add to that?

GENERAL MARANI:
Of course different weapons systems and different sensors can give better
capability in terms of weather.

CHARLES:
And people on the ground as well of course would help?

GENERAL MARANI:
I didn't say that.

CHARLES:
But I am asking.

GENERAL MARANI:
This is your conclusion, not ours.

STEPHEN:
Two questions. One for you Jamie, do you have a NATO reaction already on
what is called the German peace plan for Kosovo because I understand it was
touched upon this morning? And a question for the General: there is a
report that approximately half of the targets, reported by one of the press
agencies, that NATO is looking at in Yugoslavia have been either destroyed
or severely damaged and that the air campaign has been most successful in
cutting the lines of communication to the Yugoslav forces in Kosovo. Is
that correct or is it not?

GENERAL MARANI:
A given percentage means that there is a total number to refer to. This
number doesn't exist. The targets are generated and we hope, we know, that
significant damage has been done. We will keep going until the military
objectives are reached.

JAMIE SHEA:
On the German plan, yes it was mentioned at the meeting of Ambassadors this
morning, but I think it is clear that at the moment this is a plan which
has been worked on by Germany which obviously will be discussed in the
European Union. It is not an official position yet either I believe of any
government, or certainly not at the present time of NATO. What I believe
we should say about it is that it is a very useful effort and a necessary
effort to begin reflection in the Alliance, in the European Union, in the
wider international community, as to how we are going to handle the
diplomacy of the end game, in other words how are we going to
instrumentalise these five core principles which we always enunciate in our
briefings, because we have to obviously have a strategy for translating
them into action when the appropriate time comes. But it is simply at the
moment what you might call a food for thought paper, a discussion paper, to
provoke this necessary reflection. I do not believe that it has any
official status at the present time either in the Alliance or in the
European Union but obviously it is a very valuable contribution and I think
that is the way that all allies have reacted to it.

JIM:
A couple of questions: in the first point of the strategy, talking about
the air campaign, three weeks into all of this is there some kind of a
recognition perhaps that there is a likelihood that President Milosevic
simply will not cave in, that you will have to have an absolute victory in
order to accomplish all of these goals? Second question, the probe under
way for a possible NATO spy turning over information about targets?

JAMIE SHEA:
First of all, Jim, as I have said, I think we are in a situation where the
correlation of forces is turning to NATO's advantage with every passing day
because every day Milosevic has less and every day we have more. So this
situation cannot go on indefinitely, the pressure will become even more
considerable on Belgrade and it is clear that we are not going to stop.
President Milosevic knows that now, he has had to calculate into his
planning the fact that NATO is not going to be bought off, or is not going
to be divided, and he may be a cynical man but I think he is also deep down
a rational man and eventually he will have to realise that he has no option
but to comply with the demands of the international community. Of course
everybody here hopes that moment of what I would call the dawning of the
truth will come sooner rather than later, but for our part we simply have
to keep up what we are doing. We are doing it, as SACEUR explained
yesterday, in a very methodical way, a very deliberate way, avoiding
collateral damage within the constraints that have been laid down, but I
think also in an increasingly efficient way and those forces in Kosovo are
going to be increasingly isolated, increasingly cut off, lacking petrol,
lacking resupply, lacking ammunition and as our capabilities become ever
stronger over Kosovo itself, increasingly a target.

As for the spy, I have nothing on this whatever. I would love to know
where I believe it was ABC got this story from, I have never heard anything
about it. I know it is obviously an exciting topic for you but I really
can't comment because I know nothing about it.

DOUG HAMILTON, REUTERS:
General Marani, one of the areas you mentioned where there was still
on-going activity, fighting with Yugoslav forces was Srbica There is a
report today from the KLA press agency that at least 1,000 people have been
killed in the Srbica area, between Srbica and Lauther and that there are
bodies all over the place. Does NATO have any information on this, and
secondly does NATO have any signs whatsoever of any kind of Yugoslav forces
withdrawal? And for Jamie, on the German plan, can we take it from your
reply that there is no imminent prospect of a 24 hour bombing halt? And
what do you have to say to British Defence Secretary George Robertson's
report that Radko Mladic has turned up in Kosovo?

GENERAL MARANI:
I will answer the first question because mine will be a quick answer. No I
am afraid I have no notice of what you just said. We will investigate and
tomorrow we will give you an answer.

JAMIE SHEA:
Doug, if I may, I can add something. Mr Krazniki, who I believe is the
Deputy Prime Minister in at least the provisional government that was
formed by the KLA the other day, has been in touch with NATO countries to
report this. That is all I have. Of course I don't have any independent
NATO verification of this at the moment, so that is the first point.

Secondly, on the German plan, I have said all I can. It does not have an
official status at the moment, it is a very useful and necessary
contribution to what will be an important discussion over the next few
weeks, which is the diplomatic strategy for translating into reality our
five core objectives, but none of it represents for the time being official
policy in the Alliance, as the German government I believe has stressed
this morning. But let me say, we welcome of course this valuable
contribution. That is all I want to say on that.

On the third point, on General Mladic, no I personally have not had this
information but I have no reason to doubt it if the British government at
the briefing today, as I saw, has made that public. We all know that
General Mladic has been in Yugoslavia since the end of the war in Bosnia.
I understand that up until now he was really leading something of a private
life and it would be rather stressing if he were resuming his old
activities. I hope that he is not doing anything which is simply going to
add to the overwhelming mountain of war crimes evidence which could
accumulate in view of a trial in The Hague in the future. So that is all.

GERMAN PRESS AGENCY:
As regards the meeting with Kofi Annan, now they probably have talked about
more than just the reiteration of NATO's determination and resolve,
probably they have talked about the diplomatic efforts of the peace
process. Could you please elaborate on what Solana said to Kofi Annan and
vice versa?

JAMIE SHEA:
No I can't generally. Forgive me for not being helpful to you but
obviously the purpose of these meetings is to keep a certain degree of
confidentiality, so I don't want to say more than what I said in the briefing.

JONATHAN MARCUS, BBC WORLD SERVICE:
Two questions to Jamie. First of all can you confirm that oil tankers are
still putting in at Montenegrin ports, and General Clark hinted yesterday
that something might be done about that in the near future by one means or
another? Secondly, with the air campaign looking as though it is going to
stretch on for some several weeks now, the situation of the internally
displaced people in Kosovo must be quite desperate, we have seen the
evidence of makeshift shelters and so on. Clearly you said that NATO was
thinking urgently about what it could do, has there been any upshot to
those discussions?

JAMIE SHEA:
As far as the oil tankers into bar are concerned, the last report I have of
an oil tanker bar goes back to the beginning of April. I don't have any
recent information as to recent supplies. Obviously this is something that
has to be looked at by our lawyers in conjunction with the clauses of UN
Security Council Resolution 1160 which imposes an arms embargo, a military
embargo against Yugoslavia, but we haven't come to any determination on
this topic yet, that is my answer there.

As far as the situation of the internally displaced persons are concerned,
obviously this is a major worry and SACEUR spoke on this yesterday. But
let me, if I may, answer the question in the following way. At the
beginning of the Irish campaign at the latter end of the 16th century,
Queen Elizabeth I of England gave the Earl of Essex, who was to carry out
this campaign, the following piece of advice. She said: "Essex, strike at
the trunk and then the branches will wither away." And this is the
philosophy we are following in Kosovo, we are striking at the trunk of the
problem, stopping the violence, forcing out the Serb forces which are
carrying out the barbaric acts against civilians there. Once we have
stopped that, which is the trunk of the problem, the branches of displaced
persons, human suffering, refugees, looted homes and all the other
manifestations will wither away. If we don't strike at the trunk, if we
take our eye, if you like, off the main priority that we are following and
go after all of the branches then clearly there will continue to be more
and more refugees, more and more displaced persons, more and more suffering
added to an already unacceptable total. So clearly the best contribution
that NATO can make to resolving the humanitarian crisis is to stop the war
in Kosovo because it is only when we have done that that we can start
reversing this situation and in a durable way.
That is my first point.

The second point is clearly these are Milosevic's citizens, they may not
deserve to be Milosevic's citizens but they are, he has created this
problem, the responsibility is on his shoulders to stop making it worse,
even if he doesn't show any determination to try to improve it for his own
citizens, and we are going to continue to point the finger where it belongs
- in Belgrade.

The third point. Clearly if there is something that we can do that could
help in a positive way to relieve the situation then we will do it. As
SACEUR made it clear yesterday, we are examining a number of options. None
of those options is a panacea, this is also clear, they all carry risks,
they all carry the problem of trying to weigh what advantages may be gained
against the considerable risks, that is clear of air drops, as SACEUR
explained in great detail yesterday, where planes have to fly low, where
they are transport planes there is a risk, a considerable risk, that they
could be shot down and of course there is no guarantee that the food would
arrive where you wanted it to arrive, in the bellies of starving people,
not in the bellies of Serb soldiers. But again we are looking at it, when
we have reached clear conclusions then obviously we will share with you
those conclusions. But I want to take you away from the idea that there is
some palliative here and I want to take you back, away from the branches,
towards the trunk because that is where our efforts have to lie first and
foremost.

DIRK KOK:
Mr Shea, you have had NATO … in the war and they are approaching the
diplomatic end game, so could you give us your clear definition, what is
the victory of NATO and what you would consider as a defeat? For example,
would you consider it a defeat if there is no unconditional acceptance of
the five core objectives by Mr Milosevic?

JAMIE SHEA:
Mr Kok, as you remember, last October there were a number of diplomatic
efforts by NATO, by NATO countries, by the OSCE, to solve the Kosovo crisis
and a number of agreements were struck with Milosevic. And three months
later, as you well know, little was left of those agreements either on the
political front in terms of negotiations, or on the military front in terms
of the Serbs promising to keep to the levels that they committed to in the
agreement with NATO of their forces, or to keep those forces in barracks.
So I think we have learnt clearly from Milosevic that half-measures are the
equivalent of no measures as far as he is concerned, he doesn't respect
them, he doesn't keep them, he waits for the attention of the international
community to go off elsewhere and then he systematically reverses
everything that he promised to do and we find ourselves, 3 or 4 months
later, back with the same problem. We don't want to do that again, quite
frankly, we have learned all of the lessons of that experience of last
October, and so this time we are not going to compromise on these five core
principles, it is in our own interest not to compromise because we don't
want to be back in the same situation. So we are going to insist on a
verifiable end to the Serb military action, we are going to insist on the
withdrawal of the military police and paramilitary forces. If they don't
go, we won't get the refugees back and so we won't solve the humanitarian
crisis. We are going to insist on the deployment of an international
military force because we know that if that force doesn't go in, the
refugees also won't return and there will be no future for Kosovo. And we
are going to obviously get the refugees back because we realise that not
only does that represent justice but it represents the only hope of a
multi-ethnic democratic Kosovo, and probably of a multi-ethnic democratic
Yugoslavia in the long run as well. And of course we need to have some
undertaking to work seriously towards a political solution. So these are
not simply moral principles, they are in our fundamental interest if we
don't want to have this crisis like an albatross around our necks for a
long time to come in the future.

DOMINIQUE THIERRY, RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE :
Jamie, deux questions : l'une des objections potentielles au plan allemand
serait m�me s'il reste informel la difficult� technique d'appliquer une
tr�ve de 24 heures pour essayer de ...Quelles seraient les difficult�s
techniques de mani�re informelle la deuxi�me concerne les cibles vis�es
hier soir par l'OTAN et notamment la centrale hydro �lectrique de Bedtritsa
(phon�tique), le poids �conomique de cette guerre p�se tr�s fort sur les
pays voisins, notamment le trafic fluvial sur le Danube est interrompu,
l'�lectricit� de Mac�doine vient en grand majorit� de Serbie, comment
comptez-vous aider les pays voisins en r�alit� avec le co�t de cette guerre?

JAMIE SHEA:
Merci de ces deux questions. D'abord en ce qui concerne le plan allemand
je n'ai vraiment rien � rajouter � ce que je viens de dire, parce que vous
me parlez de ces diff�rentes pr�visions comme si c'�tait une esp�ce de
politique officielle au sein de l'Alliance, alors que pour l'instant il
s'agit d'un papier de discussions, tr�s utile, mais un papier informel de
discussion et donc je ne pense pas qu'il faut le prendre pour ce qu'il
n'est pas. En ce qui concerne la deuxi�me question je crois �galement qu'il
faut regarder la realit� en face - la Yougoslavie est un pays presque coup�
du monde ext�rieur sur le plan �conomique depuis un certain temps d�j�, en
raison des diff�rentes sanctions, m�me les sanctions rest�es en place apr�s
l'accord de Dayton. Donc la seule mani�re en quelque sorte d'aider les
�conomies des pays voisins, c'est bien s�r de promouvoir une Serbie
d�mocratique, ouverte, bas�e sur l'�conomie de march� qui pourrait
reprendre en quelque sorte un certain dynamisme �conomique et reprendre les
�changes commerciaux avec les pays voisins. Il ne faut pas consid�rer que
la situation ant�rieure avant les frappes de l'OTAN �tait normale � cet
�gard, loin de l�, donc il faut viser la solution � long terme. Aussi
comme vous avez vu, le Pr�sident Clinton hier soir demandait au Congr�s
am�ricain d'octroyer quelque quatre milliards de dollars non seulement pour
financer les op�rations a�riennes mais �galement pour aider les pays
voisins � faire face aux difficult�s �conomiques occasionn�es par la crise
actuelle au Kosovo. L'union europ�enne la semaine pass�e a �galement
adopt� un certain nombre d'initiatives pour venir en aide, j'ai vu M.
.........du ............internationale �galement parler d'un
r�-�chelonnement de la dette de l'Albanie pour faciliter ce pays au cours
de cette p�riode difficile, donc je crois qu'il suffit de regarder un petit
peu � droite et � gauche les institutions internationales comp�tentes et
les pays de l'Alliance font d�j� pas mal d'efforts pour essayer de venir en
aide au pays voisins, mais la seule solution est la fin des hostilit�s,
c'est une normalisation n'est-ce pas des rapports dans la r�gion et c'est
pourquoi l'OTAN lundi dernier a evoqu� l'id�e d'une esp�ce d'approche �
long terme et global du probl�me pour r�ins�rer la r�gion dans le moyen en
quelque sorte de l'Europe.

DOMINIQUE THIERRY:
............opinion publique et une mont�e de l'opposition aux frappes
a�riennes et � l'action de l'OTAN dans les pays voisins ?

JAMIE SHEA:
Non, absolument pas. Je crois que les pays voisins savent appr�cier
Milosevic � sa juste valeur. Ils savent tr�s bien que Milosevic n'est pas
un facteur de stabilisation dans la r�gion. Au contraire, il est un
facteur de d�stabilisation dans la r�gion. Ils savent tr�s, tr�s bien que
leur int�r�t est dans la coop�ration avec l'Alliance et avec la communaut�
internationale.

MICHAEL:
In discussing the Serb incursion in Albania yesterday you said that any
attack on Albania as a result of the deployment of NATO forces there would
have the gravest consequences. Do you consider the incursion that occurred
yesterday as a challenge to that defence commitment, or do you consider it
the sort of spill-over that might have occurred regardless of whether NATO
forces were deployed there? And if this sort of incursion occurs again,
does NATO plan to take specific action or merely deplore it?

JAMIE SHEA:
Action by NATO, Michael, will obviously depend on the dimensions of these
type of incursions and our appreciation of what lies behind them, because
clearly there have been a number of border incidents in recent months, we
know about that, up there on the border and of course the Kosovo Liberation
Army continues to operate in the border area clearly. We are of course
concerned by what happened yesterday because it goes a little beyond the
type of cross-border shellings and incidents that we have known in recent
weeks. NATO's position is quite clear but obviously the appreciation would
be left to the allies in the light of the particular incident and certainly
we have repeatedly in the past called on the Kosovo Liberation Army to
exercise restraint. Obviously all Serb units in Kosovo will be considered
as targets by NATO.

PAULO:
I understood you well that you have nothing to add to the German plan, but
allow me please to come back to this question. I wonder if the Germans did
or did not inform the Allies on Monday during the NAC session of the
Foreign Affairs Meeting? And my second question, the Russian President
Yeltsin has named today his ex-Prime Minister, Chernomyrdin, as his Special
Envoy for Yugoslavia. Do you think that Chernomyrdin can do more than
Primakov did?

JAMIE SHEA:
Again, Paulo, I hate to disappoint you on the German plan but this is a
question you must put to the German government. I cannot speak on behalf
of the German government, that is not my role and I think I have described
to you in the best way I can what the status of that plan is, so please
follow it up with the competent authority and not me.

On Mr Chernomyrdin's appointment as Special Envoy, I saw that. Let me
state what I have always said on this. We would welcome any diplomatic
initiative from whatever country, including Russia, that can persuade
Milosevic to meet the fundamental conditions that I have laid out. There
is no competition here, whoever can do it should do it and will receive
NATO's thanks and acknowledgement. But of course the agreement of
Milosevic has to be on these five conditions and not on something else, no
more but no less if we are going to, as I have said, achieve some permanent
way forward for Kosovo. So let's see. But Mr Chernomyrdin is a very
experienced diplomat, a statesman, he is a heavyweight figure, there is no
doubt about that, and if he can do something then as I say that would be
all for the better. But we will judge by results clearly and we will see
how that develops in the next few days. But any sign that Russia wants to
continue to work with the allies in seeking a diplomatic solution is
welcome, we want Russia to be part of this, inside working with us, not on
the outside looking in.

BARRY:
General, are there any command and control facilities that are being hidden
in buildings that cannot be attacked, either museums or churches, and if so
is this going to complicate the air campaign?

GENERAL MARANI:
Not that we know of at this moment of command and control facilities that
have been hidden in places that couldn't be attacked. The concept is that
everything that constitutes a military target could be attacked. Of course
we have been always extremely careful in avoiding collateral damage and in
avoiding casualties among the civilian population. Nevertheless, General
Milosevic must know that doing so, if he does so, he endangers the lives of
his citizens.

JAMIE SHEA:
As you know, we have hit a number of tanks and artillery and units already,
so fortunately there isn't a human shield around every one, mainly because
Yugoslavs have so much military hardware in Kosovo given the deployments
that General Clark explained in the briefing yesterday. But I endorse what
General Marani said, we of course are going to continue to avoid risk of
loss of life by civilians.

F2:
Je voudrais savoir si ce soir M. Solana va demander � Mme Arbour si M.
Milosevic sera poursuivi pour crimes de guerre?.

JAMIE SHEA:
C'est l'affaire du Tribunal, ce n'est pas notre affaire.

DRAGAN BLAGOJEVIC, BETA AGENCY:
(some text inaudible)...dans Le Figaro aujourd'hui on trouve que de plus en
plus les attaques de l'OTAN qui continuent ne sont plus seulement des
cibles strictement militaires mais aussi civiles. Je trouve que c'est une
guerre maintenant qui commence � �tre contre la Serbie, non seulement
contre les appareils militaires et de l'autre cot� un groupe
de.........yougoslaves ont present� un plan, une demande � la Cour
internationale de justice � La Haye pour demander leur opinion, ce que eux
ils trouvent une agression contre la Yougoslavie et une demande de
d�dommagement de pertes contre les objets civils et d'autres. Qu'est-ce
que vous avez comme commentaire?

JAMIE SHEA:
Je r�pondrai � votre deuxi�me question et je demanderai au G�n�ral de
r�pondre � votre premi�re question sur les cibles civiles si vous voulez.
Si la Cour Internationale de Justice de La Haye entend un tel r�quisitoire,
j'esp�re qu'ils prendront �galement en consid�ration les milliards de
dollars de d�g�ts inflig�s par les forces serbes � la propri�t� priv�e du
peuple kosovar, contrairement � la constitution yougoslave, et peut �tre �
la compensation qui doit �tre pay�e � tous ces gens qui ont �t� priv�s de
leur �pargne, de leurs �conomies, de leur argent et refoul�s dans les pays
voisins, qui ont d� d�penser beaucoup d'argent avec la communaut�
internationale pour construire les villages de tentes et pour venir en
aide, donc, d'accord mais dans la mesure ou tous les facteurs soit pris en
compte. La justice ne demande pas moins.

GENERAL MARANI:
If I clearly understood your question, I must say, and what General Clark
yesterday said, SACEUR, we are not at war with the people of Yugoslavia.
Nevertheless, military targets can be hit and NATO cannot be blackmailed
using civilians as human shields. Of course civilian losses, it is our
biggest concern and as you can realise we have done so far the best we
could to avoid civilian losses. But a military target is a military
target. The Yugoslav authorities know what a military target is and
therefore where it can be. They should keep their civilians away from
military targets.

JAMIE SHEA:
Ladies and Gentlemen, we will stop there, but just two quick points before
I leave. As you know, in about 50 minutes from now, at around 1645, the
Secretary General will be here with Madam Ogata of the UNHCR for a quick
press briefing; and Chief Prosecutor, Justice Arbour, of the International
Tribunal should be with you here at around 1830 - 1845. So those are the
two events for the remainder of the afternoon.