TRANSCRIPT OF BACKGROUNDER
GIVEN BY MR JAMIE SHEA
IN BRUSSELS
ON FRIDAY, 30 APRIL 1999

MR SHEA:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning, welcome. I would just as always
like to give you the news of last night's operations, as I am sure you
have already heard and seen. Last night NATO forces hammered the heart
of the military machine of President Milosevic, it was the single most
intense period of attacks over Belgrade, and indeed probably one of the
most intensive nights overall since Operation Allied Force began 37 days
ago.


NATO aircraft attacked the national military headquarters that directs
and controls the campaign of brutality and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo,
and of course also underguards Milosevic's grip on power in Yugoslavia.
We struck 2 Ministry of Defence buildings and also conducted further
strikes on the VJ and MUP special police headquarters in Belgrade.


Why did we strike these targets? One simple answer, because they are
the brain that guides the operations in Kosovo and we are perfectly
ready and willing to strike those targets again if necessary.


Yesterday NATO forces conducted over 600 sorties during a 24 hour
period. This is the most sorties in any 24 hour period since the
operation began and I think it shows you that we are implementing what
we promised to do at the Washington summit just a few days ago, which is
to intensify the air campaign.


The Alliance yesterday also went after the communications network that
allows Belgrade and Milosevic to direct their forces in the field and
obviously to continue their military operations in Kosovo. In the town
of Avala we struck the TV FM transmission tower, that is one of the
transmitters for the RTS TV network and is also, and I want to stress
this, not only a TV transmission tower but is used as a main relay for
the military communications network.


So as you see, in recent days we are bringing the air campaign home to
where it hurts most, that is directly at the centre of the power
structure, the heart and the brains as much as the brawn of the Yugoslav
military forces and of the Milosevic regime. We have struck the bunker
at one of his private residences, we have struck the headquarters of his
ruling party, we have struck the petroleum refinement centres that keep
the forces going, and we have repeatedly struck, as you know, the
military headquarters in Belgrade and the studio headquarters of a
television which we continue to believe is used entirely to incite
hatred and propaganda. So we are going to continue along this vain in
coming days and we are benefiting at the moment from much improved
weather over the region.


At the same time I would like to tell you that this afternoon, at 3.30,
the Secretary General will be receiving a group of Kosovar leaders here
at NATO headquarters. I will have a piece of paper for you with their
names and biographies in a few moments, and they will be coming along to
speak to you at 5.00 this afternoon. So we will have the usual briefing
at 3.00 pm done by myself and General Marani, and at 5.00 pm then a
chance to meet three Kosovar leaders who will give you their latest
information about the situation in Kosovo itself.


MARK LAITY, BBC:
On the MOD attacks, I am assuming this is the first time you have
attacked the MOD?


JAMIE SHEA:
That's right, this is the first time that we have struck the MOD. And
may I anticipate that you are going to ask me why now?


MARK:
Yes.


JAMIE SHEA:
The reason for that is that although this is the Ministry of Defence, in
the military power structure in Belgrade this is not so much a priority
target as for example the party headquarters and the VJ and MUP,
particularly the special police headquarters, the two special police
headquarters of Serbia and Yugoslavia, which are much more, even than
the Ministry of Defence, the heart of this operation. So for us
therefore these targets were priority, but of course the Ministry of
Defence is important otherwise NATO would not have expended its bombs on
it, but less of a priority than those other two facilities.


MARK:
You hit two MOD buildings?


JAMIE SHEA:
That's right, that is the information I have, we hit two MOD buildings
in downtown Belgrade.


MARK:
So the main MOD and something else?


JAMIE SHEA:
And some other facility, yes. General Marani of course will again, as
always, have fuller details when he comes up at 3.00 pm.


QUESTION:
And was there any collateral damage? CNN are claiming there was.



JAMIE SHEA:
Yes there was one missile, bomb, that went astray and landed I
understand again at some houses. I understand, and the Yugoslavs are
saying this as well, that there were no causalities from this particular
incident. But again let me stress, we had 600 sorties yesterday and
even if you count the number of strike sorties you are talking about
several hundred and we had therefore in all of those one missile that
for some reason which I cannot clarify at the moment went astray. Now
if you work this out you are talking about a fraction of one percent.


QUESTION:
There are reports from our correspondent on the ground that there were
two missiles which went astray, one on one street and one 300 metres
away.


JAMIE SHEA:
OK, Dominic, I have at this time only indication of one, so again we
will provide as always the full up-date at 3.00 pm.


JULIE:
We understand that the Defence Department is despatching B52s to join
the campaign. Does this represent a new phase?


JAMIE SHEA:
No, it doesn't represent a new phase, it simply represents the
intensification that I have been talking about over the past few days
and the US is not alone in reinforcing. Canada as you know is sending
extra CF18 aircraft, the UK announced yesterday 8 additional aircraft, 4
Tornadoes, 4 Harriers, and so you see that we are giving ourselves, as I
have aid, the tools to finish the job and I wouldn't exclude that other
countries will also be adding to allied force in coming days.


CHRISTOPHER:
The war seems to be moving very much towards Belgrade and away from
Kosovo itself. Just a few days ago we were hearing of hundreds of
thousands of people wandering around, starving, in terrible straits in
Kosovo. What is happening with them, what is being done for them? I
understand the principle that we cut off the head and everything else
shrivels up eventually, but I am sure they are wondering how long that
is going to take. Is anything being done directly to help those people
now in terms of attacking the troops that are herding them around, have
we dropped lower level flights, are we still trying to fight from 15,000
feet? What is going on in Kosovo itself?


JAMIE SHEA:
Let me make it clear first of all that although I concentrated in my
introduction on Belgrade because I think that was the focal point of the
attacks yesterday evening, we did not neglect Kosovo, we never neglect
Kosovo, there is never a night when a large percentage of the NATO
aircraft operating are not operating directly in Kosovo itself and there
were command and control targets for example in Prizren that were struck
last night, there were several ammunition storage facilities also around
Pristina, plus a VJ and MUP staging area on the outskirts of Pristina
that was also struck. And we calculate incidentally that we have now
destroyed well over 50% of the ammunition storage sites in Yugoslavia.
This will have an impact on the tempo of the special forces operations.
The best way to deal with the humanitarian situation is to stop that
which causes humanitarian suffering in the first place. We are
interested in tackling the causes rather than simply addressing the
symptoms, and so the best thing is to make it increasingly difficult for
those forces to operate against the civilian population.


Of course as I have said, Christopher, at these briefings, we remain
very concerned about the internally displaced persons. NATO as you know
is looking at various options to try to bring some aid to them. We are
also interested in helping international relief organisations like the
Red Cross, or the Greek NGOs or others that may be able to operate. We
are also prepared to pass on all of the information intelligence we have
to the UNHCR and others as well to try to localise where these people
are. But let's face up to the facts, the only way that we can stop the
suffering is to stop the fighting. Why is there suffering? Because
there is a war going on. Why is there a war going on? It is because
the Serbs are using their forces against civilians. Ergo stop the Serbs
doing that and then the rest of the crisis can be addressed, otherwise
we are simply chasing our tail, quite frankly, we have to stop the
fighting.


ALEXANDRE:
What is the up-date on your estimates of the numbers of IDPs within
Kosovo, that is to say people who are living within shelter and without
shelter?


JAMIE SHEA:
The UNHCR looks at this very systematically, and as I said, Alex, we
pass information on to the UNHCR that we have in our possession. We
know that the number is, according to the UNHCR, round the 700,000 mark
of internally displaced persons, so the large majority of the
population, well over two-thirds of the population, of Kosovo is now
displaced. Virtually no Kosovar Albanians, virtually none, are living
today where they were living two years ago.


CRAIG:
There was a report this morning that the Foreign Ministry in Belgrade
had been hit?


JAMIE SHEA:
I have nothing on that, Craig.


QUESTION:
I wanted to ask about the visit and search work, how it is going on?
And Russia yesterday joined two international conventions, one on the
arrest of the ships and the other the bill of lading. What is wrong?
Why is the country trying to protect itself with international law, this
is understandable, but how does the visit and search regime actually
comply with international law?


JAMIE SHEA:
As you know, there is an arms embargo which also implies to arms related
materials, Security Council Resolution 1160 at the moment, and we are
looking of course very much at that. Secondly, there are under the
customary laws of armed conflicts provisions to enable states involved
in armed conflicts to take measures to prevent others that they are
engaged against acquiring the means to continue their war efforts. So
the legal basis is very important for us and this is going to be
addressed by NATO Ambassadors once the military authorities have done
their work on the detailed operational concept, which is still going
on. And I imagine that concept will be presented to the Ambassadors
very soon, I am going to the Council now, we will have an up-date on the
situation and I will share that with you of course at 3.00 pm.


Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you, and see you as I say at 3.00 for the
fuller briefing of the day.