TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE
GIVEN BY MR JAMIE SHEA AND COLONEL KONRAD FREYTAG
IN BRUSSELS
ON SUNDAY, 2 MAY 1999

JAMIE SHEA:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Afternoon. As you can see, I am joined once
again at the podium by Colonel Konrad Freytag of SHAPE. Konrad, thanks
once again for coming up to give the operational briefing today.


Ladies and Gentlemen, over the last 24 hours NATO forces have kept up the
intense pace of their attacks against the Yugoslav Armed Forces, with a
twin focus: firstly, Milosevic's forces in Kosovo and the lines of
communication; and the command and control network that keeps them in
touch with Belgrade. So two lines of focus: firstly the fielded forces
themselves; secondly the more strategic target of the command and control
network, without which they would not be able to operate for long. Our
strategy is straightforward, to cut them off, pin them down and take them
out so that they have no option but to leave Kosovo.


As Colonel Freytag will explain to you in more detail presently, we
successfully yesterday evening went after the complete array of fielded
forces in Kosovo, starting with armour but also attacking command posts and
ammunition depots. At the same time, NATO aircraft engaged Milosevic's
army and special police forces, while more NATO aircraft attacked the
systems that Belgrade uses to control them, including 8 radio relay sites
and yesterday more than a dozen bridges, most of them road but some of them
rail bridges.


As you all know now, this morning during the early hours an F16 aircraft
went down in the north-western part of Serbia. As we increase the
intensity of our air operations, 24 hours a day, so the greater the risk
obviously to our pilots as well from an increased momentum of operations.
But I want to highlight the fact that this pilot within a matter of 2 hours
was rescued by NATO forces and taken to safety and I would like to salute
the professionalism and the efficiency of that combat search and rescue
time that for the second time since Operation Allied Force began managed to
rescue a downed pilot. That pilot is safe, well, receiving medical
attention and is now being debriefed on the incident.


So thank you and I now hand over to Colonel Freytag for his more detailed
operational up-date.


COLONEL FREYTAG:
Thank you Jamie. Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen.


NATO's air campaign continued with intensive strikes against military and
strategic targets throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Once
again we focused the major weight of our effort on the Serb fielded forces
in Kosovo. I want to be quite clear about this, by attacking fielded
forces and their support systems we seek to make it incredibly difficult
for anyone to get into Kosovo, and almost impossible to move around and
operate within Kosovo.


As part of this continuing effort, during the past 24 hours we struck the
full spectrum of tactical targets throughout the province. … artillery
guns, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, mortars, military vehicles,
artillery rocket systems, command post and local ammunition and fuel
supplies were hit.


The following videos were taken over the past week. The first shows an
attack against fielded artillery gun.


The next two cockpit videos are of an attack with precision guided weapons
against fielded tanks.


In the up-coming days we will be giving you a more detailed briefing on our
overall assessment of the effects of our concentrated efforts on the
targeting of fielded forces and I hope that this meets your hunger about
figures on tanks.


Turning to Serbian forces' operations, first I will cover ground operations
in Kosovo. Serb forces continue to seek to establish control over all the
key terrain and lines of communication in Kosovo. The tempo of Serb
military activity has reduced. Continuous operations have likely inflicted
a gradual degradation of Serb combat sustainability and caused rising
levels of demoralisation among their troops. Increasing use of special
police and paramilitary units affect augmentation needed to conduct further
security operations. These security operations increasingly are conducted
by MUP units supported with VJ armour or artillery in order to relieve VJ
troops. It also likely reflects an overall Serbian army wish to return
responsibility for internal security in Kosovo to the special police.


In central Kosovo special police elements conducted operations against the
UCK in the Pristina area along the Suva Reka … line of communication.
Combined VJ and MUP forces intensified operations near Suva Reka south of
the Dulja Pass where they encountered strong resistance from the UCK.


Fighting between Serb forces and the UCK continued in western Kosovo along
the Kosovo-Albanian border focusing on the area of Marina and Potomarina.
VJ artillery shelled villages in northern Albania including Leiti and
Borea. UCK forces also continued to operate in western Kosovo, as shown here.


Turning now to Serbian Air Force activities. Serb early warning radar
activity was again noted, Serb Air defence launched 6 surface to air
missiles, anti-aircraft artillery was again active. A small number of
MiG21 aircraft were detected, dispersing to nearby airfields. No air
defence fighters opposed our Air Forces.


As earlier mentioned, we lost 1 aircraft during yesterday's operation. At
2.20 this morning, local Brussels time, an F16CJ experienced an engine
failure 18 kilometres east of Kosluk whilst returning from a mission over
Yugoslavia. The cause of the engine failure is under review. The pilot
was recovered safely and is now at a NATO base. An AV8B Harrier aircraft
was also lost in a training accident. This aircraft was not assigned to
NATO but was supporting NATO's operation.


Turning back to this operation and covering first the humanitarian issues.
On the humanitarian side NATO forces' support for non-governmental
organisations and the governmental institution of Albania and FYROM
continues. Our support contributes significantly to the relief efforts in
these countries.


In the last 24 hours there were 11 aid flights flown into Fyrom with 13
tons of food and water and 15 tons of medical supplies. For Albania there
were 16 aid flights delivering a wide range of humanitarian supplies.


Now I will turn to our air operation. As previously stated in the briefing
we placed a concentrated effort against fielded forces in Kosovo. However,
we also continued to target the strategic assets that permit the Serbian
forces to support and control the operations in Kosovo. In this regard
allied aircraft once again struck the full range of military targets. We
again placed an emphasis on the radio relay and TV transmission facilities
that are integral elements in the command and control network of the
Serbian leadership and military command. 8 transmission towers and
facilities were targeted as detailed in the slide. The Tivet radio relay
site located at the Tivet Bay in western Montenegro was considered to be a
keynote in the command and control structure and this was targeted.


The following cockpit videos are of attacks against 3 communication towers
conducted over the last few days. The first video is against the Losnikar
radio relay tower. The next film is of our aircrew attacking the Semika
radio communications station. And the final video is of the Subotika radio
and TV transmitter.


The integrated air defence system was again targeted, including the Nis
airfield. We will continue to selectively target elements of the system to
prevent the Serb military from reconstituting the system. Petroleum
storage and production facilities were targeted, including the facilities
at Lopatnika, Novi Sad and Pozega. We also targeted the Kakai Ordnance
repair facility.


We again struck lines of communication, including 12 road bridges and 5
railroad bridges. Unfortunately on one of our attacks on Saturday
unintended damage occurred and NATO aircraft carried out one single attack
against the Lusana bridge north of Pristina. This was a legitimate
military target on a key north-south resupply route for the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia military and special police operations between
Pristina and Podujevo. Unfortunately, after weapons release, a bus crossed
on the bridge but was not seen by the pilot whose attention was focused on
his aim point during weapon trajectory. He did not target the bus and
there was no intention to harm civilians, and any loss of innocent life is
regretted.


Serbian force infrastructure was struck, including the Novi Paza and
Pokupulia ammunition depots. The following slide is an expansion of the
military infrastructure struck in Kosovo. These targets included the
Besinya and Djakovica storage areas and the military facilities at Pec,
Nujana and Vranja.


And with this slide I end my operations up-date for you. Thank you very much.


FREDDIE:
Both my questions to Konrad. The first one concerns the statement that
there were rising levels of demoralisation. Can you give us some evidence
which indicates that? Question two concerns the location of the air
attacks against field forces seem to be connected with the area of UCK
activity, are these in face partially in support of the UCK?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
Concerning the first, I can only repeat what I have stated yesterday. We
have some confirmed and some unconfirmed reports of desertion. We have
seen reports from Commanders who brief their soldiers, if they were to
desert they will be shot. We have seen desertions from Kosovar Serbs, from
Voyvodina Serbs, from Montenegro Serbs who all didn't want to join these
Armed Forces and didn't want to continue that, but they are ordered because
they wanted to stay a normal military man and not looting and burning and
raping and whatever they were tasked to do. But I think Jamie has another
report.


JAMIE SHEA:
Yes, Konrad, if I could just come in there. I just want to draw your
attention to an interesting interview in today's … Zontag Newspaper with a
34 year old officer of the Serbian Army who is under the alias of Veran
Tesanovic, an alias of course because his identity has to be protected.
But he gives an account of the circumstances which induced him to desert
from the Yugoslav Army and to flee to Hungary where he is now in a refugee
camp. He makes it clear that he was given orders to kill people, he makes
it clear that he was given photographs of the people that he was meant to
kill, or to have killed, and he also makes it clear that many others in his
unit were equally sickened, as he was, by having to carry out this
appalling work under the direct orders of the Chief of the General Staff.
He says that since his desertion his family has been intimidated and his
wife has been beaten. So again it is only one story of one individual, but
I think it is nonetheless indicative that not everybody in the Yugoslav
Army is content to have to do this bloody work, quite frankly.


COLONEL FREYTAG:
On your second question, no there is no co-ordination between our air
campaign and the UCK, at least not from our part. But we have increased
our air activities, in this case supported by the good weather conditions.


FREDDIE:
Inaudible.


JAMIE SHEA:
Freddie, if I can add here just in amplification of what Konrad has said, I
understand that this morning there were some attacks along the Albanian
border near the border post of Morani and they of course were seeking out
Serb artillery positions which are not only firing against UCK positions
but are firing very close to where a large number of refugees are taking
shelter, posing a threat to refugees, in fact even some members of
humanitarian relief organisations very narrowly escaped injury yesterday
from such shelling, and of course they are violating the sovereignty of a
neighbouring country by firing over the border, so those are targets but
for those good reasons.


PATRICIA:
Colonel Freytag, in your military briefing when you were talking about Serb
ground activity you showed a photograph. I would like to know where that
photograph was taken, when and what its source is?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
I have to come with an answer later on. My people will give me an answer
on that.


ABC NEWS:
We are hearing reports that after yesterday's bombing of the bus in Lusane,
on the bridge, that a second vehicle that had arrived on the scene, an
ambulance evidently that had come to rescue the injured, was also hit by
NATO planes. Do you have any information about that?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
First of all, we did not bomb the bus, we hit the bridge and we will
probably have some details for you on this incident later on, but I want to
underline that we did not bomb the bus and we did not target the bus. I
have seen the video and on that video it shows much earlier another vehicle
passing the bridge and not being harmed at all. That is all I can say at
this moment.


DAG:
Just a couple of technical questions. On the videos, the artillery and the
tank looked remarkably exposed. Is there any possibility that they are
putting out dummies for NATO to hit? And on another chart you showed 6
SA6s were fired, only one of which was guided, what happens when they are
not guided, do they just sort of point them? And on the Lusane bridge, in
general would the risk of such incidents be less, or more, or about the
same if pilots were allowed to go down to low altitude before targeting
their targets?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
Let me start with the last question. I cannot talk about the altitudes
from which we attack our targets, I am not allowed to do that. When there
is an anti-air attack and it is not guided then it is just a lucky shot, as
we have had in several instances earlier. Only with the guided approach
the Serb forces could be somehow successful, but we have not seen, Thank
God, too much success in that. No, we do not target and we do not hit
dummies and I am sure that the briefers next week will have some hard facts
for you on what we have hit and what we have destroyed.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (CONTD)


QUESTION:
Colonel Freytag, first of all, are you saying that it was engine failure
that knocked down the F-16 and Jamie, could you tell us a little more on
this oil blockage plan? I understand the military plan is still with the
Military. Has it gone to them, have they sent it back?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
Yes, I repeat it was engine failure but as we of course are interested in
what caused the engine failure, we are still reviewing this incident. It
will be difficult because we don't have the wreckage, it is on FRY soil.
It is still under review.


JAMIE SHEA:
On the oil embargo, I think, as I'm always saying, we have to make a
distinction between the oil embargo and the "visit and search" regime that
NATO is looking into.


The oil embargo is up and running and is working well. As you know, it
came into effect yesterday following decisions by the European Union,
you've seen that the United States has also imposed very comprehensive
sanctions on Yugoslavia, other allies have also joined this oil embargo and
I've given you a list already these past days of as many countries are in
the European Union but which are not, also having joined the oil embargo so
most of those countries which before this conflict were shipping oil to
Belgrade have stopped doing so and this is going to have an enormous
effect. I can't obviously put a figure on it and I can't say that there
won't be certain leakages here and there but nonetheless this is going to
be a very significant drying-up of the oil tap and that's the most
important thing because if countries don't ship oil in the first place then
obviously that's going to be the most effective type of embargo that one
could consider.


As for the "visit and search" regime, we are still working on it and
there's nothing wrong in that. We'd rather do something that's going to
be carefully thought out, militarily effective and which will have the
political support of the largest numbers not just in the Alliance but
beyond, than rush into something which will be ill-thought-through and
which would not work so well so it has not yet gone to the Council - I
anticipate it will do so at the beginning of this week - but what has
happened is that the military authorities, having received some initial
political guidance from the political side of NATO, are going back to work
on a few other things. It's a complicated thing because we want something
of course that's going to be consistent with international law obviously,
something which is going to take account of the different status of
different countries that are involved in shipping in the Adriatic and
something of course which is going to have the widest degree of acceptance
in the international community so we will continue to work on this but this
regime is infinitely less significant than the fact that a great number of
countries, former oil suppliers to Belgrade or major industrial powers of
the world, have said: "Right! The tap is being turned off, no more oil is
going to get through!" This is going to make it first of all much more
difficult for Milosevic to get oil and it's going to vastly drive up the
price that he is going to have to pay on the black market per gallon for
the small amount that he might still be able to get his hands on so that's
what counts, it's the embargo. A "visit and search" regime could be a
reinforcement of that but the embargo first and foremost is what we want.


QUESTION:
Yesterday and the day before we were told there is evidence of the
intensification of the NATO air campaign, that there had been 600 sorties
flown in a 24-hour period. In the most recent 24-hour period, has that
rate of sorties or your measurement of intensification continued at the
same level, increased or decreased and if it has decreased, is that in
response to the Rev. Jackson's call for a pause?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
We have flown during the last 24 hours a bit more than 600 sorties.


JAMIE SHEA:
And so I think that answers your question.


COLONEL FREYTAG:
To be clear, when I said that I have not given and I am not authorised to
give you figures on how many strikes are in these sorties and only if we
would measure the total amount of sorties vis-à-vis the strikes could you
make a statement of decrease or increase and I told you we had an increase
in our strikes.


SAME QUESTIONER:
Is there by any measurement any decrease in the war effort on the part of
NATO in response to the Rev. Jackson's plea?


JAMIE SHEA:
I think Konrad can answer that better than I but if I may have a word, if
you look at the number of targets that were struck last night on Day 39 and
the very extensive number of locations throughout Yugoslavia where those
targets were engaged - and those strikes were not restricted to Kosovo -
then I think you have your answer.


We obviously congratulate the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the success of his
mission to release the three US servicemen, we share, as you can imagine,
the relief of the families to have those servicemen back among them but the
release of the three US servicemen does not constitute either the
achievement of the essential objectives of the international community nor
the end of the violence in Kosovo which goes on today with several thousand
more refugees having crossed the frontiers since we came in this morning
and so clearly the air operations are going to be linked to the achievement
of those five objectives and when they are achieved then we will stop.


I understand that the Rev. Jackson has some proposals that he is carrying
to President Clinton. I have no idea what those proposals are, I
understand there are four of them whereas a couple of days ago Belgrade
made seven proposals. For us the lucky number is five, this is the magic
number here, not seven, not four but five and you all know what those five
are and that's what we will want to see before we consider ending this
campaign.


COLONEL FREYTAG:
May I add a military view on it? The whole air campaign is under the
direct and close control of NATO's political leaders and SACEUR does not
have the liberty to escape from that and I think no-one would expect him to
escape from that.


QUESTION (PARKS NEWS):
According to the Rev. Jackson, it took about an hour for Mr. Milosevic to
decide to release the three POWs yet apparently there has not been an order
yet to remove the estimated 40,000 Serbian troops from Kosovo. Do you see
the gesture to release the prisoners as an olive branch or as a ploy to
influence American public opinion?


JAMIE SHEA:
I think what's going to influence American public opinion are facts, not
olive branches, facts not words. If President Milosevic can order those
three servicemen released in an hour, he can probably order his 40,000
troops out of Kosovo in an hour as well. Clearly, he can take decisions
when he wants to, he has just demonstrated that. He could also change his
mind when he wants to, we know that from the past and we have had another
illustration: a couple of days ago, President Milosevic was telling envoys
that those three servicemen would not be released and then suddenly today
they are released and I think that clearly shows that this is a person
totally able to change his mind and change direction if he wants to but
what he's got to understand is that the decision which is going to impress
us most is the decision to pull the troops out of Kosovo and accept the
conditions of the international community. We are interested in acceptance
rather than olive branches.



CHARLES:
On the POWs, is it mildly irritating to you at NATO to see the news agenda
being driven by President Milosevic as it seems to have been really in the
last 24 hours, the fact that most of the tv screens are full of news of
these POWs coming back and their progression through Zagreb back to the
United States rather than news of your air strikes from last night, does
that irritate you here at NATO?


JAMIE SHEA:
Charles not at all because for the families of those three servicemen,
seeing them being released is probably the best thing that's ever happened
to them in their lives and that is a happiness that we're happy here at
NATO to share. Because we have still not met our objectives, doesn't mean
to say that we do not welcome the fact that those servicemen have been
released, in fact they should never have been taken captive in the first
place as I've constantly said. But I think that on the tv screens over the
last few days - and I would like to say how much I acknowledge this because
you are the people responsible - the real story has continued to be shown,
the story of the refugees being once again pushed over the border, the
story of the recent accounts of massacres that we've heard about, the way
in which Belgrade came up with a 7-point proposal a few evenings ago which
fell far short of what the international community is demanding so if I can
say so, I think you're doing an excellent job of presenting all aspects of
this story in a fair way and I'm very happy to say that and to live with that.


ANTONIO:
A follow-up on what Charles just said. On the very same day that we have
the three American soldiers released, we have the pictures of the bus and
all the bodies. Do you think it is a coincidence or just another lesson
of strategy that we were not expecting because Milosevic has got the
initiative right now?


JAMIE SHEA:
Personally, Antonio, I do not believe that President Milosevic has the
initiative, I think that we have got it quite frankly and it's increasingly
evident that we have it because we are foreclosing with each passing day
the options that Milosevic has. He is coming up with proposals and plans
and he's seeing that NATO is united in saying nothing short of the five key
objectives, that we are not going to accept anything that falls short of
that and he knows full well that if he wants to gain the ears of the NATO
Alliance, he is going to have to come forward with something which meets
those five key objectives.


Secondly, he is seeing that despite the difficulties - which I readily
acknowledge - in this campaign and difficulties which are bound up with an
operation of this magnitude, the NATO Alliance is continuing, we're holding
together, we are not being diverted, we are not being distracted, we stay
on course day after day. I think he is also seeing that public opinion in
our member states although not enthusiastic - that's obvious about such a
campaign, how could public opinion be enthusiastic? - nonetheless accepts
the necessity of what we are doing and nonetheless believes that force has
to be used to stop force.


I think that whatever President Milosevic may say publicly or whatever his
colleagues in government say publicly, they know that they are losing this,
they know that it is only a matter of time and they have to seek some way
out, an exit strategy, that there is no alternative. I would not myself
be deflected by the surface turbulence on top of the water, I would look
preferably at the undercurrents below and I think those undercurrents below
are pointing in one direction and one direction only.



ANTONIO:
Jamie, do you consider this as being a coincidence because the first
information we had from Belgrade is that the POWs wouldn't be released and
after the accident with the bus there was an order from President Milosevic
to release them.


Colonel Freytag, you said - and we all believe - there was no intention to
target a bus full of civilians. However, the bus was targeted, the train
was before. Is there any other way to make these operations during the
night so that buses and trains are not targets?


COLONEL FREYTAG:
Let me repeat, we did not target the bus as we have not targeted earlier
the train. We target bridges and I am sure that the Serb authorities know
that these bridges are of extreme value to their lines of communications
and when they allow public traffic over these bridges, then they risk a lot
of lives of their own citizens.


JAMIE SHEA:
Antonio, I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, that is something
that you have to ask Milosevic. We are happy that those servicemen are
released but is there going to be a reward for Milosevic for doing that?
Clearly no, we have made that clear. The only thing that will stop NATO
is Milosevic accepting those five conditions, the sooner he realises that,
the sooner he will stop, the better for everybody but we are not going to
give him any kind of ray of light into thinking that somehow he can wiggle
out, he can escape rather like Houdini, the master escapologist, from
meeting those implacable non-negotiable conditions of the international
community.


QUESTION:
We also hear reports about some efforts of American congressmen in Vienna
and there must be some indication from Belgrade according to their reports
that Milosevic could be ready for any military armed force in Kosovo. What
is your ?????? , did NATO elaborate on that and how seriously is that taken
by NATO.


The other question is concerning this incident yesterday on Lujana (phon)
bridge. What is the number of casualties NATO has got, do you have any
information on that?


JAMIE SHEA:
Thank you for that question. If Milosevic is truly ready to accept an
international armed presence, then I hope that that is not something he is
going to keep to himself as the best guarded secret in Belgrade, I hope
that he will tell the world clearly and unambiguously that he accepts an
international armed presence in Kosovo.


Incidentally, in an interview that he gave to UPR and I understand some
American newspapers the other day, he spoke of this as an "occupation force
of Yugoslavia". It is not an occupation force of Yugoslavia, it's an
international security presence inside Kosovo, nowhere else and I want to
make that absolutely clear and it will certainly not be behaving when it is
deployed like any kind of occupation force. An occupation force is
normally something that represses the local population, we are talking
about something that is going to protect the local population and restore
their human rights to them. An occupation force is not something normally
which is welcomed by the local population whereas we know - and you heard
this from Mr. Schala and the other Kosovar Albanian leaders here just a few
days ago - that is something that they most ardently want so I would
therefore just like to clarify that.


Unfortunately, we haven't heard from Belgrade thus far that they are
prepared to accept an international armed presence. There was a
tantalising slip of the tongue by the Foreign Ministry just a couple of
days ago but that was immediately with the results that you know so as I
say, if this is indeed true let President Milosevic tell us and then we may
even begin to believe him but not until he says it publicly and commits
himself to it publicly as well but that is only one of the five conditions,
it helps but it is not in itself sufficient, the other four have to go too,
it is either all or nothing.


COLONEL FREYTAG:
On the casualty questions, when you see the hit of the bridge and how the
bus is running into it, you must assume that there were casualties if there
were passengers on board of that bus, at least the driver or some others
but we do not have any evidence about the casualties, we have only seen the
same pictures on tv as you have seen, we are not on the ground, we don't
know about the identity of passengers or of the casualties and we don't
know about numbers, that can only be verified on the ground.


(QUESTIONS IN FRENCH)


JAMIE SHEA:
(REPLY IN FRENCH)