Ian Black in London, Stephen Bates in Brussels and Ian Traynor in Bonn
Nato’s war with the Serbs was poised to escalate into a new, intensified phase after a mediation mission to Belgrade by Russia failed to achieve a breakthrough when Western leaders rejected out of hand a six-point peace plan.
As thousands of ethnic Albanians flooded across the borders of Kosovo, burnt out of their homes by the largest act of ethnic cleansing yet perpetrated by Serbian paramilitary forces, the West, on Tuesday, decisively rejected a demand by the Serb President, Slobodan Milosevic, to stop the air campaign as a condition for the partial withdrawal of his troops from the province.
President Bill Clinton said that the Nato allies were “united in outrage” over Serb atrocities in Kosovo and vowed the allied air war would continue. “We are determined to stay with our policy,” Clinton said.
“If there was ever any doubt what is at stake in Kosovo, Milosevic is certainly erasing it by his actions,” he added. “They are the culmination of more than a decade of using ethnic and religious hatred as a justification for uprooting and murdering completely innocent peaceful civilians to pave Milosevic’s path to absolute power.”
Britain was equally terse in its rejection of the Milosevic offer. A representative for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “It’s action, not words, that counts. He knows what he has to do.”
The precise contents of Milosevic’s six-point plan were not known at the time of going to press. But his compromise proposals included a recognition by Milosevic that Serb forces would withdraw from Kosovo; a demand that Nato air strikes stop before Serbs withdraw; a statement that Yugoslavia still wants a peaceful settlement; the insistence that Nato stops backing the Kosovo Liberation Army; and the concession that “peaceful” ethnic Albanians who have fled across the borders would be allowed to return to their homes.
“I could find nothing substantive in these proposals … It is no basis for a political solution,” said Chancellor Gerhard Schrder of Germany after brief talks with Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on his mediation mission to Belgrade.
Primakov arrived in Bonn on Tuesday night to inform the European Union through Schrder of the outcome of his six hours of talks in Belgrade with Milosevic.
Some observers believe the Serb proposal is an attempt to split some members of Nato, who are uneasy about the bombing campaign, away from the United States and Britain.
In a dramatic appearance on state television news, the Yugoslav president said: “To open up a space for political solution, the aggression on our country must cease immediately. From our side, as a sign of sincerity of our efforts to solve the problems of Kosovo peacefully, the Yugoslav leadership will accept the Russian proposal that after the cessation of bombing … [it will] begin decreasing the presence of part of its forces that are in Kosovo.”
Western sources said his conspicuous failure to mention the Rambouillet peace deal on autonomy for Kosovars and guaranteed by Nato-led troops, was a further sign of bad faith.
Last October Milosevic agreed to reduce his forces to levels agreed with the US Balkan envoy, Richard Holbrooke, but he never respected the deal.
Diplomats had warned earlier of a move which might be “superficially attractive to the flakier members of Nato” – a clear reference to Greece and Italy.
As politicians talked, Nato was launching air attacks around the clock.
Diplomats said they had reliable reports that Serbian forces, backed by armour and artillery, had launched a three-pronged attack on a valley in central Kosovo where 50 000 Albanian refugees are believed to be sheltering.
Jamie Shea, Nato’s chief representative, said there were reports of hundreds of inhabitants fleeing in a forced march from the southern town of Prizren towards the Albanian frontier.
He said: “This is something we have not seen since the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh in Cambodia in the 1970s.
“The humanitarian situation is now becoming critical. This is a disaster of enormous proportions.”
Latest United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates suggest that a third of Kosovo’s population – nearly 600 000 people – had fled their homes. Aid agencies estimate 150 000 have entered Albania, nearly 23 000 Macedonia and 42 500 Montenegro, which is still part of the Yugoslav republic.
Albanian sources said Serbian forces have ringed Pristina with heavy armour and tanks, cut all access to the city of 250 000, and are systematically driving civilians from their homes.