MACEDONIA: OSCE UPDATE : MONITORS TOLD TO LEAVE KOSOVO

Описание: (20 Mar 1999) English/Nat

Most of the international monitors stationed in Kosovo have started to leave the troubled province for neighbouring Macedonia.

The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ordered their pull-out after peace talks in Paris failed.

NATO is considering launching air strikes against Serb forces and it was feared any monitors left in Kosovo could be taken hostage.

However, the departure of the one-thousand and 380 monitors - the world powers' eyes and ears in Kosovo - could result in a flare-up of violence in the province.

International monitors continued their withdrawal from Kosovo on Saturday, clearing the way for possible NATO airstrikes to punish Serbs for their refusal to endorse a peace plan for the province.

The evacuation, which began before dawn, appeared to be proceeding without problems, but in a sinister sign of what lies ahead it passed a Yugoslav convoy of about 30 vehicles, including tanks, armored vehicles, and trucks carrying anti-aircraft guns, heading westward from the Pristina area.

NATO has about 12,000 troops in Macedonia to evacuate OSCE monitors if necessary.

But, so far they are just assisting the evacuation by providing them secure and safe arrival in Macedonia.

SOUNDBITE (English)
"Our mission here today is to assist the O-S-C-E- verifiers from the Macedonian border, if they need any medical assistance or any road traffic assistance. We are also setting up a processing centre in down town Skopje in a hotel and we are just trying to assist them if they have any needs."
SUPERCAPTION: Eric Mongnot, NATO Extraction Force

It had been considered unlikely that NATO would launch airstrikes as long as monitors were in Kosovo because of fears they might be taken hostage as U.N. peacekeepers were
during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

About 1,400 monitors from 38 countries who were operating in Kosovo will be accommodated in various NATO bases and hotels aground Macedonia.

SOUNDBITE (English)
"They are coming in here and are being checked into Skopje, from here they will be travelling to various locations in Macedonia. There are 14 hundred people coming in here, so it's obvious that they all can't stay here. So they will be going to various hotels around the country."

Q: For how long are they going to stay, are the monitors going to continue with their work here?

" Many of them are going to work . Obviously a big part of them will be waiting for orders. We are planing to go back (to Kosovo), and we will be working on that"
SUPERCAPTION: Urdur Gunnarsbottir, press officer OSCE Kosovo verification mission

The departure of the monitors could lead to an escalation of violence.

The monitors were sent to Kosovo under an October 12 agreement between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke for a ceasefire, which began breaking down in December.

More than 2,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in a year of fighting between Kosovo Albanian rebels fighting for independence and government forces.

Despite Western threats, the Serbian government remained firm in rejecting the peace plan, calling it an American-Albanian attempt» to breakaway Kosovo from
Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic.

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