*EPF105 03/22/99
TEXT: SOLANA, HOLBROOKE STATEMENTS AT NATO HDQS MARCH 22
(NATO Sec-Gen says "this is the moment of truth") (1130)
Brussesl -- NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said in a statement to the press at NATO Headquarters March 22 that this is "the last effort to bring peace to Kosovo without the need to use military force.
"As you know NATO has been committed from the very beginning to a diplomatic solution and has been working in concert with the Rambouillet process, but we think that this is the moment of truth.
"I would like to thank the efforts of Dick Holbrooke and I wish him all the best; but President Milosevic needs to know that NATO is ready. It's ready to act, if this last effort is a failure. I have nothing else to say."
U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke, on his way to Belgrade to meet with Slobadan Milosevic told reporters, "We are, as everyone has said, on the brink of military action. It is not too late to avoid it, but the window is narrowing. I do not want to leave you with the impression that we are optimistic....
"The resolve of NATO, the Contact Group, the European Union, the OSCE is clear. The idea that there is disunity is wrong," Holbrooke said.
NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark said, "If required, we will strike in a swift and severe fashion."
Following is the NATO text:
(begin text)
PRESS STATEMENT
NATO HQ
March 22, 1999
Secretary General Solana:
I would call today's the last effort to bring peace to Kosovo without the need to use military force. As you know NATO has been committed from the very beginning to a diplomatic solution and has been working in concert with the Rambouillet process, but we think that this is the moment of truth. I would like to thank the efforts of Dick Holbrooke and I wish him all the best; but President Milosevic needs to know that NATO is ready. It's ready to act, if this last effort is a failure. I have nothing else to say. Thank you very much.
Ambassador Holbrooke:
I thank the Secretary General and General Clark for the time they have taken. I just want to underscore, in addition to what we said at our previous meeting with Foreign Ministers Vedrine, Fischer and Cook, the following: We are, as everyone has said, on the brink of military action. It is not too late to avoid it, but the window is narrowing. I do not want to leave you with the impression that we are optimistic.
I do not want to leave you with the impression that we go to Belgrade with any enormous expectation that the consequences discussed by President Clinton, the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor yesterday can be avoided. We will do our best, but based on where we are today, the situation would lead to very serious consequences.
What I would stress also to those people, especially in Yugoslavia who may be able to hear our words unfiltered through distortion, are two things. The resolve of NATO, the Contact Group, the European Union, the OSCE is clear. The idea that there is disunity is wrong. The press understandably focuses on small differences, but those differences are very small and virtually gone. And secondly, I want to repeat, with regard to the Rambouillet agreements and particularly chapter seven, a chapter that addresses the international security force that would report to General Clark, this agreement and the NATO-led peacekeeping force that is provided for in it, are essential to plug the limitations of the October 12th agreement.
That agreement provided for the Kosovo Verification Mission but did not give it an enforcement capability or an armed capability. Those limitations which we discussed publicly with you at the time both in Brussels and in Belgrade have now led to the dangers you see and the events in Racak. Without an international security presence, the Kosovo Verification Mission cannot carry out it's mission, and that security presence would be at the invitation of the Yugoslav Government and it would preserve and protect both the Albanian and Serb communities and the other peoples of Kosovo. It has been deeply misrepresented in elements of the Serb media and I want to be clear on the eve of our trip to Belgrade where we will be in four or five hours, that what we are proposing and what was agreed to in Rambouillet on one side is in the interest of the peoples of both sides.
General Clark:
NATO forces are ready and prepared. Of course, we hope that what we're going to achieve is an agreement. There are some 10,000 NATO soldiers now in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They're prepared within a matter of a day or two, upon the completion of the agreement, the signature by both parties and the subsequent approvals, to enter into Kosovo and begin their work. On the other hand, we're also prepared should Ambassador Holbrooke's mission fail. We have some 400 aircraft. We have a number of naval vessels. We have plans that have been developed over months, weeks and refined days and hours ago. The crews are ready. The equipment is ready. We know what Serb capabilities are. We know what Serb vulnerabilities are. And if required, we will strike in a swift and severe fashion. Thank you.
Holbrooke:
May I just add one more thing. I'd like to add one more thing. Ultimately, the decision as to whether or not the severe and swift consequences that General Clark has just referred to, take place is in the hands of the Yugoslav leadership themselves. Let us be clear on this. The Yugoslav leadership will determine whether they have to face the air consequences of a continued refusal to discuss and agree to an international security force led by NATO. Secondly, none of us has mentioned a central point, and that was not a deliberate omission, so I want to clarify it. We are unanimously appalled by the intensification of the fighting on the ground, of the events that have taken place in Kosovo in the last few days and hours. If those continue and intensify, any -- I repeat any -- attempt to reach an agreement will be severely, presumably, fatally compromised by the on-the-ground situation. We are not -- and I cannot stress this too highly -- going to get caught in a "talk while fighting intensifies" situation in Belgrade. We are going to Belgrade under instructions from the President and the Secretary of State with the support of NATO and the European Union to talk, but not to talk while the fighting gets worse and the rampage continues. Thank you.
(end text)
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