USA: PENTAGON KOSOVO PEACE DEAL PRESS BRIEFING
(9 Jun 1999) English/Nat The Pentagon says there are signs that Serb forces are making preparations to withdraw from Kosovo. But Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon stressed that no Serb troops have started moving or assembling for a pullout. He said U-S intelligence officials have seen a number of "indications" that the Serbs intend to withdraw. The Pentagon says NATO is making it clear to the Serbs that they will continue to attack Serb troops until they withdraw from Kosovo. Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon has confirmed that NATO B-52 bombers hit two Yugoslav Army battalions on Monday. SOUNDBITE: (English) "You know its very difficult for us to know the exact numbers of people injured or killed, they did hit a two battalion staging area on June 6. The staging area might be a two square kilometers each. So they hit two staging areas and there were some forces there, that was on June 6 and yesterday they hit some areas as well." SUPER CAPTION: Kenneth Bacon, Pentagon spokesman Bacon also said some other areas were hit on Tuesday as well. SOUNDBITE: (English) (Q: Do you think that an attack by the B-52's in an open area is in any case an overkill as this stage during these negotiations?) "We've made it very clear that NATO will attack, degrade, diminish forces until they agree to NATO's five conditions and we do not have yet an actionable agreement on that. We have an agreement in principal but not in action yet, and its very important I think for the Serbs and everybody else to understand that what we need here is a delivered withdrawal, not just a discussed withdrawal." SUPER CAPTION: (English) Kenneth Bacon, Pentagon spokesman Bacon said NATO hopes the Serbs will begin their withdrawal even before the Kumanovo talks are complete. But he emphasized that it was up to Belgrade to decide when it was ready to end the crisis. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I think we have to wait, I think we have to be cautious. We've crossed one more bridge and that bridge is coming up, the G-8 has produced both, Mr Ahtisaari has been to China to present, China is obviously one of the five members of the Security Council and the other is Russia and the other three are in NATO. Now the Security Council will at the appropriate time pass this resolution and that will have, I believe, after the military technical agreement has been signed, after the withdrawal has begun and after the bombing has been paused by NATO." SUPER CAPTION: Kenneth Bacon, Pentagon spokesman He said NATO would not suspend its bombing until the Serbs begin a verifiable withdrawal. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We are just beginning to see signs of preparation for withdrawal, we have not yet seen any withdrawal. As you know many times in the past the Serbs have announced they will withdraw only to do nothing. So, we have to I think till we see a clear, verifiable, signs of withdrawal before we pause the bombing and that's what NATO intends to do." SUPER CAPTION: Kenneth Bacon, Pentagon spokesman Bacon said U-S intelligence had detected signs that Serb forces in Kosovo are making preparations to withdraw from the Yugoslav province. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
