EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Monday, March 29, 1999-17:02CST

CRISIS NEWS BRIEFS

ALBANIA (EmergencyNet News) - Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko said on Monday nearly 100,000 more refugees were on their way  from Kosovo as international relief groups scrambled to provide support for them. Western aid workers reported that some 75,000 ethnic Albanians had poured into northern Albania from Kosovo in the past three days.

BELGIUM/SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - NATO said Monday that five ethnic Albanian leaders had been killed in cold blood in the latest atrocity in Kosovo, and admitted it was racing against time to stop what it branded as Serbian ethnic cleansing. As thousands more refugees streamed out of Kosovo, Russia prepared a major diplomatic initiative to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis and bring an end to relentless NATO bombing raids on Yugoslavia.

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - Leaders of the ethnic-Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo and NATO intelligence analysts said on Monday that Yugoslav commanders have altered their tactics on the ground to thwart alliance strikes and terrorize the civilian population. They say Serbian forces are holding Kosovar men of fighting age in makeshift detention camps -- 20,000 at a stadium in the town of Pec -- and attempting to remove troops from harm's way by housing them in villages rather than exposed barracks.

WASHINGTON/SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - The White House said on Monday NATO had no intention of sending ground troops to Kosovo despite what it called a textbook case of "ethnic cleansing" by Serb forces against ethnic Albanians in the Yugoslav province.

From the ERRI Watch Center

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - NATO bombers pounded Serbia and Montenegro for a sixth day as thousands of ethnic Albanians fearing Serbian paramilitary "thugs" streamed out of Kosovo on Monday in what some are calling Europe's worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. It is estimated that about 25 percent of Kosovo's populace has now been made homeless since Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic launched the Kosovo crackdown 13 months ago.

NATO said that an ethnic Albanian leader, Fehmi Agani, was executed on Sunday. Agani, a close aide to ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and one of the negotiators at the failed Rambouillet peace talks, had just attended the funeral of a human rights lawyer. Four other prominent ethnic Albanians were also reported executed.

According to NATO, refugees were arriving at the Albanian border at the rate of 4,000 an hour on Monday, straining the already desperate resources of one of Europe's poorest countries. The Albanian prime minister appealed today to his countrymen to take in the refugees, most of whom were carrying their only possessions by hand.

People are being forced across the border after  being stripped of identity papers, even their car license plates, in an apparent effort to make it impossible for them to return to Kosovo. A NATO spokesman said: "It's almost as if their identities are being canceled out."

A United Nations relief agency said that some 80,000-100,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees have arrived in northern Albania, more than double the rate of a few days earlier. Thousands more headed west to Montenegro and southeast to Macedonia.

There were reports today that the city of Pec, in southwestern Kosovo was burning. Intelligence sources tell ERRI that Pec  has been substantially destroyed by the Serbs.

NATO spokesman Air Commodore David Wilby said the latest air attacks were against Serb and Yugoslav units involved in atrocities. As strikes got under way today, an A-10 "Warthog" ground-attack plane was seen taking off from Aviano Air Base, Italy. The A-10 is a low- and slow-flying tank-killer aircraft that could be used to strike Serb ground forces in Kosovo.

NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark said on Monday: "This is a campaign that is a long way from being over militarily. We knew it was not going to be a three- or four-day, one- or two-bomb affair."

Yugoslav authorities closed at least one crossing point into Albania for several hours today, erecting concrete barriers along the main road from the Kosovo city of Prizren to the Albania town of Kukes. It was unclear if other crossing points were also sealed. Along Kosovo's border with Yugoslavia's smaller republic of Montenegro, thousands of Kosovo

Albanians were trying to cross today. Police were charging $60 per car to allow refugees to cross. Incredibly, state-run Serbian television was heard today saying: "There is no humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo whatsoever."

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov rejected Western assertions that Serbs were carrying out genocide in Kosovo. He said: "The real genocide in Kosovo is happening as a result of the NATO action." He added that ethnic Albanian separatists were using NATO air strikes as a cover to attack Serb targets.

Demonstrations against NATO action in Yugoslavia tapered off today, after U.S. missions as far afield as Russia, Australia and Canada were rocked by protests over the weekend. Less violent rallies were reported in Romania, Greece and Israel.

By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - We don't know why, but the USAF A-10 Thurnderbolt, known better by its nickname of "Warthog," has many detractors in the Pentagon. After the Persian Gulf War, the A-10 was slated to be gotten rid of -- but like the B-52 it's still hanging around. Maybe some of the generals in the Pentagon don't like the plane because its so ugly.

The tank-busting bomber's stubby, no frills appearance does nothing to conceal the formidable firepower which military experts expect will now be turned on Yugoslav armored columns in Kosovo as NATO steps up its air attack on Serb forces. An estimated 20 Warthogs are based at the northern Italian air base of Aviano as part of a contingent of more than 130 U.S. warplanes being used in Operation Allied Force.

Who will ever forget what the Warthogs did to the fleeing Iraqis on the highway from Kuwait to Iraq at the end of the Gulf War? They turned a higway into a shootin' gallery.

The Warthog entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1976. It is specifically designed to attack Soviet-built tanks -- precisely what the Yugoslav army deployed into Kosovo is equipped with. The Warthog's main armament is a seven-barrelled 30 mm Gatling gun which can fire 3,900 rounds, each size a little smaller than a small soda can.   It is also fitted with free-fall bombs and forward-firing missiles and rockets mounted on pylons on the wings and fuselage. The two engines are mounted on the rear of the fuselage so they do not get in the way of the ordnance flow.

According to military aviation experts, the Warthog has excellent manoeuvrability at low air speeds and altitude. Unlike the supersonic F-15s and F-16s, they can loiter near battle areas for extended periods of time and operate below a ceiling of 1,000 feet. The Warthogs are also designed to survive direct hits from armor piercing and high-explosive shells.

Perhaps the Warthog will once again prove its usefulness in battle and the Air Force will consider keeping such a valuable asset to its air arsenal for a long time.

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