EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Thursday, April 8, 1999-09:06CDT 

CRISIS NEWS BRIEFS

BELGIUM (EmergencyNet News) - NATO military sources said on Thursday that alliance aircraft conducted extensive missions over Yugoslavia in the past 24 hours, scoring successful strikes against ground forces in Kosovo, NATO . The sources, at NATO supreme headquarters in Belgium, said all manned NATO aircraft had returned safely, but allied forces were checking on reports that a pilotless surveillance drone had been shot down.

ITALY (EmergencyNet News) - A senior U.S. military official said that if three American soldiers are released by Yugoslav authorities to a Cypriot team on Thursday they will be taken to Greece and then to Germany. The official said that if a Cypriot mission to free the soldiers succeeded, a Greek commercial aircraft would take them to Athens and a U.S. military C-9 plane would then fly them to Germany.

ITALY (EmergencyNet News) - Albanian President Rexhep Mejdan called on Thursday for an international force led by NATO to enter Kosovo to help direct a return of fugitive ethnic Albanians to their homes. In an interview with Italy's left-wing daily L'Unita, Mejdani was quoted as saying that "without an intervention, be it pacifist or imposed with weapons, there can be no way for these refugees to return to their homeland."

From the ERRI Watch Center

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - It was a noisy overnight in Belgrade as NATO missiles hit the heart of the Serbian capital. Serbian radio reported what appeared to be a bizarre reversal of Serb forces' expulsions of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo during the last fortnight. The state-controlled radio said early Thursday that Albanians were returning to the shattered province following a meeting between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and moderate Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova at the start of the month. Many Kosovo Albanians say they believe Rugova is acting under duress.

NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said Milosevic could be hoping to use refugees as human shields in Kosovo or wanted to avoid pictures of a mass exodus being broadcast round the world.

A senior U.S. official said the United States had "credible evidence" Yugoslavia was continuing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo despite its declaration of a cease-fire.

NATO military sources in Belgium said Thursday alliance aircraft scored successful strikes against ground forces in Kosovo during extensive missions over Yugoslavia in the past 24 hours. All manned planes returned safely but allied forces were checking reports that a pilotless surveillance drone had been shot down.

Missiles hit a building formerly used as a Belgrade city command post by the Yugoslav army late Wednesday. Serbian state television said there were explosions shortly after midnight in the outskirts of Kraljevo, about 100 miles south of Belgrade.

A fuel depot was reported destroyed. Yugoslav media also said a power station was damaged.

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