Kosovo

As ethnic cleansing, killing and forced deportations of Kosovar Albanians by Serb forces continues, NATO is intensifying its air campaign against targets in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Allied operations will be pursued until President Milosevic meets the terms of the international community. Thousands of refugees continue to flow into neighbouring countries leaving behind their houses which have been destroyed by the Serbs. NATO is deeply concerned over the fate of the many thousands of displaced people inside the province who may be facing exhaustion from lack of food and water and are being used as an instrument of war.

Every possible effort is therefore being made by the Alliance and relief organisations to provide aid to the refugees who have escaped into Albania and in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)¹. Emergency camps erected by NATO forces in FYROM ¹ have been handed over to Non-Governmental Organisations. In addition, Allied troops, under Operation Allied Harbour, are deploying into Albania. Their main task is to provide support for the humanitarian crisis and in particular to relieve overcrowded refugee camps.

The Alliance continues to work closely with all the neighbouring countries and has agreed to support a comprehensive approach to stabilise the region looking beyond Kosovo. These ideas will be explored further during the Washington Summit.