Press Conference

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mesdames et Messieurs bonjour,

Nous venons de terminer une réunion très importante des Ministres des Affaires étrangères alliés, que nous avons entièrement consacrée à l'examen de la situation au Kosovo.

La crise du Kosovo constitue une étape décisive dans la définition de notre vision d'une nouvelle Europe au sein de laquelle les droits de l'homme, les valeurs démocratiques et l'état de droit prévaudront.

Aujourd'hui, nous avons évalué la situation au Kosovo et les progrès que nous avons faits dans la conduite de l'opération "Force Alliée". Tous les pays de l'OTAN ont exprimé leur indignation face au nettoyage ethnique entrepris par les forces de sécurité yougoslaves au Kosovo et aux expulsions forcées d'une grande partie de la population.

Nous avons rappelé notre détermination à mettre un terme à ces pratiques barbares. Le dépeuplement systématique du Kosovo ne pourra perdurer. Le nettoyage ethnique sera stoppé et la paix sera finalement rétablie au Kosovo. Nos opérations aériennes se poursuivront aussi longtemps que nécessaire, jusqu'à ce que nous ayons réussi à convaincre le Président Milosevic d'accepter nos objectifs.

Let me briefly remind you of these objectives:

• the first: a verifiable stop to all military action and the immediate ending of violence and repression;
• the second: the withdrawal from Kosovo of the Yugoslav army, the military, the police and the paramilitary forces;
• third: the stationing in Kosovo of an international military presence;
• the fourth: the unconditional and safe return of all refugees and all the displaced persons;
• the fifth: the credible assurance of Milosevic's willingness to work on the basis of the Rambouillet Accords towards a political solution for Kosovo in conformity with International Law and the Charter of the United Nations.

Let me say that our air operations are taking a heavy toll of President Milosevic's army and security forces. We are tightening the screw on those forces in Kosovo which are responsible for repressing civilians. Our operations are effective. They are being carried out according to the moral and professional standards that you would expect from NATO. We have lost no pilots and we have kept collateral damage to a minimum.

We have the political will and the resources to maintain our military pressure until Milosevic backs down. But once again, I would like to stress that NATO is not at war with Yugoslavia. Our quarrel is not with the Yugoslav people but with a government and a military force that are abusing their people in violation of all accepted norms of human rights.

I'd like to state also that the Allies, the Ministries, condemn the immoral use of refugees by Belgrade as a means of destabilizing other countries in the region. We are determined that this tactic shall not succeed - and it has not succeeded.

As you know, we have held consultations with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. We have assured these countries that we will respond to any challenges by Yugoslavia to their security stemming from the presence of NATO forces and their activities on their territories.

At the same time as you know we have mobilized our military resources to assist the international humanitarian relief operations in the region. NATO forces in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have constructed emergency accommodation for refugees and have provided substantial care for them. NATO troops as you know are also being deployed to Albania to support the humanitarian efforts there and to assist the Albanian authorities in providing a secure environment for them.

But as we deal with one humanitarian challenge, we are also aware that there is another - dramatic - the one inside Kosovo itself. We are deeply concerned at the fate of all the displaced people there in Kosovo who as you know are facing hunger and exhaustion. This is another major humanitarian crisis in the making and we are urgently considering whether there are ways in which we might be able to help.

It is Milosevic who has caused this humanitarian crisis. He planned it and started to carry it out well before NATO took the decision to act. However, NATO has been in the forefront of international efforts to solve this humanitarian crisis. NATO is not only trying to stop Milosevic's brutality. We have also taken care of his victims. We will not forget these inhumane acts. Milosevic and his commanders will be held accountable for their actions.

Today we also expressed concern regarding once again the situation in Montenegro. We have reaffirmed our support for President Djukanovic. And I would like to stress again that any move against him and his government will have grave consequences for President Milosevic.

Let me finally say that it is important that at this point we begin to look beyond the crisis in Kosovo. The countries of the Former Yugoslavia and their neighbours must be brought into the European mainstream.

They must be able to enjoy the same peace, the same security, the same prosperity as the other countries of Europe.

The years of confrontation must come to an end in this part of Europe, in southeastern Europe, or there will be no future for its peoples.

Today we confirmed that we will play a full part in a comprehensive approach to stabilize this region. Such an approach which should address the political, economic, security and humanitarian aspects must involve a number of institutions but let me say that NATO will have its role to play. There are as you know already several initiatives from the EU and also from individual Allies. We will see how we can use the resources of our Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the model of the Partnership for Peace to make NATO's contribution.

A democratic Yugoslavia - whose people have a normal relationship with their neighbours in the Balkans - will have an important place in this vision.

So let me just finish by saying the message from this meeting today is clear: Milosevic is losing and he knows he is losing.

NATO is united. We have justice and right on our side. We will prevail. That is the message from the meeting today of all the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from the Allied countries.

Questions & Answers
Charles (NBC): Can I go back to the five preconditions for the end of the air strikes which you spoke about and which are outlined in the communique and what seems to me a subtle but significant difference in two of them to what we've been hearing from yourself and other Alliance leaders up until now?
You said Milosevic must ensure the withdrawal from Kosovo of the military police and paramilitary forces. The word "all" is not used in there as it has been in the past; and secondly, he must agree to the stationing in Kosovo of an international military presence - the words "NATO-led" are missing from that one.

Does this indicate a shifting of the ground on your position?

Secretary General: No, no, no. The position is the same, the manner in which they have formulated the five conditions is the same that has been repeatedly reported by Ministers and Leaders of the Alliance for many weeks but they should not be mistaken; the philosophy of the four points and in particular the two you have mentioned are clear, troops may ???? and as far as the second point that you have raised, I would like to say the NATO countries, which without any doubt will be the most important contributors to any force deployed in Kosovo, will not be prepared to be deployed with any other scheme than the scheme in which they are prepared to work and that is the scheme of NATO. The label may be something different but the scheme really on the ground for the countries that would be the most important contributors, no doubt about that, which are part of NATO, that will not affect any other scheme of deployment, the channel of command is structured and they know very well and it has worked well also in Bosnia. Remember that in Bosnia the force which is employed now in Bosnia is called SFOR, it doesn't have the NATO name but as you know very well, the commanding structure whereby the majority of the countries deploy their forces is a NATO structure.

James Robins (BBC): Secretary General, if I could follow up those points specifically, are you saying to us that President Milosevic must still withdraw his entire military police and paramilitary forces, there is no place for any of his security forces to remain in Kosovo? And on the point you've just touched on, can we assume from the wording about agreeing the stationing in Kosovo of an international military presence, that it would be possible that the NATO component of such a force would not necessarily be in the majority and that NATO soldiers, as has happened occasionally in the past, would find themselves under the command of other soldiers who were not from the Alliance?

Secretary General: OK. The points that I have mentioned, the five points, as you remember, have also ??????? on the basis of the Rambouillet Accord. You remember very well the content of the Rambouillet Accord about the withdrawal of troops. We are going beyond that point because we think that if we want to guarantee the return of refugees the situation on the ground must be such that the refugees will have the guarantee, the security, that they can return. I would like to underline very much, very strongly, that reversal of the situation, the return of refugees is a basic commitment of the international community.

The second thing that you mentioned about troops, I cannot imagine a situation in which the NATO countries which are in theory and in practice the countries that can deploy the most important contributions probably to that force will be in a minority, I cannot imagine that. I can imagine a situation like the SFOR in Bosnia in which at a point you will remember more than 30 countries had forces deployed in Bosnia, I can imagine that with countries that belong to the ??PC or to the PFPS scheme, countries that belong to the European geographic context and other countries that may be prepared to do it as we did in Bosnia but that is a scheme, don't misinterpret what is said there. As I said before, the NATO countries that will be without a doubt the most important contributors would like to deploy their forces through the mechanism they have and the mechanism they have is the command structure of NATO.

Patricia Kelly, CNN: Secretary General, on your security guarantees for the surrounding country, especially Albania which has allowed NATO to more or less take over its air space, its ports, are those security guarantees NATO is offering the same as NATO nations enjoy under article 5 first of all; and secondly, can you be absolutely clear that if NATO troops go into Kosovo at any time, there will be no dual-key command?

Secretary General: On the first question, of course the security guarantee will be exactly the same as the guarantee that the NATO countries do have but the difference will be very slight. Any problem that those countries may have stemming from the presence of NATO troops on the ground will be taken with the utmost concern by the Alliance and therefore the response will be very strong and very rapid but of course, they are not members of NATO and article 5 would not apply to them but very close to that.

On the question about dual-key, I think the experiences we have had already about this mechanism in the history of NATO in this new phase that goes to 1990/1995 and even before with the experience in Bosnia, do not suggest that a sort of dual-key is an efficient manner of working but let me take some time - a few days - before I answer in a more precise manner that question. At this point, that is what I think and I think that is what the countries that belong to the Alliance think with me.

Christian Unteanu, Romania: Vous avez parlé, M. le Secrétaire général, d'une approche compréhensive de la situation des Balkans. Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire exactement, et quel sera le rôle exact de l'OTAN dans ce nouveau type de situation ou de solution politique?

Secretary General: Je viens de dire que la préoccupation est pour la stabilité de la région, c'est une priorité pour tous les pays de l'Alliance et pour tous les pays de l'Europe, de l'Union. Comme vous savez, la réunion - le Conseil des ministres de l'Union européenne - il y a quelques jours, il y a trois, quatre jours, ont décidé de préparer un plan de stabilité pour la région. Je crois que c'est une idée très, très positive, très créative, mais nous pensons que l'OTAN peut aussi aider à ce processus. Il y a des composants économiques, des composants de commerce, etc, mais il y a un composant aussi de la sécurité, et je crois que l'OTAN peut contribuer d'une manière très importante et de façon très significative à travers des programmes que nous avons : parténariat pour la paix, etc, parténariat pour .....force et je crois que l'occasion....au Sommet à Washington qui aura lieu dans quelques jours il y aura une initiative probablement pour faire en sorte pour créer un programme de stabilisation du point de vue de sécurité dans la région, c'est...............je crois que c'est très positif pour considérer une programme sur la région qui va au delà de la crise aujourd'hui. Je crois que nous aurons............siècle avec un programme créatif, important .........économique, politique, commerce, etc., mais aussi du point de vue de la sécurité.

Question: M. Solana, vous demandez à M. Milosevic de travailler et de....volonté de travailler sur base de l'Accord de Rambouillet. Qu'est-ce qu'il faut changer dans cet accord s'il faut changer quelque chose et est-ce qu'il y aura des nouvelles négociations encore une fois à propos d'une solution politique?

Secretary General: Oui, l'accord de Rambouillet , c'est un accord signé par la partie Kosovar mais après les événements des dernières semaines je crois que l'accord de Rambouillet ne sera pas l'accord final, mais je crois que nous devons utiliser - ou les négociateurs devront utiliser - l'accord de Rambouillet ...le début ....négociations ultérieures.

Bill Drozdiak (Washington Post): Mr. Secretary, given the kinds of atrocities and terrible things that have happened in Kosovo, it seems almost unthinkable that the Kosovar Albanians if and when they are allowed to return to their homes, would be able to live or be willing to live in a Serbian state. From what you are saying today, you are reaffirming that autonomy within Serbia still remains the goal of the NATO Allies. If you are asking for the removal of all Serb troops and forces, however, that seems to call into question Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. How do you square that contradiction?

Secretary General: I'd like to square that in the following manner: I think the most important concern we should have at this moment is to guarantee the return of refugees, that should be the most important commitment that the international community should have at this point so the whole emphasis should be placed on the possibility - not only the possibility - the guarantee, the commitment -that it will be a reversal of the situation.

In order to achieve that, there is no question that from the very beginning the forces will have to be withdrawn and the negotiators will have to work out whatever is the scheme - and whether scheme will be NATO, the Contact Group, I don't know what - but the scheme that is achieved at the end may take some time to be achieved, to be terminated but in that period of time, if we want to begin to reverse the situation and to allow the refugees to return, two things have to take place - the withdrawal of the troops and the implementation or the employment of an international troop that guarantees the security of these people.

Nick Mackie (Deutsche Welle): Two clarifications please. Reading the statement regarding commandos and regarding President Slobadan Milosevic himself, are you saying that you will support any calls from the International Court to indict President Slobadan Milosevic and his commanders as war criminals?

Secretary General: This is an obvious question, it has an obvious reason, everybody has the obligation to comply with the International Tribunal.

Nick Mackie: And the second clarification is on the word "permissive". There is a lot of talk about when the environment is permissive then forces can be deployed to help refugees return. Can you help us clarify the word "permissive". Do you necessarily have to have a formal cease-fire in place before troops can move in to help the return of refugees?

Secretary General: Why don't you help me a little bit and don't ask me to qualify the word "permissive"? I think you understand what I mean.

Antoine Guillau, TF1: M. le Secretaire general est-ce que vous pouvez dire quel role vous voyez pour la Russie dans cette resolution politique ou diplomatique de la crise, que la Russie doit jour un role important et par ailleurs est-ce que l'OTAN n'est pas en train de se transformer au fil des jours en force humanitaire egalement.

Secretary General: Une partie de votre question implique bien la Russie. La rôle de la Russie à notre avis sera très important. Nous croyons - pas seulement moi-même - mais nous croyons que la rôle de la Russie doit être important. Comme vous savez demain Secrétaire Albright rencontrera à Oslo avec Ministre Ivanov. Ca sera suivi par d'autres rencontres avec des ministres de l'Alliance et je crois que ça sera possible dans quelques jours une reunion des ministres des affaires étrangères des G8 aura lieu donc pour incorporer la Russie à la solution du conflit. Tous les Alliés sont déterminés à faire tous les efforts pour avoir la Russie avec nous, mais cela dépendera de nous et aussi dépendera tout à fait de la Russie.

L'OTAN a accepté d'avoir des missions nouvelles, qui ont beaucoup de vecteurs, de composants...la composants d'établir la sécurité, la stabilité de la région, c'est tout à fait important et tout d'abord le premier, mais ensuite si'il y a des.... humanitaires, nous serons aussi prêt à aider, comme nous sommes en train de faire ici à Macédoine et aussi en Albanie, mais avant aussi en Bosnie. Ca ne sera pas la première fois que nous avons des engagements de caractère humanitaires, nous avons déjà fait en Bosnie et des autres occasions. L'OTAN est prêt dans la dimension, dans les limitations que nous avons à aider, mais c'est vrai qu'il y a des organisations plus prêt pour aider la question humanitaire - les nations unies etc.

Christopher: Mr. Secretary General, when you say that you support the return of the refugees to Kosovo, do you mean the return of the refugees immediately to their home towns in Kosovo or do you mean just back across the line into Kosovo territory? For instance, would you mean that immediately the people from Podujevo, north of Pristina, should be allowed to go back to Podujevo as an example?

Secretary General: They should be allowed to return to their homes but the international community has to make an effort, an important effort, to rebuild the houses and in the example you have given probably nobody will be able to return to that particular house because it has been destroyed so NATO and the international community have to put forward a programme so that these people can go to their homes and find a house or have to construct a house but the first and most important thing is they can return to their country.

Christopher: And to their home villages? I have the feeling that it will take time.

Secretary General: Sure, it will take time, no question about that.

Christopher: We are not talking about a situation where they would go into, say, an enclave in Kosovo and maybe some day in the future return?

Secretary General: No, no. Although, as you have said very intelligently, it may take time because the recuperation and the construction of the houses and all the towns will take time, this is the commitment that the international community has taken. That will not be the responsibility of NATO alone, it will also be the responsibility of some other institutions, of a scheme of the UN or World Bank etc. We will need probably immediately a donors' (?) conference to obtain the necessary forces so that a change in Kosovo from the humanitarian point of view and from the economic point of view can take place but this would not be a responsibility of NATO.

Christopher: But it would be all of Kosovo?

Secretary General: That is our wish, that everybody who wants to return could return. We cannot accept a change by force, of what de facto is a change of border by force.

Dominique Thierry, Radio France Internationale: Une clarification, M. le Secrétaire général, sur la force internationale qui assurerait la sécurité pour le retour des refugiés au Kosovo, n'y est il pas un changement à cette force et pourra-t-elle intervenir avant la signature d'un accord politique et est-ce qu'un mandat de l'ONU sera nécessaire?

Secretary General: A ce moment je ne peux pas répondre de manière précise à votre question. Je crois que ça sera nécessaire de déployer les troupes dès que possible pour faire ...pour commencer le retour des refugiés et la manière plus rapide que possible mais être plus précis à ce moment ça sera difficile....voir comment les choses se deroulent sur le terrain et des points de vue politiques aussi mais la disposition d'esprit c'est de le faire de la manière le plus rapide. Le mandat sera je ne sais pas si ca sera le mandat de l'ONU, vous savez il y a beaucoup de pays qui ........le mandat de l'ONU pour fermer les cadres de tous les processus de paix au Kosovo, c'est une question nouvelle, mais ....je crois que M. Annan a fait une déclaration très positive.......................que les différents pays de l'OTAN, je crois que c'est une signal très positive de la volonté des nations unies de faire un effort pour aider avec nous de résoudre le problème.

Carlos: Secretary General, if Mr. Milosevic does meet the five conditions, do you think he could be able to remain in power or do you think he soon leave anyway?

Secretary General: It is not for me to answer that question. There are other institutions and in particular the people of Serbia have to answer that question.

Pavel Bouda, Czech TV: Secretary General, we are now three weeks almost into the air campaign. Do you think that the prospects for a settlement of the Kosovo crisis are today better than three weeks ago when the operation Allied Force" started?

Secretary General: The question, if I understand it properly, was if we are today closer to solving profoundly the crisis in Kosovo than three weeks ago. The answer is yes, to solve profoundly the crisis in Kosovo, not superficially, profoundly, yes.