KOSOVO: Day 24

	April 16, 1999
	Correspondent Spencer Michels provides a summary of the latest NATO actions against Yugoslavia and related matters.

MARGARET WARNER: On day 24 of the war over Kosovo, the refugee flood resumed. The Pentagon said it expects to activate 30,000 reservists, and NATO missiles and bombs pounded Yugoslav targets around the clock. Spencer Michels has our summary of the day's events. SPENCER MICHELS: The flow of refugees entering Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro is increasing dramatically, according to the International Red Cross. That group says up to 51,000 refugees poured across Macedonia's three border posts overnight, taxing aid agencies in the region. And an estimated 100,000 new refugees were believed headed for Macedonia. ARBEN CAMI, International Medical Corps: The people are very tired. More of them are children and old woman and some of them, they was forced to left the hospitals in Kosovo. And they stopped the medical treatment. And, you know, without food and without shelter, everything is going to be worse. SPENCER MICHELS: These refugees fleeing into Montenegro faced harsh terrain in the snowbound mountain passes where spring weather has yet to arrive. The UN Refugee Agency accused Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic of wanting to empty Kosovo of those who remained among the original 1.8 Million ethnic Albanians. Kris Janowski is spokesman. KRIS JANOWSKI, UNHCR Spokesman: The expulsions of the Albanian ethnic population from Kosovo have now resumed with full force. We have got people streaming into northern Albania. As we speak, there are trains and buses arriving in Macedonia, there are also record numbers of people arriving in Montenegro. We spoke to a young woman late last night who she said she saw the entire city center of Kosovska Mitrovica burning and she saw 50 bodies lying on the streets. So from these bits and pieces of information, we can tell that terrible things are happening in Kosovo, and the brutality of the expulsions, as well as the scope of the expulsions is picking up. SPENCER MICHELS: At the State Department, Spokesman James Rubin said that refugees and other sources have provided new evidence of significant numbers of mass grave sites. JAMES RUBIN, State Department Spokesman: In West Central Kosovo, west of Pristina, there is a set of evidence of mass killings and graves associated with those mass killings. We are working with the prosecutor on this new information and we are hopefully, if possible, going to be able to release it in more detail, but this new information about mass killings in Kosovo is another example of the fact that president Milosevic's policies are aimed towards killing civilians. SPENCER MICHELS: Rubin also said evidence shows that Serbian forces have damaged or destroyed more than 400 villages and towns in Kosovo, 45 of them in the last week to ten days. In the bombing war, NATO said today its planes hit targets throughout Yugoslavia, knocking out several tanks and artillery sites. A NATO spokesman said because of the successful air strikes, it was one of the best nights in the campaign. And at the Pentagon, Major General Charles Wald played 14 tapes from last night's attacks on targets in Serbia and Kosovo. CHARLES WALD, US Air Force: F-16 continued to take down all their aircraft, as well as their integrated air defense, sustainment airfields. That's not a decoy, as you'll see in a moment, a lot of fuel in it. So that's destroyed. SPENCER MICHELS: Serbian TV showed NATO missiles hitting a refinery in the Serb City of Novi Sad. A military barracks in the area was also hit, and there were pictures of civilian buildings in the surrounding area that were damaged as well. Bombs hit another bridge over the Danube, southeast of the capital, leaving the mile-long structure impassable. NATO officials were peppered with questions again today asking for clarification of Wednesday's mistaken NATO attack on a convoy in Kosovo, resulting in what the Serbs said were 75 civilian deaths. These pictures were taken under the strict control of the Serbian Media Center. Some reports had more than one attack. There was confusion over the exact location and over whether western reporters had been shown the actual attack site by the Serbs. JAMIE SHEA, NATO Spokesman: I find it absolutely impossible to believe that you know nothing about the six-mile stretch of road with, for some reason, blown-up tanks and bodies on that road. SPENCER MICHELS: Spokesmen said they could add nothing to their previous comments that a NATO plane had hit a civilian vehicle and neither could they provide video from the plane. Shea said it was time to move on. JAMIE SHEA: NATO puts its setbacks behind it, and this is what we have done and are going to continue to do. We are not going to be blown off course. We are keeping our eye on the main issue, which is that Milosevic has to be stopped. SPENCER MICHELS: At the NATO briefing, General Marani said the vehicle hit was probably a tractor, but the questions kept coming. REPORTER: The General is saying that, you know, there was probably a tractor, but in the voice of the person that you told us is the voice of the pilot, yesterday, he clearly said that he saw with his own eyes -- the expression was eyeballed, three olive green military armored vehicles, trucks, trucks. And I -- how can you have tractors - I mean, tractors are not olive green. Most of them aren't. They are either bright yellow or bright green or red. Sure, if there was probably a tractor, you would know by now if there was one or not. Can you please clarify this? BRIG. GENERAL GIUSEPPE MARANI, NATO Military Spokesman: What I'm telling you is based on other means of investigation that were surely not available to the pilot when he dropped the bomb -- and when he recognized what was on the road as tractors -- sorry as trucks. SPENCER MICHELS: NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea claimed today the Kosovo Liberation Army is getting stronger in its civil war in Kosovo. Shea said the Serbs probably didn't expect harassment by the KLA. JAMIE SHEA: Like a Phoenix which rises from the ashes, the Kosovo Liberation Army is able to mount a number of attacks still inside Kosovo. And of course, as NATO depletes the assets of the Serb armed forces, there will be more and more scope for those attacks by the Kosovo Liberation Army to be stepped up, with greater effectiveness. So the Serb armed forces are in something of a vice, and that vice will tighten as the days progress. SPENCER MICHELS: Potential KLA recruits from Albania and other parts of Europe are reportedly gathering near the Albania-Kosovo border. That has prompted local residents fearful of more shelling attacks from the Serbs to call for a NATO presence in the area to protect them. Today a five-hour gun battle erupted between Serb and Albanian forces according to Albanian officials. At the Pentagon this morning, Defense Secretary William Cohen confirmed reports that within the next few days, he'll trigger the first call-up of military reservists and National Guard units for duty in the Balkans. The troops reportedly are needed in large part to support the additional 300 aircraft requested by NATO this week. WILLIAM COHEN, Secretary of Defense: I'll be meeting with the chairman and others during the course of the next couple of days to evaluate what would be involved in term of the call-up. But certainly there will be some the exact number I can't identify right now. We still have some examination to go through. SPENCER MICHELS: Cohen did, however say the call-up would be substantial. Some reports have put the figure at more than 30,000. By comparison, a quarter of a million reservists served during the Persian Gulf War. Some of those troops participated in bombing missions- but for the most part, they flew the support aircraft, providing in-flight refueling and overhead radar information as well as maintaining aircraft on the ground.