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Monday, April 26, 1999 Published at 11:56 GMT 12:56 UK


World: Europe

Nato tightens its grip

Apaches could go into action this week

Nato has warned that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic faces an intensified bombing campaign, an oil embargo and increasing isolation.


Mike Williams: "Draskovic is a man without influence in the conduct of this war"
The first sign of a split has also emerged within Yugoslavia, with Deputy Prime Minister, Vuk Draskovic calling on the state leadership to "stop lying to the people in Serbia and finally tell them the truth".

Nato has called on the forces of opposition in Serbia to rise up against the leadership.

Kosovo: Special Report
On Monday the International Committee of the Red Cross said its officials in Yugoslavia had visited the three United States soldiers who have been held there since last month when they were captured on the border with Macedonia.

And the last bridge over the river Danube in Yugoslavia was destroyed overnight by Nato strikes.

The attack in the northern city of Novi Sad - the capital of the Vojvodina province - left it cut off from one of its three regions, Srem.

Tanjug said a fuel depot near the central Serbian town of Valjevo was also targeted and nine missiles hit an airport in Sombor, on the border with Hungary. There were further reports of heavy bombing in and around Pristina.

(Click here to see a map of last night's Nato strikes)

Nato rounded off its weekend summit in Washington by warning that it would step in if Yugoslavia attacked its neighbours.


Katty Kay reports from the Nato summit: "Still no agreement on when or whether to use ground troops"
US President Bill Clinton said America would respond if Mr Milosevic threatened other countries in the region.

Nato spokesman Jamie Shea said: "In the region, Milosevic is all alone. He is a pariah in his own backyard. His neighbours are moving away from him."

Mr Milosevic has also been criticised from within his government by Vuk Draskovic, a former opposition figure, who joined the government of President Milosevic this year.


BBC's John Simpson in Belgrade: Just starting to see a more rational approach
In an interview with the private television station Studio B, he said the people of Yugoslavia should know the truth that world opinion was against the government's stance on Kosovo.

He said Russia was not going to help them militarily and that Nato was not on the verge of defeat.

A BBC correspondent in Belgrade, Michael Williams, says Mr Draskovic's influence is limited and he may be attempting to position himself for the coming months and years as the voice of moderation.

Montenegrin offer

Nato's plans for an oil embargo against Yugoslavia have led Montenegro to offer to allow international monitors to oversee oil imports into the country.

Montenegro - Serbia's partner in federal Yugoslavia - fears that a blockade could destabilise it and pave the way for a pro-Serbian coup.

The government admits oil tankers are getting through to the port of Bar on the Adriatic coast, but insists the fuel is for use in Montenegro not Serbia.

Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said monitors could control of the delivery and distribution of oil imports.

There has been some debate in Nato over how to apply an oil embargo. The French have said it should not be applied with force, but the Americans have suggested everyone will have to comply, including the Russians.

Russian peace efforts

However the US is also trying to maintain good relations with Russia and is attempting to show it is taking seriously Russia's attempts to broker a peace deal.


President Clinton: "Determined to intensify efforts"
President Clinton has sent his Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, to Moscow to be briefed by Russia's Balkans envoy, former Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Mr Clinton also spoke to Russian President Boris Yeltsin for more than an hour on the telephone.

He told the Russian leader that his involvement was constructive, and said he would stay personally engaged with him.

No talk of ground troops

The strongest message from the Nato summit was that the air campaign was being stepped up.

Over the weekend, Nato's Supreme Commander in Europe, General Wesley Clark, reportedly requested Washington to double the number of Apache attack helicopters to 48.

Divisive issues like the potential use of ground troops were avoided, although more Nato troops are due to go to the region, ostensibly to prepare the way for a future peacekeeping presence in Kosovo.

Refugees on the move

In Kosovo itself, 56 refugees are reported to have been killed by Serb forces in three villages in Lipljane.


[ image: Refugees in Macedonia are due to be immunised]
Refugees in Macedonia are due to be immunised
The United Nations aid agency, the UNHCR, said ethnic Albanian refugees arriving at the main Macedonian border crossing of Blace told aid workers that armed Serbs had swept through the villages, killing and raping as they went.

The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, is to start immunisation refugees in camps in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Monday morning, as fears grow that overcrowding could lead to the spread of major diseases.

Around 800 refugees have been airlifted out of Macedonia and taken to Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey.

Nato has said that 450,000-750,000 refugees remain displaced in the province.

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