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![]() Monday, April 19, 1999 Published at 11:28 GMT 12:28 UK ![]() ![]() UK Politics ![]() Blair stresses scale of 'ethnic cleansing' ![]() Nato insists its air strikes are working ![]() For the most recent developments on the Kosovo crisis covered by BBC News 24 click here
Serbia intends to force all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo and will leave a massive rebuilding task, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned.
But he stressed the enormity of the humanitarian tragedy he sees Nato fighting.
"Each renewed act of ethnic cleansing is for me just one more reason to stand firm, to insist this policy of racism and devastation will be defeated."
The prime minister said a great task of reconstruction would emerge from the debris of the conflict. Governments and organisations such as the EBRD would have a significant role to play, he said. Ground force 'panacea' rejected
"There is an inevitability of ground troops and that is why we've got 12,000 Nato troops in Macedonia at the present moment and why last week the prime minister announced that British troops would be augmented, because they will be required to get the evicted people of Kosovo back in safety and security," he said. "But an opposed invasion of Kosovo at the present time still stands by the judgement we made initially - and it would not provide an overnight panacea."
"I was in America with my opposite number at the weekend going over the facts and figures and we are confident that we are making our initial strategy work.
Later, speaking at the Ministry of Defence's daily briefing, he said that President Milosevic's forces were running out of fuel and ammunition and communication lines had been cut. The defence secretary said his opposite number in Belgrade would be "getting a cold feeling down his spine at the increasing devastation that Nato forces are inflicting on those of his country." Confusion on refugee deaths
Mr Robertson insisted there would be no cover up. Nato has admitted the tape it released of a pilot's debriefing, describing a raid, was not an account of the actual attack, but "something to illustrate what it's like for an F-16 plane to attack a target".
The former head of defence intelligence Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage said "a certain amount of ducking and weaving took place" in Nato's account of the incident. Nato spokesman Jamie Shea denied he had deliberately misled journalists.
"There may be some unanswered questions and that happens in conflict." ![]() |
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