U.S. Cites New Serb Atrocities

By Anne Gearan
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, April 17, 1999; 2:36 a.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration worked out details
of an emergency $5.9 billion budget request to pay for military and
humanitarian operations in Yugoslavia as it cited new, compelling evidence
of mass killings of civilians there.

The spending package will cover the cost of U.S. participation in the
NATO airstrikes and humanitarian relief for refugees from the besieged
province of Kosovo, said a senior administration official who spoke on the
condition of anonymity. The administration will formally present the
request to Congress early next week, the official said Friday.

At the same time, Defense Secretary William Cohen is expected to ask
President Clinton to approve the call-up of some 33,000 military
reservists, including up to 25,000 Air National Guard members in units
that fly aerial refueling missions.

Some civil affairs specialists from the Army Reserve also are likely to be
activated, military officials said.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin said evidence of
fresh atrocities inside Kosovo might explain in part an increase in the
exodus from the besieged Serbian province.

``There is ... evidence of mass killings and graves associated with those
mass killings,'' west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Rubin said.

He did not have precise information on the number killed but said it was
more than a few dozen. The location is different from one where mass
graves were reported last week, he said.

The new information, which Rubin called compelling, comes from refugee
accounts and independent sources he would not identify. It was turned
over to the international War Crimes Tribunal, where investigators are
compiling records that could lead to prosecution of Serbian officers.

At the Pentagon, officials disclosed that a Yugoslav Army officer was
captured by troops of the Kosovo Liberation Army on Tuesday night or
early Wednesday and turned over to U.S. custody in Albania on Friday.

The officer, said to be about 21 years old, is the first member of the
Yugoslav military to become a prisoner of war during the campaign.
Yugoslav forces two weeks ago captured three American soldiers near
the border between Yugoslavia and Macedonia and are holding them as
POWs. It wasn't known whether the United States would propose a
prisoner exchange.

Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said the
administration would probably ask for $3 billion to $4 billion for the
Kosovo campaign, an amount that many Republicans called inadequate.
Even the higher figure now being requested by the administration was
expected to generate opposition from some Republicans who see the bill
as a vehicle for dealing with longer-term needs of the military.

Some members of Congress are pressing for spending of from $10 billion
to $18 billion to beef up the armed forces.

Clinton defended the U.S. role in Kosovo during a fund-raising
appearance in Michigan. He asked how Americans would feel -- ``no
matter how many apprehensions you have'' -- if asked to explain ``why
we couldn't lift a finger to do anything about'' the crisis.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, meanwhile, broadcast a brief
message to the Serbian people to counter what she said were the
falsehoods of their own government.

``NATO has no wish to conquer your people and expand eastward,'' she
said. ``We have recognized Kosovo as part of your country. But our
nations cannot stand by while thousands of innocent people are killed or
driven from their homes.''

Albright's message was delivered in Serbo-Croatian, a language she
learned when she lived in Yugoslavia for a time as a child. It was
broadcast into Serbia via Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe and the
Voice of America.

© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press