Reports of Massacres in Kosovo Spur Warnings

Shocked by reports of new massacres of women, children and old men in Kosovo, the United States and its allies warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday that he faces an imminent NATO military assault if he does not order a quick end to the crackdown in the separatist Serbian province.

“There is no grace period for Mr. Milosevic,” State Department spokesman James Foley said. “Everything . . . is in place for there to be military action if he doesn’t reverse course.”

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said his government, which assumes the presidency of the U.N. Security Council today, will call an immediate special session of the council to deal with the deteriorating situation in Kosovo. Cook also announced that the Contact Group--the six-nation consortium that coordinates peace efforts in the Balkans--will meet Friday in London.

NATO has been threatening Milosevic with military action for months. But the graphic reports of massacres near the villages of Gornje Obrinje and Vuciten may have tipped the scales toward NATO action.

“Most of those killed were women and children,” Cook said in a statement issued in Blackpool, England, where Britain’s ruling Labor Party is holding its annual meeting. “This was not an act of war. This was plain cold murder. There must be no impunity for such an act of ethnic hatred.”

In Brussels, North Atlantic Treaty Organization ambassadors held a hastily scheduled meeting Wednesday to discuss Kosovo, where hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have died in a Serbian offensive against ethnic Albanian guerrillas that began in February. Last week, NATO defense ministers called on the 16 member nations to identify military units they are prepared to make available for action in the crisis. Officials said airstrikes are by far the most likely option.

“NATO is in the last phases of its planning process,” Foley said. “And we believe that NATO is, for all practical purposes, prepared to act.”

More than 30 ethnic Albanians were reportedly killed at the two massacre sites, most of them either shot in the back of the head or with their throats cut. Of the bodies found at Gornje Obrinje, six were older than 60 and five were younger than 10.

Although the Yugoslav government denied responsibility for the killings, U.S. and allied officials said there is little doubt that the massacres were perpetrated by troops and paramilitary police from Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia. The population of Kosovo, in Serbia’s south, is 90% ethnic Albanian.

U.S. and NATO officials said the member governments must make the final decision on military action. But Foley said that a consensus appears to be building in favor of the use of force unless Milosevic changes course.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who discussed the crisis with Cook by telephone, endorsed Britain’s call for an urgent Security Council meeting today even though U.S. officials said NATO has adequate authority to take military action without an additional vote at the United Nations.

The council warned Milosevic last week to order a cease-fire, withdraw security forces from Kosovo and begin serious negotiations toward a return to semiautonomous government for the province. The resolution did not specifically threaten force if Yugoslavia refused to comply but was adopted under a provision of the U.N. Charter that permits military enforcement.

Diplomatic sources at the U.N. said the British are not expected to seek authorization for a military strike at today’s meeting. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to report on Kosovo to the council next week, and that could prompt further action.

U.S. officials conceded that a Security Council debate could be risky because it would give Russia a chance to exercise its veto. Although President Boris N. Yeltsin’s government has denounced Serbian atrocities, it has called for a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the crisis. Yeltsin faces internal political pressure if he acquiesces in NATO military action against Serbia, Moscow’s traditional ally.

The Communist speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Gennady N. Seleznyov, said the Duma will annul Russia’s post-Cold War charter with NATO “if a single missile falls on Yugoslavia.”

Even on Capitol Hill some lawmakers called for restraint.

“I am concerned that the president may once again be preparing to take military action without any dialogue with the Congress or the American people,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Once again, this president may be about to plant the flag of U.S. credibility that will lock this nation in another expensive, lengthy involvement without any clear discussion of U.S. vital national interest.”

Nonetheless, support for a tougher response seemed to be building at the United Nations. Swedish Ambassador Hans Dahlgren, who chaired the Security Council in September, appeared indignant Wednesday at the Serbian disregard for last week’s council resolution.

“We don’t do this just to have something on paper; we expect results,” he told reporters. He added that if military action is approved, Sweden will seriously consider participating.

France, another veto-wielding Security Council member, joined in calling for firm action. The Foreign Ministry said it “again stresses the seriousness of the situation and confirms that all options, including military ones, remain open to face it.”

Annan sharply condemned the slayings and implied that Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic lied to him about the issue Tuesday.

In a statement that was unusual for its blunt and undiplomatic language, Annan’s spokesman said the secretary-general “is outraged by eyewitness accounts of atrocities perpetrated by security forces in Kosovo under the authority of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. These reports are particularly shocking to the secretary-general in light of denials received from the foreign minister of [Yugoslavia] . . . that such actions were taking place.”

Kempster reported from Washington and Turner from the United Nations.