World

Serbs Blast Kosovo Targets

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 2, 1999 / 8:48 AM EST / CBS

Yugoslav forces pounded Kosovo's border with Macedonia with tank and mortar fire Tuesday, pressing an offensive that has driven thousands more ethnic Albanian civilians from their homes.

Yugoslav forces have been hammering Kosovo with tank and mortar fire for days to control a strategic artery in the Serbian province, even as international officials struggle to contain the fighting before peace talks resume.

But in a political development that could boost international efforts to end the conflict, ethnic-Albanian hardliner Adem Demaci stepped down as political adviser for the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The influential critic of the U.S.-backed peace plan for Kosovo, which falls short of independence, said the KLA leadership "thinks they know more about politics than I do."

Demaci's departure may signal that guerrilla leaders will not abandon a pledge to sign a deal worked out last month in Rambouillet, France.

Elsewhere, the Serbian Media Center reported fighting Tuesday about 28 miles west of Pristina after KLA fighters attacked a military convoy near Klina.

In the south, Yugoslav troops and tanks have been massing at the border, and a bridge connecting Macedonia and Kosovo has been mined -- preparations either to prevent NATO forces from coming in or keep diplomatic monitors and refugees from getting out.

NATO has been building its troop levels in Macedonia in expectation of either sending a peacekeeping force into Kosovo to enforce a peace agreement, or extracting international monitors if a deal collapses and NATO carries out threatened air strikes against the Serbs.

The proposed peace deal -- partially worked out in talks last month in France -- aims to end a year of fighting between Serb forces and ethnic Albanians fighting for the independence of the 90 percent ethnic-Albanian province. Some 2,000 people have died and more than 300,000 -- mostly ethnic Albanians -- have been displaced by the fighting.

Negotiators failed to seal a deal during two weeks of talks at a chateau in Rambouillet, France. The deal would give expanded autonomy to Kosovo, but not independence. Another peace conference is scheduled to kick off on March 15.

Meanwhile, hundreds of ethnic Albanians camping in the woods since fleeing fighting near the Macedonian border two days ago begged for help on Tuesday as shelling echoed around them.

"Everybody's forgotten about us," said Valide Shahini, whose 60-member extended family was camped out under plastic sheets on the side of a muddy hill.