BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic capitulated yesterday to most NATO conditions for an end to the bombing of his country, and officials in Washington said that NATO and Yugoslav military delegations could meet as early as today to begin planning the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.
After 72 days and nights of NATO airstrikes that have left his country devastated and his people weary and terrified, Milosevic caved in to demands brought by envoys from Europe and Russia. The most important of these was an agreement to allow NATO troops to form the core of a peacekeeping force that is to ease the return of up to 850,000 ethnic Albanian refugees to Kosovo.
But, mindful that Milosevic has reneged on past agreements, NATO leaders vowed to press on with the air campaign until there is a verifiable withdrawal of Serbian military, paramilitary and police units from Kosovo.
In Washington, President Clinton said he welcomed the news of the deal but added that "based on past experience, we must also be cautious."
Also sounding a note of caution was Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, the European envoy who presented the plan to Milosevic along with Russian envoy Viktor S. Chernomyrdin.
"Bear with me if I'm not jumping with enthusiasm, but there is a lot of hard work to be done," Ahtisaari said in Cologne, Germany, after briefing European leaders.
"The first step in building peace has been made," Ahtisaari said, and suspension of the bombing could occur "in a very few days."
After meeting yesterday with Clinton and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced that a military delegation will meet with Yugoslav counterparts "in the next several days" to hammer out the logistics of a Serbian pullout and the deployment of 50,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo.
A White House national security aide said last night that those first military contacts could come as soon as today, with a Serbian pullout beginning almost immediately thereafter.
"That will be the first sign if he's serious," the aide said of Milosevic. "The next 24 hours will be critical."
U.S. and European officials scrambled last night to prepare a resolution for a United Nations Security Council vote approving the arrangements hammered out by Ahtisaari, Chernomyrdin and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.
'A political breakthrough'
"We have reached a political breakthrough, peace is within reach and we are not going to let it slip through our fingers," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Authorities in Belgrade sought to put the best light on the document that could end the Kosovo conflict. They emphasized that the agreement recognizes Yugoslavia's "territorial sovereignty and integrity," and underscored the role the United Nations would take in establishing the peace.
"We are completely ready to fulfill all obligations," said Vuk Draskovic, formerly Yugoslavia's deputy premier. "We need to build up the reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians with the full support of U.N. peacekeepers."
Serbian outrage
Others, however, were outraged that Yugoslavia had endured so much destruction only to taste bitter defeat.
"It is a capitulation," said Dragan Vesilinov, a Serbian member of parliament. "Many people will ask, 'Why was this war needed?' "
Vojislav Seselj, Serbia's deputy premier, was outraged by the deal and led his Serb Radical Party in opposition to the agreement and withdrew his support for Milosevic's government.
"We voted against this deal because we believe that the withdrawal of our troops from Kosovo amid NATO criminal bombardment is unacceptable," he said.
Seselj added that his advice for NATO peacekeepers entering Kosovo would be to stay away.
"They won't feel secure down there," he said.
In many ways, Yugoslavia accepted the core of the provisions contained in the settlement brokered in Rambouillet, France, in March. That attempt to bridge political differences between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority went nowhere when it was rejected by Serbia, which objected to foreign troops in its historic and religious heartland.
Parliament backs deal
But yesterday morning, the Yugoslav parliament voted 136-74 to accept the agreement after a closed-door debate that lasted less than two hours.
The proposals seek to smooth over the war's traumas while providing a new start for Kosovo.
All Serbian troops -- believed to number about 40,000 -- must leave Kosovo under a fast and precise time schedule that is to include the withdrawal of air defenses. Eventually, hundreds of Serbian soldiers may return to fulfill such tasks as helping with mine clearance, guarding historic sites and securing border crossings.
Entering the province will be an international peacekeeping force under a U.N. mandate with a unified command and with NATO at its core. Russian troops will make up part of the force.
NATO has said its force will have 47,900 troops, including 7,000 U.S. soldiers.
The safe return of all refugees and displaced persons is guaranteed under the surveillance of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Humanitarian organizations must be given free access in Kosovo.
The document also envisions "substantial autonomy" for the majority ethnic Albanians of Kosovo. But there is no hint of independence, with Yugoslavia's territory and sovereignty guaranteed.
The ethnic Albanian rebel force known as the Kosovo Liberation Army would be disarmed.
'Verifiable deeds'
The coming days should determine whether Milosevic and the Serbs are willing to abide by the agreement, diplomats said.
"Verifiable deeds, not seductive words, are the only things that count in this conflict," said State Department spokesman James P. Rubin.
Unanswered questions
The peace accord's unanswered questions remain myriad, even to U.S. security aides who have been helping to draft the terms. It is unclear, for instance, whether Russian troops would patrol a sector of Kosovo largely independent of NATO command and control.
Advocates for the displaced Kosovar Albanians say such an arrangement would amount to a de facto partitioning of the province into separate Serbian and Albanian regions.
While the agreement envisions a small Serbian military contingent re-entering Kosovo after a complete withdrawal of Yugoslav troops, the shape of that force has yet to be worked out. Clinton administration sources envision a force of no more than 1,000 Serb troops -- possibly unarmed -- guarding religious and cultural sites. But Russian and Yugoslav officials may have a more robust force in mind that could guard border posts and possibly hamper the return of Kosovar refugees.
Kosovo's ultimate fate
And the ultimate fate of the province remains unresolved. The terms of the peace agreement stress that Kosovo would remain part of Serbia, and that the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia would be retained.
"Whatever we do cannot and must not exclude Kosovars determining their future, including the possibility of independence," said Ivo Daalder, a former Clinton adviser on the Balkans, now with the Brookings Institution. "This constant reference to territorial integrity and Yugoslav rule over Kosovo is deeply troubling to me."
A different Yugoslavia
However these issues are resolved, the Yugoslavia from which Milosevic has wielded influence for the past decade may never be the same.
The country's physical and psychological landscape has been altered drastically by the war, with bridges, factories and roads obliterated, the army hunkered down, and untold lives lost.
The war also triggered a brutal round of "ethnic cleansing" that horrified Europe at the end of the millennium and impelled a U.N. war crimes tribunal to indict Milosevic and four of his top aides for alleged crimes against humanity.
With his back to the wall, his country treated as an international pariah, and his army under pressure in Kosovo, Milosevic was ready for a deal.
'The best offer'
The envoys arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday, not to negotiate but to explain the plan crafted by Russia and the West.
"It was the best offer the international community was willing to make," Ahtisaari said.
At one point, Milosevic asked Ahtisaari if he could negotiate. The answer was no, and the subject was never raised again, the envoy said.
Milosevic's capitulation was then swift and stunning. After Wednesday's meeting broke up, the Milosevic government announced that the Serbian parliament would debate and vote on the issue -- a sign of a done deal.
NATO warplanes bombed targets in Serbia overnight despite Belgrade's acceptance of an international peace plan for Kosovo.
Three missiles were fired at the southern Serbian village of Grabovnica early today, Beograd Radio 202 reported.
The state-run Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said the suburb of Markovici in the southern town of Kursumlija was attacked last night by "five waves" of aircraft, suffering "considerable" damage.
Earlier, NATO aircraft fired four missiles at a TV relay station near Trgoviste, close to Serbia's border with Macedonia, Tanjug reported.
Tanjug also reported air raids in the area of the southwestern town of Prizren in Kosovo.
Jonathan Weisman reported from Washington for this article.
Pub Date: 6/04/99