BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) — NATO signed a deal Thursday with the Yugoslav army, allowing spy planes to monitor the military’s compliance in withdrawing troops from Kosovo so ethnic Albanian refugees can return to their villages.
Amid new accusations by Kosovo Albanians of Serb police intimidation, NATO chief Javier Solana said that despite some progress Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic has a long way to go to meet NATO’s Saturday deadline for compliance.
The deal allows for unarmed spy planes to watch over troop withdraws and the return of tens of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees — demands spelled out in a breakthrough agreement reached earlier this week by Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke.
International officials also huddled in Paris and Vienna on Thursday to push ahead the assessment process aimed at making sure Milosevic adheres to the agreement.