Serbs seal Kosovo for a second time

RUPERT

For the second time since NATO began its air war against Yugoslavia, authorities in Belgrade abruptly shut down the flow of ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo to its southern neighbors, cutting off their escape route after days in which tens of thousands have fled the province. Only a few hundred refugees made the crossing Monday into Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro.

The Belgrade government's decision effectively to close the border added to fears among NATO governments and aid organizations about the fate of 500,000 to 850,000 displaced ethnic Albanian refugees still inside Kosovo, where many of them are believed to be without shelter and running low on food as Serb-led Yugoslav forces continue to expel whole communities from their homes. As the NATO air campaign entered its 27th day, President Clinton asked Congress for an extra $6 billion to finance the offensive, an amount that members of the House and Senate said they would meet or even exceed. U.S. officials also sought to persuade NATO allies to consider measures for stopping the flow of oil to Yugoslavia from foreign suppliers, including the use of force. U.S. and allied warplanes continued their raids on targets in Kosovo and elsewhere in Yugoslavia -- including a government headquarters in the country's second-largest city, Novi Sad, that was badly damaged early Monday morning. Late Monday night, loud explosions were heard near the city of Nis, Yugoslavia's third- largest, according to the official news agency Tanjug. Although bad weather forced the cancellation of some NATO missions, officials in Washington and at NATO headquarters in Brussels pronounced themselves pleased with the progress of the air war, which is aimed at forcing the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to pull its troops out of Kosovo and permit the safe return of refugees under the protection of an international peacekeeping force. Tensions remained high in Albania, where police exchanged fire with Yugoslav forces across the border in Kosovo and an adviser to President Rexhep Mejdani said his government is seeking ways to arm ethnic Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army -- a step that Washington has resisted for fear that it could further destabilize the region. The NATO air assault has infuriated Russia, where President Boris Yeltsin told reporters Monday that the United States and its allies "want to win and make Yugoslavia a protectorate," adding: "We cannot permit that. It is a strategic zone, very important." At the same time, Yeltsin told Clinton in a 45-minute phone conversation that Russia wouldn't send additional ships to the region and "reaffirmed that he will not allow Russia to be drawn into this conflict," White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said. In New York, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he will visit Moscow on April 29 at Russia's invitation to discuss ways of ending the Kosovo crisis

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