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World - Europe

Milosevic proclaims victory with end to Kosovo conflict

June 10, 1999
Web posted at: 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 GMT)

From Correspondent Walter Rodgers

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- As Yugoslav soldiers began streaming out of Kosovo on Thursday, Yugoslavia's president portrayed the withdrawal as a victory telling his citizens: "We survived."

"We demonstrated our army cannot be defeated," President Slobodan Milosevic said Thursday as he announced the end of the 11-week-old war. Most importantly, he added, "We did not give up the province of Kosovo."

He called for national unity, but his attempt to put a pleasant face on the outcome of the war was met with mixed reaction in Belgrade.

The appeal to solidarity seemed to be a warning that dissent and postwar criticism are not welcome. But he may find it difficult to keep the opposition quiet.

Members of his own government -- like ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj -- accused Milosevic of selling out with the armistice.

"The Serb Radical Party will not accept the aggressors' boots marching on our territory or the occupation of the Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia," Seselj said.

Milosevic said the Yugoslav army had lost only 462 soldiers and 114 special police officers -- barely a tenth of NATO's estimate of 5,000 or more Yugoslav combat deaths.

Some in Belgrade seemed to accept the government's claim of a moral victory over NATO. Privately, however, others scoffed at their government's claim of triumph.

"I think we never should have come to this point," said one man, who wanted to remain anonymous. "We didn't need the war. Everything is the same as before, which means NATO got everything it asked for."


RELATED STORIES:
Peacekeepers prepare to enter Kosovo
June 10, 1999
Yugoslavia agrees to withdraw forces from Kosovo
June 10, 1999
U.N. Security Council standing by for Kosovo vote
June 9, 1999
Yugoslavia agrees to withdraw forces from Kosovo
June 9, 1999
Text of Kosovo military technical agreement
June 9, 1999
Timetable for Kosovo transition
June 9, 1999

RELATED SITES:
Yugoslavia:
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis


Resettlement Agencies Helping Kosovars in U.S.:
  • Church World Service
  • Episcopal Migration Ministries
  • Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
  • Iowa Department of Human Services
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Immigration and Refugee Services of America
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
  • United States Catholic Conference

Relief:
  • World Relief
  • Doctors without borders
  • U.S. Agency for International Development (Kosovo aid)
  • Doctors of the World
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page
  • The Jewish Agency for Israel
  • Mercy International
  • UNHCR


Media:
  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
  • 1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage
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