-Caveat Lector- Milosevic Agrees To Release POWs By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press Writer BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic agreed today to release three American soldiers captured March 31, the state-run Tanjug news agency said. Tanjug said the three would be handed over to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as part of his ``peace effort.'' ``The president took the decision in support of Jesse Jackson's peace efforts,'' Tanjug said. ``We do not see them as enemies but victims of war and miltarism.'' The three were seized along the Yugoslav-Macedonian border while they were conducting a routine patrol in support of a NATO force deployed there in case a peace deal enables them to enter Kosovo to serve as peacekeepers. Jackson said Milosevic met with key advisers after he met the Yugoslav president today, and ``they decided to unanimously release the three Americans held captive and to allow them to leave with us tomorrow.'' Jackson said the three would accompany his delegation back to Croatia on Sunday, where they would then fly to the nearest NATO airbase, likely in Germany. Jackson also made a veiled plea to NATO to do something in return for the soldiers' release. ``It is a gesture that shouldn't go ignored,'' he said. The Clinton administration had not supported Jackson's mission, and has said the soldiers should be released without any conditions. Jackson met with the three Friday in Belgrade, where he arrived on a mission to try to win their release. On Friday, Assistant Foreign Minister Nebojsa Vujovic said release of the soldiers captured one month ago wasn't ``on the agenda.'' But Jackson said during the meeting he urged Milosevic to free them. NATO continued its bombing campaign today, with a missile attack on a bridge north of the Kosovo capital, Pristina, that killed at least 23 people, state-run media and witnesses said. The Tanjug news agency said the missile cut the vehicle in two, sending part of it plunging off the bridge. Independent journalists saw about 15 bodies trapped in the charred remnants of the part of the bus which fell off the bridge. Milosevic met Friday with special Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin for six hours, discussing Belgrade's proposals for ending the five-week conflict. Vujovic told reporters that Yugoslavia was willing to accept an unarmed U.N. civilian ``mission'' to oversee a peace deal in Kosovo, a province of the main Yugoslav republic of Serbia but with a majority ethnic Albanian population. But Vujovic rejected any armed force with NATO at its core, a key alliance demand. Seeking to maintain an upbeat tone, Chernomyrdin told Russian reporters before leaving for Moscow that ``there is some progress,'' adding, ``I hope that leaders of the NATO member countries will take that progress seriously.'' At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, spokesman Jamie Shea said the Yugoslav offer of a U.N. ``mission'' was ``not worthy of serious consideration'' and did ``not come close to meeting the demands of the international community.'' In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, ``I think we are not anywhere near a serious proposal.'' In other NATO attacks today, jets and missiles struck military airports in Sombor and Ponikve, the Lipovica oil depot on the southern edge of Belgrade, industrial towns Kraljevo and Pancevo, and an oil refinery in the second largest Yugoslav city of Novi Sad. Also today, NATO hit targets in the predominately Muslim Sandzak region in southwest Yugoslavia, hitting the region's largest town, Novi Pazar, state-run media reported. Kosovo's capital of Pristina also came under air attack, Tanjug news agency said. No information on casualties or damage was immediately reported. Meanwhile, Yugoslav media reported that NATO missiles damaged a maternity hospital and the police station in Pancevo, north of Belgrade. In Montenegro, the republic which along with Serbia makes up Yugoslavia, local television reported that NATO planes Friday destroyed a bridge leading to Kosovo, killing four people, including two small ethnic Albanian girls. In Washington, the Pentagon announced that 10 additional B-52 heavy bombers would arrive in England today to join several other B-52s launching attacks against Yugoslavia. The additional bombers will add 500-pound iron bombs for attacks on troop concentrations, and precision-guided, Israeli-made missiles that carry 1,000-pound warheads. The alliance launched the air campaign to force Milosevic to accept a Western-dictated peace deal for Kosovo, including widespread autonomy for the province and 28,000 NATO troops to enforce it. Ethnic Albanians comprised about 90 percent of Kosovo's prewar population of 2 million people. More than 600,000 of them have fled Kosovo and Serb forces since NATO's air campaign began March 24. The European Union's ban on oil shipments to Yugoslavia took effect today, the latest measure to deny Yugoslav force the use of fuel in the Kosovo conflict. The ban will affect about $67 million in sales, according to 1998 EU statistics. AP-NY-05-01-99 1235EDT Copyright � Associated Press. All rights reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "From the rage of today's downtrodden comes the revenge of tomorrow's revolutionary force." Edward Britton ><> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5285/connector1.html Reality Pump: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Reality_Pump2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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