The US has reacted cautiously to the news that Yugoslavia has accepted the western peace plan for Kosovo.
President Clinton, speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, said that "the movement by the Serb leadership to accept the conditions set out by NATO and the international community is of course welcome but based on our past experience, we must also be cautious."
The President said that "we must have clarity that the Serb leadership has fully accepted these conditions and intends to fully implement them. Until then and until the Serb forces begin a verifiable withdrawal from Kosovo we will continue to pursue diplomacy and also continue the military effort that has brought us to this point."
While Mr Clinton and White House officials refrained from claiming outright victory over President Slobodan Milosevic, there was satisfaction that the critics of the NATO air campaign had been proved wrong. In the past few weeks the pressure had grown on the President from commentators at home and foreign media, especially in Britain, to begin planning for a ground invasion of Kosovo because the air campaign was apparently not succeeding.
After his brief announcement yesterday, Mr Clinton began a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the progress of the air campaign and the preparations for the NATO peacekeeping force to escort the refugees back to Kosovo. The meeting had been planned before yesterday's announcement of the acceptance by Yugoslavia of the peace agreement and officials had been indicating that the meeting would also consider the possibility of a ground invasion if Serb forces refused to withdraw.
But yesterday the President made no reference to such an invasion and said that he would be discussing with his military service chiefs "our planning for the force which will enter Kosovo when NATO's conditions are met."
If President Milosevic implements the peace plan, Mr Clinton will feel vindicated in his confidence over the 71 days of the bombing that this was the right approach and that it saved American lives. He had been widely criticised for firmly ruling out the possibility of a ground invasion when the bombing started on March 24th but recently he had shifted his position in the face of the criticism and was now saying that no options had been ruled out.
At the State Department, the spokesman, Mr James Rubin, also sounded the note of caution and said it was not time for "popping the champagne corks."
Neither Mr Rubin nor the White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, would speculate on the recent indictment of Mr Milosevic for war crimes and how this could affect the peace agreement. Mr Rubin said that there was clearly nothing in the agreement about this, although all countries including Yugoslavia were supposed to try and enforce such indictments.
AFP reports from Washington:
A military accord between NATO and Belgrade on a total retreat of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo is necessary before the alliance will stop bombing Yugoslavia, US Defence Secretary Mr William Cohen said yesterday.
"As President Clinton said, we welcome a decision by the Serb parliament to adopt a resolution that incorporates NATO's five conditions for ending this conflict and for bringing peace to Kosovo, but there are important details that remain to be worked out.