By Jacquelyn S. Porth

USIA Security Affairs Writer

Washington -- British Air Commodore David Wilby says NATO military forces did not cause what some press reports have described as significant damage throughout Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

"I can absolutely assure you that while NATO has attacked military targets around Pristina and one very carefully targeted MUP (Yugoslav military police) headquarters, which was struck very successfully in the city area," Wilby said, "NATO has certainly not caused the reported widespread and random damage, which we believe has been orchestrated by Serbian forces."

Wilby told reporters at the April 8 daily briefing at NATO headquarters in Belgium that "closer forensic investigation will reveal the truth" about what occurred in Pristina.

During the question and answer session, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea challenged Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milosevic to allow the Serb media to portray more "pluralism." The best thing, he said, would be for all of the independent newspapers and radio stations that have been closed by the Belgrade government to be reopened and allowed to "function." Such reopenings, the spokesman said, "would be a very effective way of ensuring that all kinds of messages be put across."

Shea's comments followed an earlier, strong statement by Wilby on Serb broadcasting. "Serb radio and TV is an instrument of propaganda and repression," he said. "It has filled the airwaves with hate and lies over the years, and especially now," he added.

For that reason, Wilby said these broadcasting mediums are "a legitimate target in this (air) campaign." His response was prompted by a reporter's question about the possible targeting of Serb radio and television transmitters. "If Serbian television was used as a proper tool of free speech as opposed to a propaganda machine," he added, "then it would be considered as other media : very much acceptable."

If only Milosevic "would provide equal time for Western news broadcasts in...programs, without censorship, (for) three hours a day, between noon and 18:00 (6 p.m.) and three hours a day between 18:00 and midnight," Wilby said, "then his TV could become an acceptable instrument of public information."

Shea also pointed out that many of the Serb television transmitters "are integrated into command-and-control communication nodes for the Yugoslav armed forces, and we have, therefore, been attacking those military targets, which may have had...a secondary effect" of damaging or destroying some of the transmitters. "To the extent that the TV transmitters are integrated into the military systems," he explained, "then they are going to be targets."

The comments by Shea and Wilby followed an April 7 statement issued in Washington in the name of Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon, who noted that a number of news organizations have asked for advanced warning of any action that may be taken against targets in Belgrade. "We cannot and will not give advance notification of military targets," he said.

While acknowledging the risks associated with working in Belgrade, Bacon referred to statements made by President Clinton and other officials that "we will do our best to minimize civilian casualties; however the safety of any particular group of people, including journalists, cannot be guaranteed."

The April 8 NATO briefing, meanwhile, offered the traditional military update on "Operation Allied Force," now in its 15th consecutive day. Wilby said that despite Milosevic's declaration of a cease-fire in Kosovo, Serb forces continue to battle remnants of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Counterattacks by pockets of KLA resistors also continue, he said.

On the subject of a cease-fire, Shea said much of the violence in Kosovo has been caused by paramilitary forces and armed Serb civilians. "That is why...the cease-fire, as such, is insufficient," he said. By itself, a cease-fire is not going to bring peace to Kosovo, he added, because it doesn't address the problem of paramilitary units going door-to-door to the homes of Kosovar Albanians.

It will be critical to deploy an international military presence in Kosovo, once the fighting stops, to verify the cessation of violence and withdrawal of armed forces, Shea said, and "to create, as we have done in Bosnia with SFOR (Stabilization Force), a climate of confidence and stability" required to promote normalcy and encourage Kosovar Albanian refugees to return home "free from intimidation." Such an international presence is also needed as soon as possible, he said, "to provide a backup to the international relief organizations that, I fear, are going to have a lot of work to do in Kosovo once the violence has been brought to an end." All of this has to happen "in the context of a political framework," he added.

Wilby said Western officials have been warning Milosevic that the KLA "is a fighting force that won't go away." Shea also emphasized that "you can never eliminate this type of resistance movement through brute repression alone...and ultimately, this is a counter-productive strategy." What is happening in Kosovo, he said, is that Milosevic "has simply radicalized a people that didn't have to be radicalized." Even a severely weakened KLA "is not going to go away," he added.

"The only way to marginalize organizations that resort to violence," Shea said, "is to open a political process and that is what we have been telling Milosevic for months...but it is a message that never, unfortunately, seemed to have got through."

Concerning the latest overnight military statistics, Wilby said 400 NATO combat missions were flown. Shea said there is evidence that fuel for Yugoslav military and police units is becoming more scarce and that allied strikes are forcing them to conserve resources and spend more time concealing their activities. Wilby said there is also evidence that NATO air power is causing the Yugoslav military and police in Kosovo to "slow down."

The daily briefing also focused on the efforts of the international community to assist refugees and displaced persons in the Balkans. Italian Navy Commander Fabrizio Martinti described the civilian-military coordination that is under way. He said NATO efforts to assist refugees is "not duplicating" what civilian relief agencies are doing.

NATO activities involve providing logistics support and airlift in response to requests for humanitarian aid from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) for items such as food, water, tents, blankets, and sleeping bags. He also said allied military troops are helping to distribute food rations, set up tents, and dig latrines.