Ground invasion main option to end war: Pentagon

WASHINGTON: NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia will continue until President Slobodan Milosevic yields, and could end immediately if he accepts NATO's demand, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday. "The refugees must go home to a Kosovo made safe by an international security presence, with NATO at its core. On that point, there is no room for negotiation," the two top diplomats said.

The two said they "deeply regret" NATO's bombing errors, including the bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade, but said, "with thousands of missions being flown every week, perfection is unattainable."

The Pentagon believes that time is running out for the Yugoslav conflict and that the only way to win the war is with ground troops, Newsweek magazine reported Sunday. Several weeks ago the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote to Defense Secretary William Cohen "saying that only ground troops would guarantee fulfillment of the administration's political objectives" there,the news magazine said.

NEW YORK: Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is prepared for settlement on Kosovo so long as the process can be portrayed as negotiations and not capitulation, The New York Times reported on Monday. There is a consensus that Milosevic has the political room to manoeuvre over Kosovo and to redefine almost any negotiation as a victory to preserve his own grip on power, the paper said quoting Yugoslav officials and analysts. The paper said Milosevic is described as frustrated by the slow efforts by Russian special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin, adding to Belgrade already deep mistrust of Moscow's intentions.

CAIRO: Israelis began polling on Monday to elect a new prime minister and parliament even as opinion polls predicted an easy win for Labour Party candidate Ehud Barak who has a direct contest with incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu. Polling began at 0930 IST. Shortly after voting ends, Israel's two main TV channels will broadcast their projections on the basis of exit polls. Thewinner of today's prime ministerial elections will have an uphill task of reviving the deadlocked over middle east peace process and Palestinians fervently hope that Netanyahu is not re-elected.

THE HAGUE: In a rebuff to Pakistan, an international NGO conference has called for stopping the infiltration of mercenaries into Kashmir as a "critical first step" to end the "mindless violence" before any peace initiative could be strengthened in the region. The "Kashmir Peace Appeal" issued at the end of the 5-day international NGO conference last evening wanted greater urgency to be shown to enlarge the "democratic space" and strengthen the democratic process in Kashmir.

SUVA: Labour party leader Mahendra Chaudhry was set today to become Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister following his stunning victory in an election dominated by race. Ethnic Fijian former strongman Sitiveni Rabuka conceded defeat after dominating the Island's politics for 12 years, admitting he may not even lead the oppositionto Chaudhry in a new parliament. Chaudhry said he expects his Indian-dominated Labour Party to win 36 seats in the new 71-seat parliament. He also expected his coalition partners to grab up to 10 seats.

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