Smiling and flashing victory signs to the cameras, about 120 Yugoslav troops left Kosovo in a convoy of buses and trucks. Serb authorities arranged for foreign reporters to witness the departure. The soldiers were driven to Merdare, a military stronghold in southern Serbia. NATO officials quickly dismissed the return of the troops to their barracks as a publicity stunt. For this to happen, the Serb forces must leave.
Partial withdrawals can only mean continued civil war.
NATO is demanding not only a total withdrawal of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces from Kosovo and the return of 780,000 ethnic Albanian refugees, but also the deployment of an international peacekeeping force - a big sticking point in diplomatic negotiations that include Russia. Soon after the troop departure, NATO planes screamed over nearby Nis, bombing roads and the local TV building, the private Beta news agency reported. In Brussels, NATO said Friday it launched 679 sorties, the largest number so far. All manned aircraft returned safely to base, a NATO statement said, although the alliance did lose an unmanned reconnaissance drone over Kosovo. Airstrikes concentrated on Serb ground forces in Kosovo, NATO said.