Belgrade to break for Easter

To honour the biggest Christian holiday, Easter, all actions of the army and police will stop in Kosovo against the terrorist organization KLA starting April 6 at 8 pm,8221; said a government statement.

The statement also offered to reach a 8220;temporary agreement8221; with moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, which would be the basis for a 8220;final agreement8221; on Kosovo 8220;within Serbia and Yugoslavia.8221;

The statement also pledged that the government would work for the return of about 400,000 ethnic Albanians who have fled the province since a NATO air campaign began March 24.

However, NATO officials in Brussels responded cautiously to the ceasefire offer.

A NATO official told Reuters that the alliance stillinsisted that Yugoslav forces must leave Kosovo and President Slobodan Milosevic meet the demands of the west.

Earlier, in Washington, US President Bill Clinton vowed that the air offensive would continue until Milosevic capitulated, even as NATO air raids against Serbian field forces in Kosovo swung into top gear in the daylight hours.

Belgrade8217;s policy of 8220;ethnic cleansing8221; in Kosovo would not be allowed to stand, Clinton asserted.

8220;We are prepared to sustain this plan for the long haul,8221; he said. 8220;Our plan is to persist until we prevail.8221;

And, speaking at the daily briefing at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Air Commodore David Wilby said NATO pilots were constantly adjusting their tactics in their attempt to locate and attack Serbian units in Kosovo.

He showed pictures of severe damage to main battle tanks and radar units on the ground and said: 8220;Even as I speak operations are still continuing over Kosovo.8221;

Wilby said any civilian casualties caused by attacks on Serbia overnightwere 8220;much regretted8221; but stressed that NATO warplanes had targeted a military facility of the Yugoslav Sixth Brigade at the small southern town of Aleksinac.

Serbian television reported five civilians had been killed in the attack on the town, which if confirmed would be the largest civilian casualty figure in a single night of NATO raids so far.

But Wilby said the 8220;law of statistics8221; would 8221;sometimes go against us8221;. An 8220;impact error8221; could have been caused by a number of factors, including a technological failure or the influence of ground fire on the trajectory of missiles, he said.

Turning to the plight of the ethnic Albanian population, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said the alliance now had evidence of a systematic Serbian campaign of expulsions in Kosovo.