MILOSEVIC WARNED NOT TO TRY TO ESCALATE KOSOVO CONFLICT

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Hina) - Since the beginning of NATO operations against Yugoslavia, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other US officials have been warning Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that he would be making a serious mistake if he tried to escalate the Kosovo conflict. The warning to Milosevic referred to all of Yugoslavia's neighbouring countries and not only to NATO and Partnership for Peace member-states, a State Department official told Hina on Thursday. He was commenting on a statement by Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa that Croatia wanted to be given clear guarantees by the United States "as it has been done in case of the Partnership for Peace and NATO member-states". US Secretary of State Albright on Thursday warned President Milosevic to refrain from trying to escalate the conflict and cause destabilisation in other countries in the region. The State Department spokesman said in case that happened, the Belgrade regime would have to face extremely serious consequences. According to some US estimates, there is no real danger of the conflict spilling over to neighbouring Croatia or any other northern neighbour. The State Department further said that its statements of Thursday explicitly mentioned NATO guarantees to Albania and Macedonia because of yesterday's shelling of the Albanian territory and problems caused by organised protests in the Macedonian capital Skoplje. (hina) rml