REVEREND JACKSON SPEAKS TO REPORTERS AT ZAGREB AIRPORT

ZAGREB, May 2 (Hina) - The West should respond positively to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's release of three U.S. soldiers which Belgrade had held in captivity for a month, U.S. reverend Jesse Jackson said in Zagreb on Sunday, before departing for the Ramstein U.S. military base in Germany. Speaking to reporters at the Zagreb airport, reverend Jackson said the soldiers and he hoped the release was unconditional. U.S. soldiers James Stone, Andrew Ramirez, and Steven Gonzalez, were detained in a border area between Yugoslavia and Macedonia since March 31, and were turned over to reverend Jackson early Sunday morning. "We hope that their release is a diplomatic gesture" that will receive a kind diplomatic response from the West, the reverend said. Reminding that wars break out when all bridges of diplomacy, trust, and communications have been broken, reverend Jackson said he would like to believe that Milosevic's move will be an opportunity "to break the cycle of non-communication", lack of trust, and lack of effective diplomacy. He believed Milosevic's Saturday decision meant the Yugoslav President had decided the soldiers would no longer be his trophies of war, and that their release was Yugoslavia's investment into an attempt to overcome the communication gap. The decision was hard to make at a time when 17 Yugoslav citizens were killed on a bridge near Luzane, north of Kosovo capital Pristina, Jackson believed, but added that between two evils, Milosevic had opted for the lesser one. "(...) to keep them (would have been) a source for more dramatic violence," said the reverend, whose peace efforts for the soldiers were his own initiative. He will bring with him to the U.S. a letter Milosevic has written to U.S. President Bill Clinton, the contents of which were not revealed to the press. (hina) ha