ANNIVERSARY FINDS NATO DETERMINED TO PREVAIL.

Byline: John Donnelly, Richard Parker and Tony Pugh / Knight Ridder Newspapers

Against a backdrop of war an ocean away, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization commemorated its 50th anniversary Friday with a somber gathering of 19 heads of state who pledged unity in the battle over Kosovo, a fight posing a ``fundamental challenge'' to the alliance's values.

NATO, born a half-century ago here with the goals of defending human rights, individual liberties and democracy, also marked its historic moment with no let-up in war. Its pilots bombed Yugoslav targets for the 31st day.

Of Yugoslav troops' killing and routing of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, NATO's leaders said in a statement: ``We will not allow this campaign of terror to succeed. NATO is determined to prevail.''

President Clinton said after a three-hour, closed-door meeting on Kosovo that no one should question NATO's will.

``We are fundamentally there because the alliance will not have meaning in the 21st century if it permits the slaughter of innocents on its doorstep,'' he said. ``This is not a question of territorial conquest or political domination, but standing for the values that made NATO possible in the first place.''

Clinton said NATO's message in wartime was clear: ``Peace and humanity will prevail in Kosovo. The refugees will go home. They will have security. They will have their self-government. The last European dictatorship of the 20th century will not destroy Europe's long-awaited chance to live at last together in peace and freedom.''

Before Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's troops began their campaign of ridding the Serbian province of Kosovo of ethnic Albanians, and before NATO began bombing, the alliance's three-day anniversary celebration was to have been an affair highlighted by black-tie dinners and the spectacle of warplanes streaking in formation over Washington.

Unity at all costs

Both were nixed as inappropriate excesses in wartime, and at a time of NATO's greatest trial since the end of the Cold War. The crisis compelled the leaders of the Western world to set a goal of unity at all costs, which meant starting the summit with what was essentially a Kosovo war council to find points of agreement.

The leaders agreed Friday to an oil embargo of Serbia, one of two republics making up the Yugoslav federation, and ``intensifying'' the bombing attacks, but stayed clear of the divisive issue of sending in ground troops.

Putting soldiers into war in Kosovo has little public support in America or Europe, but close to the war the feeling is quite different.

NATO should send ground troops ``as soon as possible,'' to ``overthrow this regime'' in Belgrade, Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo told reporters a few blocks away from the summit. Soon, he said, the number of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian refugees flooding Albania could top 400,000.

It remained unclear how NATO would enforce an oil embargo that would selectively hurt Serbia but not the fragile democracy of Montenegro, Yugoslavia's other republic, through which oil shipments flow to Serbia. West- leaning Montenegro has remained neutral in the war.

Kosovo demands

The leaders' three-page Kosovo text also said there would be ``no compromise'' to five conditions Milosevic must meet before the bombing ends - stopping the violence in Kosovo, withdrawing Serb troops from the province, stationing an ``international military presence'' there, allowing all Kosovar Albanians safe return home and working toward a political settlement based on earlier talks outside Paris.

But the leaders showed some flexibility in agreeing to an immediate cease-fire if Milosevic said he would comply with the demands. And significantly, the alliance did not insist that NATO troops enforce a deal - a point of contention with Milosevic, who favors an international force consisting of Russians, Ukrainians and other non-NATO soldiers.

The Kosovo statement also singled out Russia's ``important role'' as mediator in the war. Russian peace envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin, fresh from nine hours of talks with Milosevic in Belgrade on Thursday, said he would continue his efforts.

Chernomyrdin wasn't discouraged by NATO's rejection of a Milosevic plan allowing unarmed international troops and was prepared to conduct days, if not weeks, of shuttle diplomacy toward peace, Alexander Nekrassov, a former adviser to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, told BBC.

In Washington, NATO's leaders again insisted Friday that the air war was weakening Milosevic's military.

After meeting with NATO leaders, the alliance's supreme commander, Gen. Wesley Clark, said 31 days of attacks had ``significantly degraded'' Belgrade's military.

``In short, we're winning, he's losing and he knows it,'' said Clark, who gave his most upbeat assessment of NATO's impact on Serbian troops.

Clark said Yugoslavia's air defenses were ``ineffective'' against alliance aircraft, which are flying at medium and high altitudes. He reported that more than 70 Yugoslav aircraft have been destroyed, as well as 40 percent of Yugoslavia's fixed SA-3 surface-to-air missile battalions and 25 percent of mobile SA-6s.

In addition, NATO aircraft attacked Yugoslav artillery units that had been shelling targets in Albania as well as a column of seven vehicles near the Macedonian border. So far, NATO aircraft have flown more than 9,000 sorties, with about 2,300 of them sent to attack targets in Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav officials said the bombing of the state-run television station in Belgrade late Thursday killed 10 people, sparking a condemnation from some Italian leaders. But Clark said the station was part of Milosevic's military apparatus, making it a target.

Asked if NATO is prepared to continue the bombing or indeed switch plans to invade, Secretary-General Solana replied, ``The strategy is not going to change.''