RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 20 April 1999

POLAND ACCEPTS KOSOVA REFUGEES, REJECTS CRITICISM.
Poland took in some 380 Kosova refugees on 19 April in a
continued effort to fulfill its pledge to receive 1,000
Kosovars. Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz rejected
recent criticism by a U.S. newspaper and a U.S.
congressman that NATO's new members--Poland, the Czech
Republic, and Hungary--do not show involvement in NATO's
military campaign in Yugoslavia. Onyszkiewicz said
Warsaw has offered to open Polish airports for NATO
refueling planes and set aside its remaining budget
reserves for Kosova-related spending. Onyszkiewicz added
that Poland is unlikely to be able to participate in a
possible NATO ground campaign. "I am afraid [the cost of
our participation] would surpass our financial
abilities," Reuters quoted Onyszkiewicz as saying. JM

HUNGARY'S SOCIALISTS OPPOSE USE OF GROUND FORCES IN
KOSOVO. The opposition Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)
supports the government's NATO commitments but opposes
the participation of Hungarian troops in any ground
operation against Yugoslavia, party chairman Laszlo
Kovacs told Hungarian media on 19 April. The MSZP also
insists that no troops be sent into Yugoslavia from
Hungarian territory, he said. Kovacs accused the
government of failing to respond to concerns expressed
by the public and said that Prime Minister Viktor
Orban's recent statement supporting an increase in NATO
attacks endangered the situation of ethnic Hungarians in
Vojvodina. In other news, the Defense Ministry has
received reports that support for Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic has grown among ethnic Hungarians in
Vojvodina since last week's bombing in Subotica, "Magyar
Hirlap" reported. MSZ

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