Albright flew to France early Saturday in a last-minute effort to forge an agreement over the renegade province of Kosovo. Prompted by the slaughter of 45 Albanians in the town of Racak last month, the talks had dragged on for two weeks. While the sides were close to a deal to grant semi- autonomy to Kosovo, Milosevic refused to even discuss a peacekeeping deployment of NATO troops in Kosovo. With only six hours remaining before a noon deadline for NATO strikes, Albright arrived at the table. As the deadline passed, the negotiations wore on for seven and a half more hours. Finally, it became clear that the Serbs wouldn’t budge on the troop issue, and Albright did what the Clinton administration had said it would not: extend the deadline. Now negotiators have another three days, until 3 p.m. Tuesday, to cut a deal. Once again the West appeared to come up short in a test of wills with Milosevic. “Clearly, we are going into overtime,” said one dejected U.S. official.
Serbian intransigence was to be expected. But it turned out that NATO’s own members weren’t entirely on board over the question of strikes, either. Shortly after the secretary, at an evening news conference, criticized Milosevic and the Serbs for scotching the talks, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini, at a separate briefing, said that it would be wrong to blame the Serbs entirely. The comment prompted an angry retort from a senior U.S. official, who said that Dini “was reluctant to do anything but advocate certain positions within [the talks] that he wouldn’t be proud of talking about publicly.” The exchange was significant: NATO, it seemed, no longer presented a unified strike threat to Milosevic, who hopes to embarrass the West into making concessions on the peacekeeper issue.
With the delay, U.S. officials want to gain a full sign-off on a political agreement from the Kosovars, forcing Milosevic to take the blame for any breakdown in the talks. That, they hope, will unite NATO behind bombing. For Albright, who is determined to put her personal signature on a diplomatic achievement, the stakes are high. After a full day of talks with little sleep, looking downcast and minus the jaunty Stetson she’d worn in the morning, the secretary spoke wearily of “staying the course” and forcing Milosevic to “wake up and smell the coffee.” But she was the one who seemed to need a pick-me-up.
title: “To The Brink And Back” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Cathryn Walker”
Albright flew to France early Saturday in a last-minute effort to forge an agreement over the renegade province of Kosovo. Prompted by the slaughter of 45 Albanians in the town of Racak last month, the talks had dragged on for two weeks. While the sides were close to a deal to grant semi- autonomy to Kosovo, Milosevic refused to even discuss a peacekeeping deployment of NATO troops in Kosovo. With only six hours remaining before a noon deadline for NATO strikes, Albright arrived at the table. As the deadline passed, the negotiations wore on for seven and a half more hours. Finally, it became clear that the Serbs wouldn’t budge on the troop issue, and Albright did what the Clinton administration had said it would not: extend the deadline. Now negotiators have another three days, until 3 p.m. Tuesday, to cut a deal. Once again the West appeared to come up short in a test of wills with Milosevic. ““Clearly, we are going into overtime,’’ said one dejected U.S. official.
Serbian intransigence was to be expected. But it turned out that NATO’s own members weren’t entirely on board over the question of strikes, either. Shortly after the secretary, at an evening news conference, criticized Milosevic and the Serbs for scotching the talks, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini, at a separate briefing, said that it would be wrong to blame the Serbs entirely. The comment prompted an angry retort from a senior U.S. official, who said that Dini ““was reluctant to do anything but advocate certain positions within [the talks] that he wouldn’t be proud of talking about publicly.’’ The exchange was significant: NATO, it seemed, no longer presented a unified strike threat to Milosevic, who hopes to embarrass the West into making concessions on the peacekeeper issue.
With the delay, U.S. officials want to gain a full sign-off on a political agreement from the Kosovars, forcing Milosevic to take the blame for any breakdown in the talks. That, they hope, will unite NATO behind bombing. For Albright, who is determined to put her personal signature on a diplomatic achievement, the stakes are high. After a full day of talks with little sleep, looking downcast and minus the jaunty Stetson she’d worn in the morning, the secretary spoke wearily of ““staying the course’’ and forcing Milosevic to ““wake up and smell the coffee.’’ But she was the one who seemed to need a pick-me-up.
