Word: albanian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Sensible people would sign this agreement. The 81-page peace document on the table in Paris may not satisfy the full ambitions of either side in the Kosovo struggle, but it offers advantages all around. While it doesn't give the Albanian Kosovars the independence they crave, it would afford them three years of breathing room under international protection to practice being a state. After that, they could come back to negotiate or fight for full freedom from Serb rule. While Slobodan Milosevic would have to swallow Kosovar autonomy and NATO peacekeepers inside his territory, he'd get out from...
...into Yugoslavia, although it seems doubtful that much can be accomplished from the air. Whether Milosevic will be deterred from his grip on Kosovo remains to be seen; it seems inevitable, however, that Milosevic will never voluntarily withdraw troops from the bitterly disputed territory that, while 70 percent ethnic Albanian, is claimed as the historical and spiritual heartland of the Serb...
...independent state? "The beauty of the interim accord is that no one has to give up their dreams," explains U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill. "We've created this gray thing that one side will call an elephant and the other will call a mouse." Trouble is, some members of the Albanian delegation saw through that and demanded a written guarantee of eventual independence. No way, said NATO. "Sure, they can ask for it," Hill adds, "but getting it is another matter. Today, the international community does not support the idea of an independent Kosovo. It's not a right they have...
...emergence of Surroi as a rational center to the deal has been a surprise. As recently as last October, Surroi, the publisher of Kosovo's largest Albanian-language newspaper, was described by State Department emissaries as "vicious" and "unrealistic." Says a relieved U.S. official: "He turns out to have real leadership qualities and real political courage." Surroi, a stocky, square-jawed intellectual who smokes a pipe and talks in a gravelly monotone, is the son of a former ambassador from Yugoslavia to Mexico and Spain. His global upbringing gave him fluency in Spanish and English in addition to his native...
Selling peace in the Balkans is a tough proposition. But in the complex talks between Kosovo's ethnic Albanians and their Serb rulers that adjourned last week in France, peace found a new promoter: Veton Surroi, a 37-year-old ethnic Albanian. The negotiations ended on a difficult note. Surroi and the other Albanian delegates agreed to a peace plan that would allow them limited self-rule for three years. As part of their agreement they made an unusual request--that they be allowed two weeks to return to Kosovo to sell the idea to their fellow Albanians...