Word: czech
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Last week Havel's vision finally faded when Slovakia's parliament split the country by declaring its sovereignty. Moments later Havel stepped down as President of Czechoslovakia, giving up a long struggle to broker a federal power-sharing agreement. He may well be the leading candidate when the separate Czech Republic establishes the new office of president...
...even long-established multiethnic states seem to be immune from breakup. For 74 years Czechoslovakia achieved a mostly peaceful accommodation between Slovaks and Czechs. As recently as 1989 they were solidly united in the "velvet revolution" against communist rule. But now, driven by discontent with their economic lag, the Slovaks have won Czech agreement to effect a "velvet divorce," splitting up peacefully by Sept. 30 into two countries. Both sides are having second thoughts and talking about forming some sort of confederation. But ethnic separatism may be a genie difficult to cram back into the bottle. Says Slovak leader Vladimir...
...agreement came in a fourth marathon negotiating session between the two in the Slovak capital Bratislava. For Klaus the split means being Prime Minister of a Czech republic committed to the deep economic reforms he has advocated as federal Finance Minister since 1989, rather than Prime Minister of a rancorous Czechoslovakia...
...heavy heart," it was Klaus who pushed for resolution of the talks in the interest of limiting economic damage caused by continued uncertainty. Meciar insisted that Slovakia, the eastern third of Czechoslovakia, could be an "international subject" on its own while remaining part of a loose confederation with the Czech republic. To Klaus that sounded like neither fish nor fowl. With the strong federation he sought out of reach, he pushed for a clean split -- even as Meciar suggested that the pact "still does not mean the end of the common state...
...what used to be Yugoslavia, the breakaway states of Croatia and Bosnia formed a military alliance against Serbia, a move that is likely to escalate the fighting in the Balkans. The country that used to call itself Czechoslovakia has already split up its name: it's now the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. That last word will soon be plural, for both Czechs and Slovaks agreed on Saturday to create separate states by the end of September. In what used to be the U.S.S.R., old feuds flared anew in the Caucasus...