FRANCE: SERB PRESIDENT MILUTINOVIC KOSOVO PRESS CONFERENCE
(24 Feb 1999) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat The sponsors of the Kosovo peace talks are hoping ethnic Albanians will sign a proposed three-year interim autonomy plan, when the talks resume in mid-March. There's little optimism, however, that the Serbs will agree to an international team to enforce the peace. At a news conference in Paris late on Tuesday, Serb President Milan Milutinovic gave his reasons for the apparent failure of the Rambouillet peace talks. The head of the Serb delegation criticised the organisation behind the talks and complained of prejudice against the Serbs - he said progress had been meagre. A mere seven hours after the Kosovo peace talks broke up without agreement, the Serb delegation held a news conference that did not inspire hope for a solution to the conflict. Serbian President Milan Milutinovic said that little had been achieved at the Rambouillet peace talks and suggested a new approach if next month's meetings were to prosper. Accompanied by an apparently exhausted Serb delegation, Milutinovic complained about the lack of organisation during the talks. He warned that if the Kosovars would not accept the basic principles it would be difficult to reach an agreement. At the heart of the Serb objections to the Contact Group framework is the stationing of NATO troops in Kosovo to enforce any ceasefire - even if they were accompanied by a Russian force. Milutinovic claimed that the separatist rebels in Kosovo would use NATO as a shield and from behind it develop plans for full independence. SOUNDBITE: (English) "You have just quoted Madame Albright and that is her opinion, but our opinion is that if we have a very good agreement, accepted by all the people there, all national communities, that would be very squeezed space for the separatist movement and the terrorists, so we don't need the troops. They (the Contact Group) are asking 28,000 soldiers and troops and at the same time they like that we go out (that the Serbs leave Kosovo), we don't need that to do, we are a sovereign country and we can do it ourselves, but that is not the issue, or if that was the issue, maybe because of that shred ( that part of the proposed agreement ) about troops, troops and troops, and nothing but the troops we could not reach the agreement because that is the thesis of the separatist movement, because they want to have NATO there to protect themselves against , lets say, us (the Serbs) or to bring them independence, so that is, how do you say, a very tricky game" SUPER CAPTION: Milan Milutinovic, Serbian President Ratko Markovic complained that 20 hours before the second deadline was reached, the Contact Group presented a new document containing new proposals which were not presented in the initial framework. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "I would like to mention an anomaly in the conference, the fact that yesterday at 1900 hours last night, we received 3 chapters of the final document, very important, and they talk about self government in Kosovo and we received them 20 hours before the end of the dateline" SUPER CAPTION: Ratko Markovic, head of the Serbian delegation He went on to say that the content of such chapters was unacceptable. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) " Off course we did not take into consideration those documents, these chapters of the agreement, partly because those chapters were not in the initial framework adopted by the Contact Group, and because these chapters represented a great violation of the state sovereignty" SUPER CAPTION: Ratko Markovic, head of the Serbian delegation Talks are now suspended until mid March. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
