Wesley Clark in the WSJ: Set Kosovo Free

[question everything]

Set Kosovo Free

By WESLEY CLARK
February 1, 2005; Page A12

In his visionary inaugural address, President Bush talked about the challenges of promoting freedom abroad. Naturally our attention has been focused on the elections in Iraq. But to focus exclusively on Iraq will raise dangers elsewhere, such as in the Balkans. With each passing day, tensions in Kosovo grow, threatening to destroy hard-won freedoms with renewed conflict. In 2005, the U.S. and the international community must address the resolution of Kosovo's final status before it is too late to prevent tragedy.


(snip)


The six-nation Contact Group (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia) and the U.N. Security Council have set mid-2005 as a date for deciding whether to begin a process to decide Kosovo's future status. Beginning immediately, they should set the ground rules for negotiations and a timeline for a settlement. The framework for Kosovo's future should be: no return to Belgrade rule; no partition of its territory; and no future union with Albania or any neighboring territory. The pace at which Kosovo is allowed to progress toward full independence should be made contingent on its treatment of minorities. This last point is absolutely critical.

The U.N. secretary general should also appoint a special envoy to begin consultations on a draft settlement text, the "Kosovo Accord," to include a new Kosovo constitution guaranteeing minority rights and continuing international monitoring, assistance and security presences in a new Kosovo state.
* * *

Finally, an international conference should be organized in late 2005 to finalize and endorse the Kosovo Accord. If Serbia cooperates, it will gain a role in shaping guarantees for Serbs in Kosovo's new constitution, to be drafted by Kosovo's Assembly in agreement with the conference's international sponsors. But if Serbia boycotts the process and refuses formally to relinquish sovereignty, Kosovo is in too fragile a condition to be kept hostage. Similarly, should resolution of Kosovo's status be blocked in the Security Council, the U.S. should lead a coalition of its European allies to organize the conference; endorse a Kosovo referendum for adoption of the new constitution to go ahead in early 2006; and then give diplomatic recognition and sustained support to Kosovo as a new state.

(snip)

Gen. (Ret.) Clark was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO during the 1999 Kosovo campaign and is currently a board member of the International Crisis Group, whose new report, "Kosovo: Toward Final Status," can be viewed at www.crisisgroup.org

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110722593745941978,00.html

[ClarkUSA]

1. The Man Who Saved 1.5 Million Albanians From Milosevic's Death Squads

writes as eloquently as he speaks.

[FrenchieCat]

2. For those who want to read the whole article....

go here....to my blog:
http://frenchiecat.forclark.com/story/2005/2/1/32620/89961

Also, on the website Clark refers to in his above article, other recent articles about Kosovo Now...
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3229&l=1
Getting Real on Kosovo"
Nicholas Whyte in Balkan Crisis Report (IWPR)
21 January 2005
Balkan Crisis Report (IWPR)
It's time for the international community to get off the fence on Kosovo. Over the past five years, the final status issue has been delayed and ignored while Kosovo's two million inhabitants continue to exist in an international limbo.

The population will never accept a return to Belgrade rule, and Serbia does not really want it anyway. The idea of union with other Albanian territories does not interest anyone except a handful of fanatics, and partition would set a dangerous precedent for other potential conflict zones.

Kosovo has been moving towards independence since 1999, and it is time for the international community to say so.

More....
---------------
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3244&l=1
"It's time to talk independence for Kosovo"
Gareth Evans in the International Herald Tribune
25 January 2005
International Herald Tribune

Kosovo's time as a UN protectorate is running out. After six years in international limbo, Kosovo Albanians are frustrated with their unresolved status and are in economic despair. If they don't start to see real progress on their aspirations for independence, major violence could well erupt in the coming months, as it did last March. And if Albanian attacks against Kosovo's Serbs sparked an armed response from Belgrade, the entire region could be plunged into renewed turmoil.

Of course, if Kosovo wants its own sovereignty it has to show the world it deserves it, with both the institutions and the willingness to protect its Serbian and other minorities. Moreover, given the Albanian majority's own checkered record, it must be prepared to put up with some constraints on its freedom of action for the indefinite future. On the other hand, a return to the pre-1999 situation is unthinkable, given Serbia's past behavior and realities on the ground.

In mid-2005, the United Nations is scheduled to evaluate the Kosovo government's commitment to democracy, good governance and human rights standards, and if this assessment is positive, it should be all systems go. No country can be expected to mature and grow in an international no-man's land.
More....

[necso]

3. Nice piece.

...And I suppose that * is having "visions".

[Andromeda]

4. Good article.

I have a lot of respect for Wes Clark and his leadership in the Balkan crisis, and I still do believe we did the right thing by intervening to stop the systematic murder of the Muslims in Kosovo.