9th anniversary of Rambouillet talks

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the opening of the Kosovo peace talks in Rambouillet, near Paris. The talks brought Serbian and Kosovo Albanian representatives together in the presence of international officials. 9th anniversary of Rambouillet talks The conference, that lasted 17 days, ended in failure, and the Contact Group decided that talks between the two delegations should continue on March 15 in France. Then head of the Serbian government delegation Ratko Markovic said that the Rambouillet conference “didn’t succeed because it didn’t begin from the foundations, rather from the roof.” Markovic reiterated that Rambouillet was a conference where the two delegations who were supposed to talk and reach an agreement “never met, where the rules of procedure were never established, and which resulted in a statement, not an agreement, as is the case with most meetings of this kind.“ The Kosovo Albanian delegation accepted in principle the Contact Group’s proposal for resolving the conflict. The Serbian delegation also accepted the proposal in principle, but continued to insist that NATO troops should not be allowed to pass through the country, and that the international forces in Kosovo should be there under the auspices of the UN. The second round of talks in Paris that began on March 15 and lasted four days, also ended in deadlock. On March 18, the two delegations signed different agreements. The Kosovo Albanians signed an agreement offered by international mediators, while the Serbian delegation signed its own proposal – an Agreement on Kosovo Self-Government. The final attempt on March 22, 1999, when U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke attempted to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to accept the agreement on Kosovo and the deployment of foreign troops to the province, was also in vain. Besides Holbrooke, unsuccessful talks with Milosevic were also led by Boris Mayorsky, Wolfgang Petric, and Christopher Hill. Two days later on March 24, NATO launched its bombing campaign of the former Yugoslavia which was to last 78 days, and ended with Yugoslav troops pulling out of Kosovo, and the establishment of a temporary UN administration in the province.

9th anniversary of Rambouillet talks

The conference, that lasted 17 days, ended in failure, and the Contact Group decided that talks between the two delegations should continue on March 15 in France.

Then head of the Serbian government delegation Ratko Marković said that the Rambouillet conference “didn’t succeed because it didn’t begin from the foundations, rather from the roof.”

Marković reiterated that Rambouillet was a conference where the two delegations who were supposed to talk and reach an agreement “never met, where the rules of procedure were never established, and which resulted in a statement, not an agreement, as is the case with most meetings of this kind.“

The Kosovo Albanian delegation accepted in principle the Contact Group’s proposal for resolving the conflict.

The Serbian delegation also accepted the proposal in principle, but continued to insist that NATO troops should not be allowed to pass through the country, and that the international forces in Kosovo should be there under the auspices of the UN.

The second round of talks in Paris that began on March 15 and lasted four days, also ended in deadlock.

On March 18, the two delegations signed different agreements. The Kosovo Albanians signed an agreement offered by international mediators, while the Serbian delegation signed its own proposal – an Agreement on Kosovo Self-Government.

The final attempt on March 22, 1999, when U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke attempted to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević to accept the agreement on Kosovo and the deployment of foreign troops to the province, was also in vain.

Besides Holbrooke, unsuccessful talks with Milošević were also led by Boris Mayorsky, Wolfgang Petric, and Christopher Hill.

Two days later on March 24, NATO launched its bombing campaign of the former Yugoslavia which was to last 78 days, and ended with Yugoslav troops pulling out of Kosovo, and the establishment of a temporary UN administration in the province.