Inventory of a Windfall: Milosevic’s gains from the Kosovo Dialogue
Inventory of a Windfall: Milosevic’s gains from the Kosovo Dialogue

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Security and defense, Military policy, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: ICG International Crisis Group
Keywords: Ibrahim Rugova; Slobodan Milošević;
Summary/Abstract: When on 15 May 1998 Slobodan Milosevic met with Ibrahim Rugova it was the first time that the Yugoslav president had met with an Albanian leader from Kosovo in close to a decade. The event, heralding weekly talks between Kosovo’s Albanians and the Serbian government, has thus been hailed as a "dramatic turn-about" and "a first step toward peace in Kosovo". However, the fact that, after so many years of stale-mate, some kind of negotiations have begun, should not in itself be a reason for euphoria. Key to the success of any talks is the framework within which they take place. Negotiations concerning the future status of Kosovo may, as a result of the concessions offered to the Yugoslav president, have got off to an inauspicious start. The Milosevic-Rugova meeting took place in the aftermath of six months of escalating violence in Kosovo between Serbian police and a separatist Albanian militia, known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). It also followed intense US shuttle diplomacy under the auspices of Richard Holbrooke, architect of the Bosnian peace settlement.

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