Escalation in Northern Kosovo: Causes, Dangers and Prospects
Escalation in Northern Kosovo: Causes, Dangers and Prospects
Report / Europe & Central Asia 1 minutes

The New Kosovo Protectorate

The ICG Balkans Report N°66, “Kosovo: Let’s Learn from Bosnia”, of 17 May 1999 looked at how experience in Bosnia could be useful in Kosovo, and also at the extent to which the Rambouillet agreement of 23 February 1999 resembled the Dayton agreement of 21 November 1995.

Executive Summary

The ICG Balkans Report N°66, “Kosovo: Let’s Learn from Bosnia”, of 17 May 1999 looked at how experience in Bosnia could be useful in Kosovo, and also at the extent to which the Rambouillet agreement of 23 February 1999 resembled the Dayton agreement of 21 November 1995.

Now, following the campaign of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, a new framework of military and civilian involvement in Kosovo has been established by means of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999.  This mechanism ensures the legality of the operation and contents the Russians and Chinese.  It has also left the UN in charge of civilian implementation.

The new model is reminiscent of the old League of Nations mandates in that it charges the foreign administrators with preparing Kosovo for self-government.  It is unlike the mandates in that it is vague about the final status of Kosovo, but in the present volatile state of the Balkans that is sensible: the environment in which the future of Kosovo is finally decided will be very different from the present.

The operation in Kosovo offers the international community a new chance to deserve that name.  This new opportunity for international organisations (UN, OSCE, EU and so on) to work in partnership rather than rivalry must not fail, if the world is to develop a means of handling similar future catastrophes.

Sarajevo, 20 June 1999

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