Rambouillet Agreement
|
|
The Rambouillet Agreement is the name of a proposed peace agreement between Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Albanian delegation. It was drafted by NATO and named for the Chateau Rambouillet, where it was initially proposed.
The agreement's significance lies in the fact that Yugoslavia refused to accept it, thus setting the stage for the Kosovo War. It included provisions for a proposed Kosovar government, and defined Yugoslavia's perceived obilgations, such as:
- NATO personnel shall enjoy, together with their vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and equipment, free and unrestricted passage and unimpeded access throughout the FRY including associated airspace and territorial waters. This shall include, but not be limited to, the right of bivouac, maneuver, billet, and utilization of any areas or facilities as required for support, training, and operations.
The full text of the Rambouillet Agreement can be found at the State Department (http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/ksvo_rambouillet_text.html).
The Serbian Parliament responded (http://www.serbia-info.com/news/1999-03/24/10030.html) on March 23, 1999 to the agreement with a sharp criticisim. Though it agreed that Kosovo should be given autonomy, it stated that it would prefer the incursion of the United Nations over that of NATO, accusing the "separatist-terrorist delegation of ethnic Albanians" of:
- "[avoiding] direct talks as it did not give up its separatist goals: to use autonomy as a means for establishing a 'state within a state'; to secure occupation of Serbia through the implementation of the political agreement; to create an ethnically pure Kosovo-Metohija under the pretext of protecting human rights and democracy; and to secure the secession of Kosovo-Metohija from Serbia with the help of their patrons and through an international protectorate and referendum."