Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian rebel commanders met yesterday to discuss a Western-brokered peace deal – but didn’t sign it, even though the Clinton administration had said they would.
One source close to the Kosovo Liberation Army talks said the rebel forces will likely sign the deal on March 12.
Others said a final decision on whether or not to sign was put off until today.
The KLA met in the hills of the Drnica region to vote on the plan, which would give them wide autonomy, but not complete independence, which they’ve fought for in a yearlong war with the Serbs.
Representatives for William Walker, the U.S. chief of international monitors in Kosovo, were at the meeting, which was held at a secret location.
“The [peace] agreement process has taken a very positive direction,” said top KLA leader Hashim Thaci.
But he stressed problems the rebels have with the Western peace plan.
Former Sen. Bob Dole, who was sent to the strife-torn region by President Clinton, and U.S. diplomats have bumped up the pressure on ethnic Albanians to sign the deal fast to help end the fighting between them and Serb forces, which has led to 2,000 deaths.
On Saturday, Dole announced the ethnic Albanians “promised” to ink the deal the next day.
By signing the plan, the rebels would be throwing the ball in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s court.
It would also be a feat for U.S. diplomats, who couldn’t get the Albanians’ full cooperation at talks in Rambouillet, France, last month.
Ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs 9 to 1 in Kosovo, a poor southern province of Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia.
The rebels have long been skeptical about the deal because they’d have to disarm, and it doesn’t give them the full independence they want.
Serbs have said they would give Kosovo self-rule, but they’re against the U.S. plan because it would mean that 28,000 NATO peace-keeping troops – including 4,000 American soldiers – would police the region.
The two sides – which have repeatedly broken an October cease-fire agreement – are expected to take up talks in Paris on March 15.
The back-and-forth over the peace deal went on as violence broke out in a suburb in Pristina, where an ethnic Albanian shot and killed two Serb cops who were looking for his son in connection with robbery charges.
In response, Serb forces searched neighborhood houses for the father and son, injuring at least 15 in beatings.
NATO officials have said the Serbs face airstrikes if they don’t reach an agreement with their foes – and have backed up the threat by sending about 8,000 troops to nearby Macedonia.