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Can Anyone Stop This War?

It began with talk, and it ended with talk. Behind the heavy walls of a 600-year-old castle in France, leaders from six countries met for 17 days in February. They discussed ways to bring peace to the deeply troubled country of Yugoslavia. They tried to get Yugoslavia's two warring groups to talk to each other.

That challenge was met from the ground up by Madeleine Albright, the U.S. Secretary of State. Albright spent nine hours one Saturday hiking up and down the stairs of the drafty French castle. At one end of the stairs were leaders from the Yugoslav state of Serbia. At the other end were leaders from a rebel group in Serbia's Kosovo region. "I did a lot of castle shuttling," she said.

But Albright's trips up and down the staircase couldn't persuade the fighting Serbian groups to meet each other halfway. At the end of the talks in Rambouillet (Rahm-boo-ee-ay), neither the Serbs nor the Kosovo Albanians would agree to the peace plan that the world leaders designed. Albright headed home with sore feet, sorely disappointed.

But the talks are not over for good. They are set to begin again on March 15. In the meantime, peacemakers will continue working to soothe the bitter feelings and hardened attitudes in Yugoslavia. Said British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook: "We will use the next three weeks to convince the Serbs and the Albanians that the agreement is a good bargain for both sides."

A Troubled Land
Bloody fighting has ripped Kosovo since February 1998. That's when Serb forces began cracking down on ethnic Albanian rebels. In the past year at least 2,000 people have been killed, and more than 200,000 have lost their homes.

Of the 2 million people living in Kosovo, 90% are ethnic Albanians. But they are only a 14% minority in all of Yugoslavia, which is ruled by Serbs. The ethnic Albanians want independence, and the Serbs want Kosovo to remain part of Serbia. The U.S. and Europe want to put an end to the fighting in Yugoslavia. It has cost too much in blood and misery. The fighting also threatens the stability of Europe. As the most powerful country in the world, the U.S. feels a responsibility to make sure that the fighting in Kosovo does not spread to other parts of Europe.

Designing A Deal
The U.S. and its partner countries have had a tough time coming up with a plan acceptable to both sides. The Kosovo Albanians have demanded full independence from Serbia. Although the peace plan gives them the right to have their own government, they would still be part of Serbia. The plan also requires the Albanians to give up their army.

The Serbs are unhappy with the plan too. Mainly they are upset with the requirement that 28,000 outside troops march into Yugoslavia to enforce the agreement after it is signed. The Serbs do not want any outside troops in their country.

Reaching a compromise between these two stubborn groups will require much more talking and much more listening. But the Rambouillet talks have at least pointed Serbia's divided people toward the long road to peace. Now the world waits, hoping that both sides will walk down that road together.

Next: Madeleine Albright: Working for Peace