Rambouillet Peace Conference - Hawaii Pacific University

Boshkovich 67
side had some major complaints. 161 They requested that ―will of people‖ was changed to
―referendum‖. That is the moment when Madeleine Albright jumped in to make sure that
the Albanians would accept the Agreement. She added her interpretation (on 22 nd
February) to this chapter summarizing that this meant that people of Kosovo would be
able to hold referendum regarding the future of Kosovo in three years. 162 Marc Weller
talked about this as well. He said that the Albanian delegation confirmed that after three
years of the interim period ―…the people of Kosovo will exercise their will through a
referendum, conducted freely and fairly‖. 163 How could anyone expect that the Serbs
would accept this document? That way Serbia would agree to the secession of Kosovo in
2002, which is still worse than a unilateral declaration of independence. Interestingly,
even if the US said that this proposal would be available only if the Albanians sign by the
deadline it did not happen. 164 However, this did not have any negative effects on the
Albanian position, and they did finally agree to sign this after Jim O‘Brien (the State
Department lawyer) told Jamie Rubin to distract Thaci (the strongest opponent of
acceptance of the proposal) while the Albanian delegation is accepting the proposal. 165
Of course, this was just another aspect of the Agreement that was obviously
unacceptable for Serbs (since everybody knows what would be the outcome of that
referendum). Ministries of the Contact Group added that the entire conference (which
was prolonged for a week) should be finished by 1500 on February 23 rd of 1999. The
Serbian delegation sent a couple of letters that day to all three co-presides of the
Conference where they urged for a continuation of negotiations, but it was ineffective and
161 Ibid, 211.
162 Ibid, 215.
163 Marc Weller, ―The Rambouillet Conference on Kosovo,‖ International Affairs 75, no.2 (1999): 235.
164 Tim Judah, Kosovo: War and Revenge (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 215.
165 Madeleine Albright, Madam Secretary: A Memoir (New York: Easton Press, 2003), 404.