KOSOVO KOSOVAR LEADER RUGOVA PRESS CONFERENCE

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=AVp8FKwSrXo

(26 Feb 1999) Albanian/Nat • • Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova on Friday commented on the inability of western mediators to help reach a peace agreement in the disputed province. • • Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Pristina, Rugova said that he hopes that both sides will use the time over the next few weeks to come up with new ideas that would enable them to sign an agreement and facilitate the arrival of NATO peacekeeping troops. • • The top Kosovo Albanian political leader says his side will make good on its pledge to sign the deal for Kosovo when peace talks for the war-torn province resume next month. • • The political deal gives broad autonomy to Kosovo, as an interim solution without formal secession, combined with NATO troops as an implementing force. • • But the Serbs have refused to allow NATO troops to enforce a peace plan - a cruciaal factor in any deal. • • Ethnic Albanian representatives nevertheless said they would sign a tentative agreement when talks resume in mid-March after consulting with their political factions and the K-L-A. • • Ibrahim Rugova, the pacifist leader of pro-independence ethnic Albanians, was speaking in Pristina on Friday, a day after his return from the Rambouillet peace talks. • • He expressed regret over the failure of the talks to reach an agreement acceptable to both sides. • • SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) • The negotiations did not work properly, especially from the Serb side. I hope the time will come that both sides will have new ideas and both will sign the agreement. • SUPER CAPTION: Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo Albanian leader • • While Rugova did not head the Albanian negotiating team in France, he remains an influential leader among the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo, a poor province of southern Serbia where most want independence. • • Rugova said he hoped that both sides would use the time over the next few weeks to come up with new ideas that would enable them to sign an agreement and facilitate the arrival of NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. • • SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) • We want to sign this agreement as soon as possible so that NATO troops can come here for the security of all the Albanian people and the region of Kosovo. • SUPER CAPTION: Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo Albanian leader • • In a recent buildup that has raised NATO concern, Yugoslavia has deployed some 4- thousand -500 troops on the border of the province, backed by tanks, artillery, and armoured personnel carriers. • • The province was reported mostly calm Friday. • • But on Thursday, the federal army clashed with rebel fighters in the north, just as NATO and U-S officials were urging both sides to refrain from violence during the pause in negotiations. • • Fighting in Kosovo began almost a year ago when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sent forces to crush a Kosovo Liberation Army (K-L-A) insurrection. • • More than 2-thousand people have died and 300-thousand others - mostly ethnic Albanians - have been displaced by the fighting. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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