Case for Independence

TRANSCRIPT: WORLDNET ON KOSOVO PEACE ACCORDS

MARCH 9

(Amb. Christopher Hill, USAID's Roy Williams discuss plan)

Washington -- Christopher Hill, U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia and special envoy for Kosovo, and Roy Williams, Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), were the guests March 9 on the program "Agreement for Peace," a special in-depth look at the Rambouillet peace agreement for Kosovo, broadcast by the Worldnet television service of the U.S. Information Agency.

Hill took part in the live, interactive broadcast from Belgrade; Williams was in the Worldnet studio in Washington. Both answered questions from journalists in Pristina, Kosovo, and Tirana, Albania.

Hill noted that the Kosovo peace talks will reconvene March 15 in Paris, and said the Contact Group is not expecting another prolonged round of negotiations like those that took place earlier in Rambouillet, where the peace agreement was drafted. "We do not intend to spend two very difficult weeks, as we did at Rambouillet, going through the text, because the text is already there." He said the Contact Group expects the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians to sign the agreement quickly and then move on to a discussion of the mechanism for implementation.

Hill also said there continue to be violations of the Kosovo ceasefire reached in October, and he noted that he had traveled to Belgrade to join U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in a discussion of the issue with the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic. He made it clear that he and Holbrooke intended to "stress the fact that we absolutely need compliance, and frankly the fact that we will insist on it."

The Ambassador expressed his hope that the Kosovo Liberation Army will listen to the majority of Kosovo Albanians, who support the Rambouillet accords, and sign the agreement soon. He also said he feels the Serbs can be brought around to accepting the accords, too, even though they object to the provisions calling for the presence of a NATO-led implementation force in Kosovo. "I believe that the NATO-led force is in everyone's interest, including theirs," he said, "and I think with a little more pushing on this we can get to a yes on both sides."

The other guest on the March 9 Worldnet program, Roy Williams of USAID, addressed the humanitarian issue in Kosovo.

Williams said his agency has been trying to anticipate humanitarian needs in several sectors, including agriculture, housing, water, sanitation, and health care. He said that USAID has already contributed $93 million in food and other subsidies to Kosovo during this fiscal year.

Williams said that USAID and other organizations working in Kosovo are ready to deal effectively with whatever happens there. "In terms of the capacity to deal with the situation, regardless of which direction it takes," he said, "we are enormously better placed now than we were in the fall of last year. The organizations on the ground are much stronger, the food pipelines are much better situated, and the capacity to move food is much greater than it was."

Williams added that the reception of the Kosovo people to the aid organizations working there has been consistently positive. "There has definitely been an acknowledgement of it and a willingness to cooperate, and in fact be very inventive in terms of utilizing what it is we provide," he said. "We don't have all the answers, and without the cooperation of the people on the ground, we really wouldn't get very far."

Following is a transcript of the Worldnet broadcast:

(Begin transcript)

WORLDNET TELEVISION'S "AGREEMENT FOR PEACE" UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY Television and Film Service of Washington, D.C.

GUESTS: Roy Williams, Director, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development Christopher Hill, U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia

TOPIC: Rambouillet Peace Accords

HOST: Rick Foucheux

DATE: March 9, 1999

MR. FOUCHEUX: From Washington, D.C., this is Worldnet Television's "Agreement for Peace," a special in-depth look at the Rambouillet accords. I'm Rick Foucheux.

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department announced the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army had approved the terms of the Rambouillet peace plan and are prepared to sign it. Of course there is still very much work to be done, and even once an agreement is reached, assistance for the thousands of people displaced by the fighting will be of utmost importance.

A key player in the relief efforts to date has been the U.S. Agency for International Development. Joining me to discuss the humanitarian situation in Kosovo and the assistance plans under the Rambouillet accords, is Roy Williams, director of USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Mr. Williams, it's a pleasure to have you with us today.

MR. WILLIAMS: My pleasure, please.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Thank you very much for joining us. Of course I may have misspoken -- are there actual plans for assistance in the accords?

MR. WILLIAMS: I can't speak to the actual plans for assistance in the accords -- I have not seen the details. But implicit in much of what we have been doing over the past several months has been anticipation of the need to respond to the humanitarian situation. All of our plans have sort of expected that there would be a point at which an opportunity to help the people who have been displaced -- some 210,000 more or less -- return to their homes. The agencies that have been working in some cases since 1993 in the region have developed a considerable expertise -- knowledge of the community, and I think most importantly relationships with the community -- in which a successful response to the Rambouillet agreements can be built.

MR. FOUCHEUX: So overall, once the agreement is in place, does USAID have a workable plan set and ready to go?

MR. WILLIAMS: We have been developing over the past several months alternative scenarios. Obviously no one was quite certain at what point an agreement would be reached or necessarily the substance of the agreement. In view of that, what we have been focusing on have been sectors of need, for example agriculture. We know, for example, that the harvest of 1998 was only two-thirds of what it was in 1997. So there are plans and implementation on the way to provide the opportunity to bring the necessary mechanisms for an expanded harvest into the region.

Another example is shelter. We know from a pretty extensive study conducted by the United Nations in coordination with non-governmental organizations that roughly 33 percent of the housing in Kosovo has been severely damaged. So again another considerable attention is being put into rebuilding that housing so that it is habitable. These are examples of a sectoral approach to rehabilitation.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Thank you, Mr. Williams. We are joined today by journalists who are standing by in Pristina with questions for you about this important issue. So let's go to Pristina now with questions from our journalists who are standing by there. Please go ahead.

Q: Mr. Williams, this is -- (inaudible). According to international conventions, when one region is under war there should be plans for the evacuation of the civilians. Since in Kosovo we think of about a million people who have to be evacuated, do such plans exist for Kosovo?

MR. WILLIAMS: I am not aware that there are plans to evacuate Kosovo as a country. But in any case, it seems certainly at this point that the agreements which we are apparently on the verge of concluding would make the concern less imminent in any case.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Okay, can we return to Pristina for another question? Please go ahead once again in Pristina.

Q: (Inaudible.) In Albania, USAID has had many programs. How much can USAID help in Kosovo and will this assistance be provided to Kosovo through Serbia or directly to Kosovo? This is -- (inaudible).

MR. WILLIAMS: There are a variety of means through which assistance will be and has been provided. There are -- and I don't know the exact number, but I would estimate something up to 50 international non-governmental organizations -- working in Kosovo which have been very active during this period. The assistance that they've been providing has been coming from all directions, and it's been coming through Macedonia, it has been coming through Montenegro, it has been coming through Belgrade. A whole variety of options have been presented to the international community over time. And of course these options will be maintained.

MR. FOUCHEUX: This special on the Rambouillet accords is being produced today with TV Tirana in Albania. Joining me for our discussion is journalist Afradita Sakoli (ph). It's a pleasure to be with you again today. Please go ahead with your questions for Mr. Roy Williams in Albania. (Technical difficulties.) All right, evidently we have a bit of line problems with Albania. We'll come back to you in a moment. Let's return to Pristina once again for another question. Please go ahead once again in Pristina.

Q: Mr. Williams, as far as we know, USAID does not have the right to invest or have programs in former Yugoslavia, therefore in Kosovo as well. How true is this, can you tell us?

MR. WILLIAMS: Well, in point of fact, USAID has since, I believe, just in this fiscal year, put in something like over $40 million in terms of direct assistance, and I believe the total -- if you include food and other subsidies -- has come to something like $93 million in terms of assistance into Kosovo itself.

And that has been a pattern which repeats basically what has gone on over the last five or six years.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Another question from Pristina. We remain in Pristina. Please go ahead once again.

Q: Mr. Williams, in October with the Holbrooke-Milosevic agreement, an agreement which is not functioning today, you have achieved to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo. But with the new military initiatives of Serbia and Kosovo, it might be inevitable to have another catastrophe. Do you think that you will have more catastrophes to deal with if a political agreement is not reached, a political solution that is?

MR. WILLIAMS: That is a very difficult question. I was in Kosovo in October, late October during the period that the Holbrooke discussions were taking place, and it was really fascinating to see immediately afterward -- there was some sense that there was at least going to be a cessation of hostilities -- how quickly the country began to come back to life.

Another thing that struck me was how episodic, and in terms of the geography events really were; that it was possible, in other words, there would be fighting or uncertainty in one area and more or less closer to normal activities in other areas. I don't know whether one can generalize too much from that, but certainly at this point we are optimistic.

In terms of the capacity to deal with the situation, regardless of which direction it takes, we are enormously better placed now than we were in the fall of last year. The organizations on the ground are much stronger, the food pipelines are much better situated, and the capacity to move food is much greater than it was. So this is not a direct answer as to whether or not there are going to be increased conflicts, but I think regardless of what happens, we certainly feel poised to deal with it more effectively.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Our speak (?) on the Rambouillet accords continues. Let's try to get our contact re-established now with Albania. Please go ahead once again at TV Tirana in Albania.

Q: Is there a coordinating plan of USAID with the European Union to rehabilitate the economy of Kosovo?

MR. WILLIAMS: The longer-term plans towards rehabilitation of the economy, I would have to believe -- and let me preface this by saying my organization has been primarily focusing upon humanitarian assistance -- so I cannot speak definitively to longer-term plans that touch upon reconstruction of the country as a whole.

Basically in terms of coordination, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been very much at the center of this in relation to the European Union, the efforts of governments and the efforts of non-governmental organizations. What lays down the road, however, I cannot really address.

MR. FOUCHEUX: And back to Albania again and TV Tirana. Please go ahead with another question.

Q: What is being done to help the displaced people now at this moment in Kosovo?

MR. WILLIAMS: There are considerable things being done. Let me just cite a few. For example, organizations have established up to a dozen mobile clinics. It became apparent, again during the late fall and early part of this year, that one of the main needs certainly was for the provision of medical services because of the destruction to the infrastructure and the displacement of so many people who otherwise would have been providing medical assistance. So there are now a dozen mobile clinics operating inside Kosovo.

Things like water and sanitation -- I do know that there was a period when there was considerable concern about the cleanliness of the drinking water in wells situated around the country, and a lot of testing has been done by members of the international community to determine those areas where in fact the water is pure and can be drunk.

In addition to that, I think the shelter issue has attracted a lot of attention, and considerable resources have gone into both temporary shelter and moving towards a posture of providing longer-term shelter. These are illustrations of what is being done.

MR. FOUCHEUX: TV Tirana, again please another question?

Q: How will the registration of these people be realized, since there are so many displaced people in Kosovo?

MR. WILLIAMS: That's an interesting question. I do know that registration has been an ongoing activity, in part through the Mother Teresa Society and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Just how these numbers are going to be used once peace is finally established -- in terms of dealing with that portion of the population that will be displaced for a longer period because of the, as I mentioned earlier, the extensive destruction of their homes -- I don't know. But there has been an ongoing process of re-registration through these two groups.

MR. FOUCHEUX: We return again to Albania and TV Tirana. Please go ahead once again. TV Tirana, could you please turn down your speakers and ask the question one more time?

Q: It has been said that there will be a special plan for holding elections nine months after the beginning of the implementation of the agreement. Do you think that the conditions are ready for holding new and democratic elections in Kosovo now?

MR. WILLIAMS: Frankly this is an issue that I don't feel competent to address, because obviously the humanitarian situation is still sort of problematic for a lot of people, and what the preconditions are for elections will be determined by others.

MR. FOUCHEUX: And again please Tirana. Please go ahead once again in Albania.

Q: Do you have a clear picture of the zones where the displaced people are located currently?

MR. WILLIAMS: The UNHCR certainly does. One of the things that they have been doing over the past several months is establishing as many regional offices as possible, with this certainly as one of their objectives, because as I am sure you know, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is charged with refugee protection, and in order to carry out that charge they have to be present. So they have been very scrupulous about trying to determine where the people are; and again, with assistance from the Mother Teresa Society, sort of monitoring their movements so as to be able to provide the humanitarian assistance in the places where it is needed.

MR. FOUCHEUX: And again TV Tirana, please help us continue with our special broadcast on the Rambouillet accords once again in Albania. (Technical difficulties.)

Mr. Williams, I believe we have lost the line for just a moment. Hopefully we'll get back with Albania. Let me ask you a question. You mentioned a moment ago the U.N. and the Mother Teresa Society. Will you be working with other NGOs as well?

MR. WILLIAMS: As always, yes. There are a very large number of NGOs in the area, and I think they have been very diligent in trying to provide assistance to the extent possible. On more than one occasion, they have had to evacuate for security reasons, but they have always come back. So there is a pattern. There is, as I mentioned earlier, there is a knowledge of the community. There is a relationship with the community, and there is a willingness. And these are very professional folks.

MR. FOUCHEUX: I know that you have been, and your office of course is all over the world doing these kinds of good works. Do you find the situation as far as receptivity any different at all in the Kosovo region?

MR. WILLIAMS: Receptivity on the part of --

MR. FOUCHEUX: Towards your aid, towards your help?

MR. WILLIAMS: Oh, it's been very positive consistently. And one of the heartening things about doing this kind of work is exactly the degree of receptivity that one experiences, because it isn't always clear whether what you are doing is even acknowledged. But there has definitely been an acknowledgement of it and a willingness to cooperate, and in fact be very inventive in terms of utilizing what it is we provide. We don't have all the answers, and without the cooperation of the people on the ground, we really wouldn't get very far.

MR. FOUCHEUX: That's right. But you manage to stay far enough away from the political and military issues, but you're just there to help out, and people realize that -- is that correct?

MR. WILLIAMS: That's very important in terms of neutrality and in a professional sense, and certainly in terms of the willingness of people on both sides of whatever the issue is to accept our assistance.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Great. We have with us now Ambassador Chris Hill, who was instrumental in the breakthrough on a possible agreement that came yesterday. Ambassador Hill, it's a pleasure to have you with us here in our studio. Actually you are remote for us today -- we are live in our studios here in Washington, and we appreciate you joining us. Congratulations on yesterday's agreement.

AMB. HILL: Well, thank you, but we are not there yet.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Do you have any idea when the Kosovar Albanians plan to sign the accord?

AMB. HILL: I don't know -- you'll have to ask them. At Rambouillet they told us, two weeks ago, that they would sign it in two weeks. So I think we are getting down to midnight on that, and we are expecting a signature in the next day or two.

MR. FOUCHEUX: All right, we have Pristina standing by now, some journalists there who are anxious to speak with you, Ambassador Hill, so let's go right to Pristina and have them begin their questioning. Please go ahead in Pristina.

Q: Ambassador Hill, this is -- (inaudible) -- with Radio -- (inaudible) -- in Pristina. Yesterday you met with KLA leaders and representatives in Kosovo, but you did not achieve to get a definite yes from them. When will this happen, and which are the conditions or points that have become an obstacle to sign the agreement of Rambouillet?

AMB. HILL: All right. Well, first of all, while you say I didn't achieve to get a yes, I think you have to speak to them and ask whether they are achieving to get a yes, because it's not my responsibility to get them to say yes; it's their responsibility, and in fact I might add it's also your responsibility to get them to say yes.

What are the obstacles? I am not really sure. Partly it seems to be a decisionmaking process where they have trouble deciding how they can give this yes. It's clear there is some opposition. On the other hand, they made it very clear to me that there is a great deal of support -- much more support for the agreement than there is opposition. So given that majority view, I would expect to see a yes soon, and I would expect to see a signature.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Go ahead once again in Pristina, another question from journalists there.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, I would like to know your opinion if NATO will reach a compromise with Serbia.

AMB. HILL: Well, let me stress that the agreement as drafted and as presented in Rambouillet is a very comprehensive agreement. And in Chapter Seven it calls for the presence of a NATO-led force in order to implement the agreement. And our very strong view is that this force has to remain a NATO-led force, and we are not interested in other institutions and any half-measures. We are interested in this particular agreement, that it be a NATO-led force, because we think that's what's necessary to make sure the other elements of the agreement are properly implemented.

I want to stress that this agreement is an entire package. You can't just choose one part of it. You can't just say, "I like the political side but I don't like the NATO-led force," or "I like the NATO-led force but I don't like the political side." It's an entire package. And I think when people think of it as an entire package, they'll understand it's true there are some compromises in it, but there are also some good things for them. And so I think if people, and when I say people I mean everybody -- Albanians and Serbs -- look at the entire package, I think they will agree it's a fair package.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Ambassador Hill, we also have Afradita Sakoli (ph) of TV Tirana standing by, and she has questions for you. Please go ahead at TV Tirana.

Q: Mr. Hill, how do you interpret General Solana's statement today on a more general security in the Balkans? Are we speaking of a different force that would ensure security in the Balkans, or what is this about?

AMB. HILL: Well, I am sorry I haven't seen Javier Solana's statement today about security in the Balkans, so I really don't want to comment on something I haven't read or haven't heard.

Let me say, though, with respect to the force that would come into Kosovo in the event of a peace agreement, it's very much the force that is described in Chapter 7 of the agreement.

There's also a NATO force in Macedonia, which is there to assist in the extraction of the OSCE verifiers. And of course NATO has a great interest in trying to contribute to Balkan security generally, and it is for this reason that NATO has various Partnership for Peace exercises, some of which have actually been conducted in Albania itself. So I am sorry I can't really respond to your question, because I haven't seen Mr. Solana's statement.

MR. FOUCHEUX: We continue in Albania once more at TV Tirana. Please go ahead, Afradita (ph).

Q: Ambassador Hill, how do you interpret Secretary Albright's statement that they will not wait for two more weeks until the Serbs decide to sign the agreement?

AMB. HILL: Well, we are expecting that when the Rambouillet process reconvenes in Paris on Monday, March 15th, we are expecting the sides quickly to come to a signature on the Rambouillet accords and then move on for a discussion on implementation; that is, a discussion of the mechanisms for implementation. We are not expecting a prolonged negotiation.

I think if the Albanian side arrives at the talks with a yes answer, and the Serb side arrives with a maybe answer, then I hope we can move very quickly to getting a full signing of these accords, and then get on with the task of implementing them. So I think the Secretary's point is that we do not intend to spend two very difficult weeks, as we did at Rambouillet, going through the text, because the text is already there.

MR. FOUCHEUX: All right. And we return to Pristina once again for more questions. Please go ahead once again in Pristina.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, this is -- (inaudible). Today we were in the Kacanik region, which is in the middle of the road that you go through every time you come to Kosovo from Macedonia. About 400 -- many, many citizens were separated -- the males were separated from the females after their houses were burned. Do you think that an intensification of violence in Kosovo will deteriorate the situation? And what steps can be undertaken by you to prevent further escalation of violence, since very few days are left to reach an agreement?

AMB. HILL: Well, obviously we are very concerned about the level of violence, especially the upsurge of violence in recent days. You are quite right, I go past the Kacanik area every day on my trips up to Pristina, and so it was rather surprising to me that in recent weeks Kacanik has also been beset by this violence, and I must say there was no problem before the Yugoslav army deployed to there. So I think we have a problem with compliance -- with compliance of the October agreement. In fact, I am here in Belgrade right now, and I have been joined here in Belgrade by Ambassador Holbrooke, and we are going to have a discussion about compliance with Mr. Milosevic tomorrow -- and to stress the fact that we absolutely need compliance -- and frankly the fact that we will insist on it.

I do believe, though, that the best thing to do for these -- to deal with this situation -- is to have a peace agreement, and we are going to move ahead quickly with this peace agreement. We want to get both sides to sign up. We are hopeful that the Kosovo Albanian side will sign very quickly. And once that's done we are hopeful we can get the Serb side to sign as well, and we will be moving on very quickly, because getting to a peace agreement with a full implementation mechanism is the best way to stop this violence.

MR. FOUCHEUX: And, ambassador, we return once again to Albania and TV Tirana.

Q: Mr. Hill, what do you expect to achieve in Holbrooke's meeting with Milosevic tomorrow, having in mind Vujanovic's statements that the meetings with the KLA must be stopped?

AMB. HILL: Well, I'm sorry I haven't seen Mr. Vujanovic's statements. We are concerned about the compliance situation on the ground. We are also concerned about getting progress and making an agreement on the Rambouillet accords. And we will be stressing both those facts as we meet with Milosevic tomorrow.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Ambassador, we are about to run out of time for our program here today. I wonder if I could ask you for a quick closing comment or two, however, sort of to wrap things up for our program?

AMB. HILL: Do you have a specific question, or do you just want me to comment more generally?

MR. FOUCHEUX: There are a lot of things going on. We know that you have a big meeting tomorrow and things went well yesterday so far. Are you hopeful?

AMB. HILL: We still have a ways to go. I met with some KLA leaders yesterday, and they indicated that their general staff is really prepared to have the agreements signed. But it is clear that they are not yet ready to sign. Frankly, I would like them to move ahead on this. I really think that the sooner we get this signature the better. And my soundings in Kosovo are that the public there, with a great majority, supports the peace accords and very much wants to have this interim accord implemented.

So I hope the KLA will certainly listen to the people on this and will proceed and put their signature on it so that we can get the signature of all three members of the collective presidency that took part in the Rambouillet accords, so then we can get on with the task of getting the Serbs to say yes. And the Serbs also are very resistant to signing the accords. They don't like the NATO-led force; they don't even like some of the political aspects of the accords. I feel that they can be brought around to accepting them. I believe that the NATO -led force is in everyone's interests, including theirs, and I think with a little more pushing on this we can get to a yes on both sides.

MR. FOUCHEUX: Christopher Hill, it's hard work that you are doing there. We thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.

I am afraid that's all the time we have for our show today. I would also like to thank Roy Williams, director of USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, for joining us today. I hope you will be able to be with us again sometime soon.

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you very much.

MR. FOUCHEUX: And thanks to all of you for joining us this same time tomorrow as we continue our discussion on humanitarian assistance with Assistant Secretary of State Julia Taft. In Washington, I'm Rick Foucheux. Good day.

(End transcript)