Ukraine attempts to play mediator in Kosovo conflict (04/04/99)

Ukraine attempts to play mediator in Kosovo conflict

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on March 30 that the country's initiative to mediate the Kosovo conflict would take time to develop and that the lack of a quick response from the Yugoslav leadership did not mean the effort had failed.

"While the effort of Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk continues, we do not consider the effort a failure," said a ministry spokesperson.

Mr. Tarasyuk and Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk flew to Belgrade, the capital of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on March 26 to offer Ukraine's services as a mediator between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and NATO, and to promte negotiations between the two sides to find a resolution to the Kosovo conflict.

Stating that Ukraine is uniquely suited for such a mission as a Slavic nation with ties to NATO, President Leonid Kuchma ordered the two ministers to establish a line of communication, with the Yugoslav leadership earlier that week.

The visit was the first official outside contact with the Serbian leadership by any country since NATO began bombing Kosovo and the Serb Republic on March 24, after Mr. Milosevic failed to heed NATO warnings to cease military operations in its southern region, whose large Albanian minority is seeking independence.

After meeting with the Yugoslav president on March 26, however, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission returned to Kyiv with little to show for their effort.

At Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv the Ukrainian foreign affairs minister would say only that time is needed to resolve the crisis. "One should not expect wonders, hoping that such a complex problem as Kosovo may be resolved within two or three hours," Reuters quoted Mr. Tarasyuk as saying.

While Secretary General Javier Solana, speaking from NATO Headquarters in Brussels, called the Ukrainian project fruitless, the head of the Euro-Atlantic department of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Mr. Solana's pronouncement was premature until Mr. Milosevic rejects the Ukrainian proposal.

"It is now up to Yugoslavia to respond," said Volodymyr Biloshov.

Ukraine has stated that it would mediate a peace conference in Kyiv between NATO and Belgrade, with the stipulation that the two sides agree to cease all aggressive acts.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry officials would not divulge details of the proposal, but Mr. Biloshov said Ukraine had offered a 10-point proposal that was not based on any Contact Group demands and that the Ukrainian side believed the talks should not be limited in scope.

"Our effort is of a neutral and non-involved country. We want to look openly at the proposals of all the involved sides," said Mr. Biloshov.

Mr. Biloshov underscored that Ukraine was acting on its own initiative and was not guided by either NATO, as had been reported earlier, or by Russia, which has condemned NATO air strikes and broken off relations with the alliance. Mr. Biloshov stated that Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Ivanov had welcomed the Ukrainian mediation effort.

Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov visited Belgrade on March 30 and announced that Mr. Milosevic had agreed to meet NATO at the negotiating table, but only after the Atlantic alliance ceased its bombing raids - an offer that NATO rejected outrightly.

President Kuchma, who has condemned NATO for launching air strikes without first seeking United Nations Security Council approval, flew to Slovenia, an independent state that once was part of Yugoslavia, on a previously scheduled working visit the same day that the Russian prime minister was in Belgrade.

In Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital, the Kosovo conflict and Ukraine's possible role in resolving it were at the center of discussions between President Kuchma and his Slovenian counterpart, Milan Kucan.

Mr. Kuchma reasserted that Ukraine "is carrying on its mission," according to Interfax-Ukraine.

"Ukraine is not exaggerating its possibilities; it merely wishes to actively help in the negotiating process," said President Kuchma.

The Ukrainian president also said he had an official invitation to visit President Milosevic, but that he had no immediate plans to travel to Belgrade, unless there was a real possibility that his presence there would help bring the Yugoslavia to the negotiating table.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tarasyuk, continuing Ukrainian shuttle diplomacy aimed at mediating the Kosovo conflict, flew to the capital cities of Germany, France and England, three major NATO allies, while President Kuchma was in Slovenia, to brief them on his visit to Belgrade.

The next day he flew to Oslo to meet with Norwegian leaders. This year Norway holds the revolving chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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