>>Roger Boyes on a 'stability pact' that could benefit the Balkans in an
>>expanded EU
>>GERMANY LOOKS BEYOND COMBAT FOR LONG-TERM BENEFIT
>>WAR - vivid, simple and telegenic - supplants domestic political issues and
>>squats like a fat toad on all debates. No one doubts that this week's
>>European summit in Cologne will be more about Kosovo than about
>>unemployment.
>>There are rows going on, above all between Germany and France; there are
>>tricky decisions to be taken (for example, over who should be the human
>>face of European foreign policy); there are Banquo-like absentees (the
>>European Commission); and buried underground there is a European election
>>campaign. All of this counts for little compared with the videotaped view
>>from the pilot's cockpit, the contorted faces of refugees, or the
>>emotionally charged argument about the deployment of ground troops.
>>Beyond war, war, beyond jaw, jaw, an interesting German-led strategy is
>>taking shape. Sadly, nobody has been paying attention. Germany is playing a
>>modest military role in the war and although it is reluctant to supply an
>>offensive ground force, it will help to implement a peace deal. This is
>>new, although no longer remarkable. More significant is Germany's readiness
>>to leave the leadership of the war to the Americans, and at a stretch the
>>British, while quietly carving out its own leadership role for the postwar
>>Balkans. Bonn fears that it will end up paying for the war and wants at
>>least the postwar settlement to be on its terms.
>>The key to this is the "stability pact" for southeast Europe that is being
>>cobbled together by the diplomats of Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister.
>>Herr Fischer last week suggested that European Union membership eventually
>>be offered to Albania, Europe's poorest country, and to all the republics
>>of the former Yugoslavia, including a democratically governed Serbia.
>>The ideas put in circulation at the Bonn meeting last week were still in
>>the realms of science fiction. Could Kosovo, with EU help, be transformed
>>from subsistence farming to a land of olive growers? By modernising Albania
>>rapidly, prosperity could spill over the border, enriching Kosovo and
>>lessening its dependency on Serbia.
>>Speeding up Bulgarian and Romanian entry to the EU could also create a
>>magnet of prosperity. The close neighbourhood of a flourishing pro-Western
>>economy could only encourage the pro-Western modernisers in Serbia.Germans
>>are ready in prin-ciple at least to bankroll the recovery, if only to keep
>>at bay hundreds of thousands of refugees from the war zone.
>>The Central Europeans fought for years for grudging access to Western
>>markets. The process was made difficult to preserve the exclusivity of the
>>European Union. Now the EU is beginning to lose that special status. Soon,
>>much sooner than anyone had anticipated, the Union will be less of a
>>gentleman's club and more like a noisy discothèque with ineffectual
>>bouncers.
>>----
>>Tom Walker reports from Qafa Prushit on activity inside KLA territory near
>>the border with Albania
>>NATO SURVEYS ROUTE FOR INVASION
>>NATO reconnaissance teams are increasingly being seen near Albanian border
>>areas controlled by the Kosovo Liberation Army, leading international
>>observers to believe that the alliance is routing plans for an invasion
>>through corridors well-trodden by the guerrillas.
>>Monitors with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
>>working in the northern Albania border towns of Bajran Curri, Krume and
>>Kukes have noticed increased Nato activity in their areas over the past few
>>days. Those working in the lawless, bandit-ridden Bajran Curri area even
>>witnessed an Albanian army helicopter flying senior German and American
>>officers from allied headquarters in Belgium, into the town from where
>>American Humvee transport vehicles have been seen driving along difficult
>>tracks towards KLA border camps at Papaj and Padesh.
>>There is not believed to be any formalised direct contact between the KLA
>>commanders and Nato reconnaissance teams. Officially, the American army has
>>a training and co-operation programme with the Albanian army, which has
>>positions on the same route. But the Humvees have been seen far beyond the
>>most-advanced Albanian positions, closer to the KLA corridor being forged
>>from Padesh through the former Serb stronghold of Kasare and down towards
>>the western Kosovo plain.
>>As Nato moved in, some OSCE observers have admitted that the international
>>monitoring organisation is thinking of moving out. Over the weekend,
>>stability along the entire border zone deteriorated markedly, as thousands
>>of new KLA recruits flooded into the guerrilla camp from their training
>>bases further south in Albania. OSCE observers in Krume said that they had
>>seen at least 6,000 KLA soldiers on the move over the past three days.
>>There are believed to be about 10,000 in the KLA zone of operation
>>stretching from Padesh in the north to the Morine crossing near Kukes.
>>There was sporadic but intense shelling by Yugoslavian tanks and artillery,
>>trying to pick out KLA forward bases at Cahan and Vlahene on either side of
>>Pastrik mountain, the dominant feature of the border east of Prizren. At
>>one point, the KLA appeared to be making significant advances, taking the
>>Serb border post of Gorazhub - bombed weeks ago by Nato - and occupying the
>>nearby village of Malaj. But on Saturday afternoon, the Serbs hit back,
>>cutting off further KLA advances by firing two rockets towards Cahan, which
>>on detonation dropped thousands of mines around the KLA base.
>>One monitor said that KLA military police were stopping the OSCE from
>>driving up the mountain track to Cahan. Yesterday in Kukes, the KLA helped
>>to organise a refugee convoy south to new camps around Fier and Vlore. A
>>week ago the KLA, like the United Nations refugee agency, was opposed to
>>Nato's wish for the Kukes camps to be closed, but the latest KLA action
>>suggests that Nato may have persuaded senior commanders that the camps will
>>be better used by Nato troops later in the summer.