Bracing for the Backlash
In the hours before the onset of the NATO attacks Kosovo collapsed into a state of fear. This was a time for survival, and Albanians were trying to find shelter against the inevitable reprisals.
In the hours before the onset of the NATO attacks Kosovo collapsed into a state of fear. This was a time for survival, and Albanians were trying to find shelter against the inevitable reprisals.
While senior figures both inside government and in the opposition continue to squabble like village politicians, Albania verges closer towards a direct involvement in the war.
The start of the second round of talks in Paris was marked by a sudden escalation in violence in Kosovo, with bombs in two busy Kosovo towns and a major influx of Serbian forces.
Belgrade's attack on the media in Serbia has been successful. No opposition views are possible, and Serbia now speaks with one voice, that of Slobodan Milosevic.
The long-running fight between the pro- and anti-Belgrade blocs in Montenegro has a new partisan, the Yugoslav Army, which has sided against the current Western-oriented leadership.
Senior KLA sources in Albania say the KLA leader finally signed the peace-keeping deal in a secret ceremony in Kosovo.
The prospect of a sudden agreement is all but unimaginable and Kosovo Albanians are trying to adjust psychologically and practically to a radical shift from war to peace.
As the high-stakes effort to get agreement from Belgrade and the KLA continued, so did the war.