NATO secretary-general Javier Solana

Date: 25/06/1998

this week told Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova to resume talks with the Yugoslav government immediately, without conditions. He also told Rugova that outright independence for Kosovo was out of the question. His remarks were designed to show Belgrade and Moscow that NATO was not being manipulated by Kosovo insurgents. But Rugova, whose effective leadership of Kosovo's Albanians is under question, seemed unrepentant. “Kosovo has the right to become independent because it is part of a country which has dissolved,” he said.