Military

DATE=11/07/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=OWEN / BALKANS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-268934

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The former international peace negotiator for Bosnia Herzegovina, David Owen, says stability in the Balkans depends on redrawing some of the region's boundaries. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports Mr. Owen says the international community must hold final status talks leading to the possible independence of Kosovo as soon as possible.

TEXT: Former Bosnian peace negotiator David Owen says he is worried about a growing rift between the European Union (E-U) and the United States over granting independence to Kosovo. He says it is important to prevent the rift.

Mr. Owen notes that the United States is more receptive to the idea of granting Kosovo independence than is the European Union. He urges the Europeans to be less rigid about its position, which rules out negotiations on boundary changes of the former Yugoslavia.

Mr. Owen says the European Union would like to delay final status talks on Kosovo for a long time. But he says the United States would like the negotiations to start relatively soon.

/// OWEN ACT ///

I am actually quite sympathetic to the American position and have been for quite a while. I just think that what people have gone through in Kosovo makes independence something which you inescapably,... [must] ... face up to, even whether or not you eventually come up with a solution for independence. And then I think you actually do face the issue of; what is the alternative of not granting independence?

/// END ACT ///

In Mr. Owen's view, the alternative to not granting independence to Kosovo is continued instability in the region. If NATO remains in Kosovo for a very long time, he says it eventually will be regarded as an occupying force by the Kosovars and will be in what he calls - the firing line.

Mr. Owen notes that the hard-line leaders who perpetuated the Balkan wars are gone. He says this is a good time for the region's new leaders and the international community to negotiate boundary changes. But, he says governments must understand Kosovo can not be granted independence in isolation. That, says Mr. Owen, has to be done in the context of an overall Balkan settlement.

/// 2ND OWEN ACT ///

It has to be done, at least a readiness to consider some territorial boundary changes. And, the obvious one, the rational one would be to let some of the obstreperous, difficult people in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the so-called Pale Serbs, in shorthand terms, come out and be part of Serbia.

/// END ACT ///

In other words, Mr. Owen says the Serbian people will not reconcile themselves to the loss of Kosovo if they do not gain some territory from Republika Srpska in Bosnia Herzegovina. He says there is a certain inevitability to Kosovo independence. He notes history shows that people who are determined to achieve independence will fight for it and eventually achieve it. (SIGNED)

NEB/LS/GE/RAE