Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, February 24, 1999, Page 7, Image 7

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    World News
Progress made in Kosovo talks
By Barry Schweid
The Associated Press
RAMBOUILLET, France —
Serbs agreed in principle Tuesday
to give limited self-rule to majority
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, but
the two sides failed after 17 days
of intense negotiations to con
clude a deal for ending their year
long conflict. More talks were
scheduled for March as a new
round of violence shook the
province.
The partial settlement puts on
hold, at least temporarily, NATO’s
threats to bomb Serb targets if they
don’t adopt the complex plan that
would force them to withdraw
troops from Kosovo and accept
NATO peacekeepers.
After four days of strenuous per
sonal diplomacy, shuttling between
the two sides and even enlisting the
help of 1996 GOP presidential can
didate Bob Dole, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright accepted less
than she had insisted on.
There was no agreement on de
ploying NATO peacekeepers in
the tense province to enforce the
settlement, and the Serbs refused
to give their consent to major ele
ments of the self-rule sought by
the ethnic Albanians.
According to senior U.S. offi
cials, the Serbs still insist on Ser
bian courts for Serbs accused of
crimes, refuse to permit the ethnic
Albanians to have a president and
are unwilling to cooperate with a
war crimes tribunal looking into
atrocities against civilians com
mitted during the war that has
claimed some 2,000 lives.
“But we have broken the stale
mate that hung over Kosovo for so
long,” Albright said.
The Albanians also hedged.
They were given two weeks for
“consultations" with people in
the province, and still are insist
ing on a referendum to vote for in
dependence and secession from
Serbia at the end of the three-year
autonomy trial period envisioned
by the accord formulated by the
United States, Britain, France,
Italy, Germany and Russia.
The settlement also calls for a
restoration of the cease-fire that
was arranged by U.S. envoy
Richard Holbrooke last October
and for the staged removal of Ser
bian troops and special police units
— but only after a NATO force is
deployed to enforce the agreement.
In order to put a halt to the pro
tracted negotiations, which ran
through two deadlines, the ethnic
Albanians and Serbs agreed to an
other round of talks in France, be
ginning March 15.
In Washington, President Clinton
noted that NATO Secretary-General
Javier Solana still “has the authority
in his pocket now” to order
airstrikes. “That depends upon the
actions ofthe Serbs,” he said. “What
we need is continued restraint. ”
“I believe that the Kosovar Al
banian people will strongly sup
port what their negotiators have
done, because the agreement rep
resents the opportunity for a bet
ter life after years Of repression
and fear,” Clinton said in a state
ment issued by the White House
later.
At the same time, he warned,
“the Serbs should be prepared to
return to the negotiations on
March 15 with a commitment to
sign the full agreement.”
British Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook, who co-chaired the talks
with French Foreign Minister Hu
bert Vedrine, said: “We have done
a lot here even if we have not done
enough.”
U.N. recommends marijuana research
By Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — In-depth
and impartial scientific studies
should be conducted into marijua
na's possible medical benefits, a
U.N. report recommended Tues
day.
Only scientific evidence from
the public and private sector can
end tlie emotion-charged political
debate over using cannabis for pa
tients, said Herbert S. Okun, a
member of the International Drug
Control Board.
He stressed, however, that the
board wasn’t recommending eas
ing controls on marijuana. The Vi
enna-based board is a 13-member,
quasi-judicial organization over
seeing implementation of U.N.
drug treaties.
Among the other findings, the
board’s annual report said Euro
peans are the world’s top users of
stress-reducing drugs, while
Americans hold the record for
consuming the most performance
enhancing substances.
While the reasons for such a dis
parity weren’t known, Okun told a
news conference Monday that it
may lie in culture, lifestyle and
other forces.
The aging European population
has access to more extensive
health care systems, which may be
more willing to prescribe drugs to
reduce aches and pains, he noted.
The high use of performance
enhancing drugs in the Americas
may be at least partly explained by
the prevalent sense of competition
there, the report indicated.
In particular, Okun said the
board was concerned about over
prescription in the United States
of methylphenidate, sold as the
drug Ritalin, to treat children with
attention deficit disorder.
American patients are consum
ing 330 million daily doses of the
substance compared to 65 million
for patients in the rest of the world,
the report found.
The agency also warned that
more and more North Americans
are smoking heroin and said Eu
rope has emerged as a producer of
cannabis and synthetic drugs.
Cannabis continues to be the most
commonly abused illegal drug in
the United States, Canada and
Mexico.
The report expressed concern
about the prevalence of do-it-your
self guides on the Internet, which
teach users how to prepare certain
illegal substances.
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