By Barnaby Mason
BBCApril 11, 2001
Foreign ministers of the six-nation Contact Group are meeting in Paris to co-ordinate their policies in the Balkans - in particular how to prevent another outbreak of ethnic fighting in Macedonia. The group - made up of the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - will also discuss tensions in Kosovo, Bosnia and Montenegro, and the situation in Yugoslavia after the arrest of former President Slobodan Milosevic.
The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, will also have separate meetings with French leaders and the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, before travelling on to the Balkans. The key aim of the western nations will be to engage with Russia and make sure that its special links with the Balkan Slavs reinforce stability rather than undermine it.
Clamp down on separatism
On Macedonia, the message the foreign ministers will want to send is that they will not let this latest conflict get out of hand. They will back the multi-ethnic government of Macedonia and condemn separatism and border changes, while urging further efforts to meet the grievances of the Albanian minority. That was also the message of the European Union on Monday when it signed an association agreement with Macedonia.
The Russians criticise the West for allegedly encouraging ethnic Albanian guerrilla movements in the past, but that will not find its way into any communique.
Agreement on what should now happen to Mr Milosevic may be harder to reach. The United States played a key role in speeding up his arrest and is keeping up the pressure on Belgrade to hand him over to the international war crimes tribunal.
Russia will be reluctant to endorse such a direct call, and other European countries, such as Britain, think a trial first in Serbia would be valuable.
Americans under pressure
The Contact Group will also review policy on Kosovo and discuss tensions in Montenegro, where elections this month may lead to a referendum on independence. The ministers are expected to condemn attempts by Bosnian Croat nationalists to break away from their federation with the Muslims in defiance of the Dayton agreement.
European fears that the new administration in Washington would quickly disengage from the Balkans have been allayed. But there are strains over other aspects of President Bush's policy, especially his abandoning of the Kyoto treaty on climate change and his determination to press ahead with ambitious programmes of anti-missile defence.
Those issues will feature in separate meetings that Colin Powell is having with the French President and Prime Minister, and with the Russian Foreign Minister.
