- Date of the event
- Place
- Château de Rambouillet
- Evidence status
- Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.
From 6 to 23 February 1999 the Contact Group brought the Albanian and Yugoslav/Serbian delegations together at the Château de Rambouillet. The conference ended with a draft “Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo”.
The conference was co-chaired by the UK and French foreign ministers, with negotiators from the US, the EU and Russia (Hill, Petritsch, Mayorski). The Kosovo Albanian delegation, with Hashim Thaçi as spokesman, said it would sign within two weeks; the FRY/Serbian delegation did not accept the draft [1] [2].
Sources give slightly different dates (HRW: 6–22 February). The ICTY Chamber found no basis in the evidence to conclude that the FRY/Serbian delegation was at that stage any less committed to peace — unlike the State Department's public account at the time [1].
Historical context
1999
From the Reçak massacre to the entry of KFOR: six months that saw failed negotiations, NATO's intervention, the mass expulsion of Albanians and crimes documented by international courts.
Read the chapter “1999: Reçak, expulsions and the end of the war”Sources
- [1]Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (ICTY). Prosecutor v. Milutinović et al., Judgement, Volume 1 of 4. 2009-02-26. IT-05-87-T. https://www.icty.org/x/cases/milutinovic/tjug/en/jud090226-e1of4.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16. — paras 353–389; para. 389
- [2]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [3]Departamenti i Shtetit i SHBA-së (faqja arkivore 1997–2001). Rambouillet Agreement: Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo. https://1997-2001.state.gov/regions/eur/ksvo_rambouillet_text.html. Accessed 2026-09-16.