The Kosovo agreement

The tense atmosphere, akin to that on the eve of war, dispersed with a glimmer of hope. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization approved air strikes as an ultimatum to Yugoslavia. But the worst scenario now seems to have been averted. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic yielded to U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke. The prospect of a solution in the ethnic conflict over Kosovo in southern Yugoslavia has thus emerged. We hope this will result in a final solution.

We cannot approve "liberation" by force. Negotiations on the restoration of self-rule must be renewed, if only to prevent the use of force. Milosevic must recognize his responsibility to see to this.

Serb nationalists argue that Kosovo is historically hallowed ground. If all the sacred places of hundreds of years ago were to be recognized as sacrosanct, there could be no national boundaries drawn in Europe.

Nationalism is an anachronism. Persisting in the practice brings joy to neither protagonists nor opponents. Unless reasonable Serbs recognize this, there can be no solution to the problem.

If President Milosevic breaks his word, the problem will be back where it started. The matter is not yet settled, but we must hope the course of events runs for the better.

-- The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo