This document in no way advocates any specific option but rather it seeks to enhance the policy debate. While there were mixed signals from Milosevic on whether he would accept the political settlement outlined in the Rambouillet accords, the stated refusal to sign the agreement was due to the military provisions. Serbs feared independence would be inevitable at the end of the three-year period. The Rambouillet accords allowed for the presence of some Serbian forces in Kosovo, a provision that the Albanians may no longer accept. Given the level of brutality experienced during the past few weeks, some doubt whether the Kosovar Albanians can ever again live under Serb rule.
Independence is, therefore, receiving wider consideration.
A protectorate implies outsiders providing security and assuming some control over the administration of Kosovo. The international community would establish criteria for final determination of status, i.e. creation of democratic institutions, protection of human and civil rights, etc. There are many different partition possibilities. Milosevic was widely believed before the NATO air strikes to be prepared to settle for a partition of Kosovo in which about two-thirds of the province would remain under Serb control. According to the 1991 census, there were five municipalities in Kosovo with a Serb majority, three that were contiguous with Serbia in the north and two that were contiguous with Macedonia in the south.