from the UN website

February 23, 1999

Judge Gabrielle MacDonald, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, has expressed concern about reports from Rambouillet that an explicit reference to the Tribunal has been cut out of the text of a possible agreement on Kosovo.

Speaking to reporters in the Hague on Monday, Ms. MacDonald said she had heard that a paragraph stating that Tribunal investigators should have complete, unimpeded, and unfettered access had been amended, removing the explicit reference to the investigators.

Judge MacDonald described the amendment as "shortsighted and dangerous". She said a peace deal would not curtail the parties' obligations to the Tribunal and a reference to it should be explicit in any agreement. Judge MacDonald said that she would be writing to members of the Contact Group to notify them of her concerns