Deputy Chief of Mission Discusses OSCE's Role in Kosovo in a Book

Gabriel Keller book

Gabriel Keller, a French diplomat who served as ambassador to Serbia, who is also deputy chief of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo, has published a book in which he provides numerous facts, but also his own impressions of the work of the OSCE Mission, actions by individuals and local and international institutions more than 20 years ago that ended in the failure of the Mission and the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia.

In his book, Vers la guerre au Kosovo - Octobre 1998 - Mai 1999, (which can broadly be translated as, Kosovo Moves Toward War, October 1998 - May 1999) Keller talks about the events that followed the conference in Rambouillet, including the establishment of the Mission, key events in Kosovo, the Racak affair and other events in and around Kosovo.

"This is a story about my experiences in the international mission, whose official, proclaimed goals were to protect the chance of peace, but whose members didn't share the same motives. This period, which ended in the bombing of Yugoslavia, sparked many comments and publications that often seemed untrue and biased to me," the diplomat told BETA on Jan. 31.