Ahern reaction
Irish troops could join a UN-mandated force in Kosovo, the Taoiseach said last night.
Speaking to journalists at the Cologne EU summit, Mr Ahern said the mood of fellow leaders, notably the NATO members, was "very upbeat". There was "a real and substantial possibility of a settlement". President Ahtisaari was convinced that a strategic decision had been taken to accept the deal. Asked if Ireland would take part in an international force once a UN Security Council mandate had been secured for it, Mr Ahern said the sort of operation involved made that a serious possibility.
"If we're in the business of peacekeeping - and here the issue is the safe return of all refugees and deportees, complete access to Kosovo by humanitarian organisations with the international security presence being involved - then I think that's the kind of position and force that we should certainly look at." Patrick Smyth in Cologne
Russia split
Russian communists and nationalists reacted to the peace agreement with fury and, despite official denials, Moscow sources insist there are deep divisions in the Russian team which returned from Belgrade last night.
Itar-Tass and NTV reported that the Russian military believe Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin exceeded his brief by conceding Russia's earlier position that there could no peace deal until NATO's bombing campaign stopped. The generals are also understood to oppose any suggestion that Russian soldiers should operate under a unified NATO command.
Somewhat predictably, the first shots against the peace deal were fired verbally by ultra-nationalist Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky. "Yugoslavia is being surrendered by Chernomyrdin," he said and added that he would propose a Duma vote of no confidence in the special envoy.
Communist deputies said they would support the no-confidence motion. The joint strength of co mmunists, nationalists and their allies give them a leadership role in the lower house but the Duma's credibility has been considerably diminished following its acceptance of Mr Yeltsin's new Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Stepashin. By Seamus Martin
China silent
Yugoslavia's acceptance of an international peace plan for Kosovo meets one of two conditions imposed by China for not using its veto at the UN Security Council. The other is a halt to the NATO bombing.
Though the plan has been endorsed by the Yugoslavia parliament and by Mr Slobodan Milosevic, China is unlikely to give its enthusiastic backing to the use of NATO troops in the sovereign territory of an ally, a formula which would have implications for China if unrest occurred in Tibet.
The news came too late last night for official comment. China yesterday regretted that the International Court of Justice did not order an immediate halt of NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Zhu Bangzao said China noted that the court's presiding judge said it has declared its "profound concern" over the use of force in Yugoslavia, "which under the pre sent circumstances raises very serious issues of international law." By Conor O'Clery in Beijing
KLA future
The Kosovo Liberation Army will endorse the a peace plan submitted to Belgrade, the KLA's political leader, Mr Hashim Thaci, told German ZDF television last night.
"The KLA is ready to contribute to the political and military transformation" in Kosovo, Mr Thaci said. He did not say whether the KLA was about to lay down its weapons. Mr Thaci has retained his title of Prime Minister of a provisional government set up in a rare show of unity by Kosovo's disparate ethnic Albanian factions following the failed peace talks in Paris.
Earlier in the day, a KLA spokesman called on NATO to pursue its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, saying it does not believe President Milosevic was accepting the peace plan.
Mr Milosevic's announcement is a "new ruse to divide the international community," the KLA spokesman in Germany, Mr Sabri Kicmari said. The KLA expects NATO "not to halt its bombings as long as all Serbian forces have not been withdrawn from Kosovo," he added. If Mr Milosevic pulls out all Serbian units and accepts the deployment of an international presence in Kosovo there should be peace rapidly, Mr Kicmari said.
Irish refugees react
Refugees in Ireland were not impressed by the apparent imminent arrival of peace, though there was a round of applause at the Munster joinery factory in Ballydesmond on the Cork/Kerry border, where 20 Kosovan men are working, once news filtered through that Mr Milosevic had finally agreed to the peace plan.
However, four of the refugees, now living in Killarney, as well as a number of those who have found a new home at Drishane Castle in Millstreet, North Cork, said last night that Mr Milosevic could not be trusted.
Father of four Mr Xhavit Dragobuzhda, from the village of Gjihan, in South Kosovo, said he never trusted Mr Milosevic. "I would trust a dog more than him. Our only hope is that NATO will send in at least 5,000 troops and that this will give us enough protection to go back. There is talk about Russian troops; but even if one Russian soldier was brought in, I for one would not go back."
Brothers Arsim and Agim Sahiti, from South Kosovo, said they were hopeful the international community would put so much pressure on Mr Milsoevic that the peace deal would last. By Dick Hogan in Cork.