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US wartime envoy to Kosovo, Christopher Hill, continues his testimony in The Hague today
2025-11-12 09:57:02 / KOSOVA
The US special envoy during the war in Kosovo, Christopher Hill, will continue his testimony today in the trial of former KLA leaders before the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
Hill began his testimony two days ago, explaining how he began to deal with the Kosovo issue. He said it was a request from former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright that she made to him at the time.
" First, I got involved (in the Kosovo issue) from the US in May 1998, I got a call from Madeline Albright asking me to take over the post of special envoy to Kosovo, where I reported to the Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. I understood my role that we had to provide support and political solutions and we had to help empty the forces there from the growing violence, I tried with my colleagues from the very beginning to be able to build an autonomy plan in order to restore Kosovo's autonomy and in such a way that it had its own government. This was the main track that we followed with Kosovo and Serbia ," he initially said.
In addition, Hill also clarified the meeting between former president Ibrahim Rugova and Milosevic, saying that this meeting was a request from Ambassador Holbrooke.
“ This was the first time Ambassador Holbrooke went to Pristina, I went with him, and we sat down with President Rugova, and although we hadn’t thought about it beforehand, the ambassador thought it would be a good idea for President Rugova to meet with Milosevic in Belgrade because he hoped that this meeting would solve a lot of problems, I was more skeptical. The meeting took place in Belgrade in late May or early June. I think that hurt him because he didn’t think there was a strong opinion in Kosovo that a meeting with Milosevic could help the situation in Kosovo, he was concerned but he didn’t want to be in a situation where he was rejecting a suggestion from the ambassador. Rugova was the informal leader of all of Kosovo and he felt that opposition to him was growing because he felt that he wasn’t making progress. He was having a hard time legitimizing his leadership and feeling like he had achieved something in relation to Serbia, because Bosnia had a way out thanks to the Dayton agreement ,” Hill said.
Hill also recalled his first meeting with former President Hashim Thaçi and the first impressions he gave him during this meeting.
Hill says that after meeting with Thaçi, he had the impression that Thaçi was better suited to a university environment than a military one.
The American diplomat added that from his meeting with Thaçi, he did not have the impression that Thaçi led and had the KLA under control.
“ I remember the first meeting (with Thaçi), but I don’t remember because I said we were sitting on the ground, because I remember we were sitting on some benches, and I remember them coming with guns in their hands and I remember me saying ‘we don’t feel comfortable negotiating with people who have guns in their hands’, and then I asked them to keep their guns outside the house. He spoke softly, thoughtfully and I remember the impression that he was more suited to a university environment than a military environment. He was among the three people who came, but I didn’t get the impression that he was in control (of the KLA) ,” Hill said.
Hill continues his testimony today from 9:00 a.m.
We recall that Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi have been in detention since November 2020, accused of alleged war crimes to which they have pleaded not guilty. /KosovaPress
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