American diplomat Christopher Hill, in an interview, said that Slobodan Milosevic was never willing to make any compromise regarding Kosovo.
Hill reflected on the challenges of negotiations and the decisions of that period.
“He helped us in Bosnia, but he never accepted any compromise for Kosovo – he was not a reliable partner. Sometimes you don’t have many choices; they are not ideal, but they are what you have. I worked hard on a political solution after Rambouillet. I did not always succeed, but I did my best. The use of force creates other problems, and I blame Milosevic because he did not want to work with us, but no one should ever be happy about the use of force,” Hill said in the interview.
According to Hill, this led the situation to a very dangerous point and highlighted the difficulty of international diplomacy in finding a solution without resorting to force.
“He has died now, so it is easier to talk about leaders who are no longer among us. I think he was willing to find a solution in Bosnia and indeed he helped us on the Bosnian issue. He was not willing for Kosovo — not at all to find a solution, and that is why we ended up in a dangerous situation in Kosovo, which could have escalated even further. When he said he would do things, he generally did, but you never felt you had a partner. I think we have made considerable progress with Serbia, but they have major energy problems because they depend on Russia, which uses energy as a weapon. It is important to help Serbia move away from this threat. I have also worked a lot on Serbia–Ukraine relations, but there are issues that still require continued work,” Hill stated.
Hill also spoke about his decision to testify at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague as a witness invited by the defense of former President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi.
Hill said that the decision to testify was a moral responsibility.
“He didn’t ask me for support. I spoke with some people because I felt it was a moral responsibility, and I truly believe it is a moral responsibility. I was there, in different places in Kosovo, not only in Prishtina — I was in all the villages where war crimes had occurred. But at that time, I did not know of any crime for which I could say that Thaçi was responsible. He has now been in detention for about five years, and I felt it was a moral duty to go to The Hague, which I did. I spent three days testifying, and at times it was difficult because the prosecutor was quite harsh. But I felt it was unjust to keep him there. My concern was that during the war, I saw many things, but I never saw Hashim Thaçi kill people or give orders for people to be killed — I saw nothing of the sort. And when I was asked to testify, I accepted,” Hill said.
The ambassador also highlighted the importance of clarifying the role of the KLA, emphasizing that it was not a unit fully commanded by Thaçi, but rather a structure with independent actors.
