The American ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, testified this Monday, November 10, at the Kosovo Specialized Chambers in The Hague, where he said that during the years of war in Kosovo, it was very difficult to identify a clear leadership within the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Hill, who in 1998 was engaged in the Kosovo issue by American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, stated that this lack of political structure had made official communication with KLA representatives complicated.
“The big problem, of course, was the inability to find leadership there, to find people who spoke with authority. That made any official communication with KLA representatives very difficult,” Hill said during testimony.
During his testimony, Hill, called by Thaçi’s defense, mentioned that in Kosovo he had mainly contacted Ibrahim Rugova, while in Serbia with Slobodan Milosevic, describing the political situation at that time as “very fragmented and challenging”.
“In Serbia, we had only one interlocutor – Milosevic. In Kosovo it was different, there were many opinions, but few authorset,” he said, adding that the lack of a unified representation from the Kosovar side also made it difficult for the diplomatic engagement of the USA.
The process against the former leaders of the KLA in The Hague, Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selim and Jakup Krasniqi, is expected to continue with other defense testimonies in the coming days. They are accused of war crimes, charges that the former KLA leaders have denied.
