ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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on the table in Dayton because this was a meeting about the war in Bosnia but I assured<br />
them that the U.S. had not <strong>for</strong>gotten Kosovo <strong>and</strong> would deal with the issue at the right<br />
time. They were disappointed, of course, but seemed to accept the argument.<br />
It was true that we had not <strong>for</strong>gotten the issue but there was just too much on the<br />
Yugoslav agenda at the time. Back in Belgrade, however, I raised Kosovo regularly in<br />
my meetings with Milosevic. I tried to convince him that Belgrade’s policy would lead to<br />
another explosion <strong>and</strong> violent conflict in the region if it remained unchanged. His<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ard response was that we were taken in by Kosovar Albanian propag<strong>and</strong>a, that most<br />
Albanians in Kosovo were quite happy, <strong>and</strong> that only a few troublemakers were<br />
fomenting discontent. I am not certain if he really believed this <strong>and</strong> was so totally<br />
misin<strong>for</strong>med about the situation in Kosovo, or if he just believed that he could keep a lid<br />
on the problem indefinitely. I suspect it was a combination of both.<br />
Q: But it was also a nationalistic issue throughout Serb society.<br />
PERINA: Absolutely. Even the pro-Western, pro-democracy Serbs we knew had very<br />
little sympathy <strong>for</strong> the Kosovar Albanians. There were a few exceptions to this but they<br />
were very rare. The gulf even between moderate <strong>and</strong> reasonable Serbs <strong>and</strong> Albanians was<br />
enormous. To me it was clear that the situation was untenable <strong>and</strong> would lead to a crisis<br />
at some point. What we tried to do in the interim was to urge both sides toward<br />
moderation <strong>and</strong> non-violence. In the case of the Albanians, we had Embassy officers<br />
specifically assigned to visit Kosovo on a weekly basis to maintain contact with the<br />
Albanians <strong>and</strong> show them that their plight had not been <strong>for</strong>gotten by the United States.<br />
These officers stayed in local hotels <strong>and</strong> spent a lot of time going back <strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong>th. After<br />
the Holbrooke visits to Belgrade started <strong>and</strong> Milosevic was trying to demonstrate what a<br />
reasonable person he was, I had the idea of asking him whether the Embassy could open<br />
a permanent office in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, as a permanent base <strong>for</strong> our visits. This<br />
was actually a big request since everyone knew the sensitivity of Kosovo, <strong>and</strong> we still<br />
lacked <strong>for</strong>mal diplomatic relations <strong>for</strong> even an Embassy, much less an Embassy branch<br />
office. But I persuaded Holbrooke to ask the question, which was one of the few times he<br />
agreed to engage on Kosovo. Milosevic was caught off guard <strong>and</strong> responded in a cavalier<br />
way “ Sure. If you want to do this, why not.” I think he regretted this answer the minute<br />
he gave it, <strong>and</strong> the Foreign Ministry certainly regretted it when it came to working out the<br />
details. But we did open an office in Pristina, <strong>and</strong> I think it was one of the more<br />
significant accomplishments of my tour. The Kosovar Albanians were so delighted that<br />
they actually found a building <strong>for</strong> us to use free of charge. They saw it as a big step<br />
<strong>for</strong>ward in getting international recognition <strong>for</strong> the entire Kosovo problem. It was also<br />
seen as a victory <strong>for</strong> Rugova <strong>and</strong> his non-violent policies. It helped defuse the tension, at<br />
least <strong>for</strong> a while.<br />
Q: We have people who were brought out of retirement to go to Kosovo. I recently<br />
interviewed one of them.<br />
PERINA: During my time, we sent people from the Embassy but alternated them. One of<br />
our political officers, Liz Bonkowski, spent a lot of time in Kosovo. The Kosovar<br />
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