War-Crime Charges Sink U.S. Effort to Mend Key Balkan Conflict
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci Accused of War Crimes Before U.S. Visit
(Bloomberg) -- Plans to revive negotiations between two longtime Balkan foes hurtled off the rails before the next round of talks could even start.
Faint hopes for a breakthrough between Serbia and Kosovo -- and the chances of a diplomatic win for the U.S. -- evaporated when the Kosovo’s leader was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as he was preparing to meet his counterpart at the White House. The event was rescheduled, U.S. envoy for the Balkans Richard Grenell said Thursday on Twitter.
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague filed a 10-count indictment charging Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and other separatist fighters with offenses during the war with Serbia more than two decades ago that include “murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution and torture.” Thaci and others are deemed “criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders.” A pre-trial judge is reviewing the indictment to decide whether to confirm the charges.
Thaci was expected in Washington on Saturday for talks organized by Grenell with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The event was an attempt to help resolve historic disputes between the neighbors. Thaci and his prime minister canceled their trips.
Vucic -- fresh from a landslide election victory -- was in Moscow this week, where he joined attendees of a parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The failure of the Washington talks gives an opening for the European Union to seize back the lead on negotiations. EU-mediated talks between the Balkan neighbors stalled in 2018.
It’s unclear what the indictment means for the complex dynamic between Vucic, 50, and Thaci, 52. The former foes -- one an ex-Kosovo Liberation Army commander known as “The Snake,” the other a former minister under late Serb strongman President Slobodan Milosevic -- know each other well and have spent years negotiating.
Still, a measure of animosity has remained, surfacing at times in the form of unpleasant barbs and reminders of the atrocities committed by both sides during the wars of the 1990s.
More than 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died in the conflict that ended with the 1999 NATO bombing that forced Serb troops out of Kosovo. The air raids were launched in response to a brutal campaign by the Serbia-led Yugoslav army to keep control of the then-province, resulting in more than a million people being driven across the border to neighboring countries.
Another tribunal, established by United Nations and also based in the Netherlands, indicted and tried Milosevic and other Serb officials for war crimes in Kosovo, as well as for atrocities in previous conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Milosevic died in custody in 2006, before a verdict.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia still regards it as its historic heartland and relies on Russia and China to prevent its full international recognition.
Kosovo Response
The court, which is investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs, Roma, other minorities and political dissidents during and after the 1998-99 independence war, said it decided to issue the notice because of repeated efforts by Thaci and others to obstruct and undermine its work. Thaci, who in the past always rejected similar allegations, and Kosovo officials didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Kadri Veseli, a former head of Kosovo’s parliament and ex-commander in the rebel force accused along with Thaci, rejected the charges as unfounded, Koha.net reported.
The indictment is “unfair and unusual” and the charges are “completely untrue and do not stand,” Veseli said, accusing the court of playing politics by making its move a few days before Thaci’s visit to the U.S.
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