Why Kosovo Still Matters by Denis MacShane

Author:Denis MacShane [MacShane, Denis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, European, Political Science, World, History, General
ISBN: 9781907822513
Google: F1grDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 16566268
Publisher: Haus Pub.
Published: 2012-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

In London I spent time giving evidence to Parliamentary Committees and answering questions about the Balkans. Tony Blair had decided to send Paddy Ashdown to Sarajevo to try and put some momentum in the stalemate between the Serbs in Bosnia and their Bosniak and Croat fellow-citizens. Like Bernard Kouchner, Ashdown went to the Balkans full of energy, ideas and hope. Bosnia today is still a mess.

Thursday, 25 April 2002

An interesting discussion on Kosovo today. Jack Straw (Robin Cook’s successor as Foreign Secretary) has brought together all the top officials and we go round the houses on what to do. The Ministry of Defence has made clear it wants to get out of either Bosnia or Kosovo. In its own paper it recommends pulling out of Kosovo and concentrating all our troops in Bosnia. I protest that this is just the comfort factor at play. The army has loads of barracks in Bosnia and has been going there for nearly ten years. They don’t do much. But it’s an easy pair of shoes to wear as a policy choice. In Kosovo we have a strategic interest because that is a fault line with Macedonia, with Albania, with Greece. It’s also Blair’s war and to scuttle in Kosovo would look odd. But there is the Paddy (Ashdown) factor. Paddy called me up and said that he would be very opposed to having all British troops taken away in Bosnia just at the moment when he was advising there. I agreed with him but a choice has to be made. I still think Kosovo is where we should be present.

Charles Crawford, the sharp but rather cocky ambassador in Belgrade, says that we should stay in Bosnia and that Kosovo should be persuaded to be in a loose federation with Serbia and Montenegro. I think this is an unlikely idea and said, “Imagine being here ten years ago. The Foreign Secretary and his key advisers would have been saying that at all costs we must hold Yugoslavia together. It was a complete waste of policy and resources. At times you have to let go. If Kosovo is going to go independent let’s go with reality and stop pretending otherwise even if it means swallowing one or two of our existing statements”. Backwards and forwards went the argument. At the end Jack said, “Well what are we gonna do?” I said, “Let’s have a vote. Let’s just see a show of hands to see who’s in favour of the Kosovo options or who’s for putting all our troops into Bosnia and leaving Kosovo”. The officials looked horrified. Everyone was nervous but Jack just went with the idea so I grabbed a couple of sheets of paper and tore them up into tiny slips and handed them round to the fifteen or so people around this table. “Write ‘K’ or ‘B’,” I said and gathered in all the papers. It was ten votes in favour of Kosovo and five for Bosnia. Thus, British foreign policy is made.

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