Interview with Christopher Hill, former Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia

MACEDONIA ILLUSTRATES BALKAN’S CHALLENGE

Former U.S. Special Envoy, Ambassador to Region Reflects on Decade of Diplomacy:

“A Sense of Belonging to a State Is Needed, Rather Than a Focus on an Ethnic Society”

From the calm of Warsaw, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Christopher Hill reflects on a decade's worth of Balkans diplomacy, and the frustration of watching at least part of it unravel.

As special envoy to Kosovo and U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, Mr. Hill was the international community's man in the clinch, nudging Serbia and ethnic Albanians into an uneasy pact that earned him praise as a fair dealer. A career diplomat, he has also served in Belgrade and Tirana and, before his posting to Macedonia, as director for the State Department's Office of South Central European Affairs - a key member of the team led by Richard Holbrooke that negotiated the Dayton accords ending the Bosnian war.

With the foundering of efforts led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to create a civil society in Kosovo, ethnic strife again threatens to engulf the region. While he declines to discuss U.S. policy, Mr. Hill knows well both the people of the Balkans and their leaders; ultimately, he says, they alone have the power to decide - or seal - their own fates. In an office decorated with photographs and memorabilia, Mr. Hill talks with staff reporter Elizabeth Williamson about the current Balkans crisis, how it frustrates progress in the region, and on the chances for a lasting peace.

Here is an edited version of the conversation:

To what degree does the crisis in Macedonia reflect the larger Balkan problem?

I think the conflict in Macedonia is organically linked to the unresolved issues in Kosovo. One certainly wishes that the ethnic Albanians would focus on completing the task in Kosovo that NATO and the U.N. have provided the conditions for. That is, creating democratic institutions, the rule of law and a market economy. Certainly it's very
disappointing that people who were so helped by NATO actions should now become the problem.

The ethnic Albanians in the hills over Tetovo have been variously described as insurgents, rebels and outlaws. How would you describe them, and their motivation?

All of the above. I believe many of them are simply engaged in...trying to create Albanian state structures on top of what they believe to be Albanian lands, defined by some ethnographic map in their minds from the 19th century. In short there's nothing to be particularly inspired by in these people. This is not about 20th or 21st century
human rights. This is about 19th century ethnic carve outs.

To what degree are the rebels motivated by what you've called "Albanian triumphalism," i.e., by NATO's having supported their cause in the past?

It appears that some of them believe that they can somehow sucker the international community into being left with no choice but to support them. I believe . . . they have done great harm to the cause that they believe they're supporting. In many respects the [departure] of Milosevic has allowed people to see more clearly some of the problems that exist in the Balkans, and this problem of a continued desire to put state structures over land that is defined in ethnic terms has driven the crisis there for over 100 years.

But how does one create state structures among peoples spread across several states?

The [challenge] is to create a sense of belonging to the state. In the Balkans, state structures are seen as the executive arm of a nationalist agenda. And until that is broken and until state structures are seen as existing to protect civic society, not ethnic society, we will continue to have problems...Clearly [as well] the Balkans have got to be
integrated into the European mainstream...One cannot talk about a Europe that is whole and free and at peace if the Balkans are left out of it, and are left in conflict.

What can the Macedonian government and the Albanian leadership do?

I would caution against interim or partial solutions that would only cause the problem to fester. But it ultimately requires a great deal of courage from all the participants. From the point of view of the international community one can create an incentive structure and one can assist, but...it's the politicians and the leaders directly
involved who ultimately have to sell the agreement to their people and who ultimately have to bear the responsibility (for implementing it.)

Do the efforts at negotiating a settlement in Macedonia present opportunities for leveraging a wider Balkans peace?

I think one has to be careful about so-called global solutions in the Balkans. I think this set of negotiations, and other sets of negotiations, is going to require a great deal of work by the participants. I do believe the Macedonian question as it was known in
the late 19th century is one of the difficult issues in the Balkans. But it is one that can be solved, and when it is solved the Balkans will be a much safer place.

By Elizabeth Williamson, Staff Reporter

Apr 11 2001 Source: WSJE [Wall Street Journal Europe]

Journal Link: Read the full transcript of the interview with Christopher
Hill, in the online Journal at: http://wsj.com/JournalLinks