David Phillips resigns from councilor position, trigger idea of partitioning Kosovo

He has sometimes rejected the idea of partitioning or exchanging territories between Kosovo and Serbia, and has said it is the worst option for resolving problems between the two countries.

His resignation, as Koha Ditore learns, he has given it today.

He says he cannot participate in a proposed partition plan, which, he says, has strategic flaws and essentially rejects his values.

Phillips is the director of the Peace and Human Rights Building program at Columbia University in New York. He served as Senior Adviser at the US State Department, under the presidency of Clinton, Bush and Obama. “Author Liberating Kosovo: Forced diplomacy and U.S. intervention”, Phillips also worked with Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Read the full statement of Phillips' resignation:

I have been working for Kosovo's independence for over thirty years, as an American official at Capitol Hill, at the '%ththink-tanks' as Council for External Relations, as well as researchers at Columbia University. The Kosovo government has recently asked me to serve as adviser to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. I agreed because I believed an agreement could be reached by empowering power, increasing rule of law and increasing pressure from the international community in Serbia to recognise Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state within its current borders.

Some in Kosovo institutions are following another path. They accept correction of borders, giving territory in Serbia. I believe that dividing or correcting the borders is a bad agreement, which would not normalise relations with Serbia or put Kosovo in a position to gain greater global recognition. Followers of border correction believe EU non-recognitions would accept a reconfigured Kosovo and that the US could persuade Russia and China to lift their opposition to Kosovo's UN membership. There is no known basis for this conclusion.

Moreover, border correction represents a historic betrayal of the Kosovo people. It undermines the democratic principles of multiculturalism and political pluralism for which many of them have died in the Western Balkans.

It is potentially dangerous, destabilizing and can lead to violence and renewed fragmentation.

I cannot take part in the proposed division plan that has strategic flaws and basically rejects my values. As a principle, I have also informed members of the Government of Kosovo of my intention to resign so as not to participate in divisions.

David L. Phillips

Pristina, Kosovo