Bernard Kuchner: Hashim Thaci worked for the future of all communities, I testify the charges against him are absurd

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci today turns 55, but more than half of his life was spent in a commitment to free country, independence and the future for all communities, indiscriminately.

After a spectacular political career over the past three decades, he is in The Hague today, at the Special Court and has been declared innocent of all charges the prosecution has brought against him.

Below are former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who worked closely with Hashim Thaci in the first months and years after the war, and writes about their commitment to rebuilding the country, building the first institutions, for peace, tolerance and reconciliation among all ethnic communities.

The writing was published in the book The Birth of a Democracy: Hashim Thaci and the road to Kosovo's independence from Jacques Baudowin in French in 2018.

Some places leave a lasting impression on you. I have met and visited a large number of them, often in dangerous conditions, but few have left such a strong impression as this small corner of the Balkans, Kosovo, surrounded by magnificent mountains. Orthodox musicians stay close to mosques dating from the Ottoman Empire and the ancient Catholic churches; where residents are diverse and are reluctant to warm up until trust is established.

Was it because it was released because of the UN's application of the right of humanitarian intervention, which has been returned to “responsibility to protect” in the UN language, or because I exercised the responsibilities UN Secretary General entrusted to me at the time, Kofi Annan? Perhaps because crime and massacres slowly opened the way to peace. “I've never been happier than in Kosovo”, I wrote to “Les Guerrriers de la paix” in 2004. It was because I felt useful there, “by two beliefs that are only one: humanitarianism and politics. And when, ten years ago, Kosovo became independent and that independence was recognised by most parts of the world, except visible Russia, I thought we were here, I mean: Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine Albright, Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, Lionel Jospin, Robin Cook, Joschka Fischer but also the wonderful team UNMIK had been responsible and determined.

For this independence, the culmination of war years, negotiations and determination on the part of Kosovo Liberation Army political leader (UÇK) Hashim Thaci and the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo paid a high price.

When I arrived in Pristina in July 1999 at the helm of UNMIK, the country that emerged from the wounds of the ruthless war that Serb troops had waged against The Albanian population's KLA was still suffering from abuses committed by Serb militants: whole villages in ruins, state and existing administration, without public services, widespread poverty that becomes more cruel by the lack of basic needs, drinking water and often electricity. After years of fighting the devastating madness of Slobodan Milosevic, the large-scale ethnic cleansing he had ordered, the 10,000 dead and the missing caused by Serb troops and paramilitaries, the country had to be fully rebuilt. It had to start over. Facing the pain of the deceased families, we knew, UNMIK men and women and I, that we had no right to fail. Kosovo was free, but bruised to the depths.

Beyond the reconstruction of the country, there was another human, which was an absolute priority: we needed to reconcile the two communities that hated each other, Albanians and Serbs. Both sides viewed the future with suspicion and were filled with a history of constant feelings and discontent. Albanians, who make up the vast majority of the population, had been mistreated for decades by this one and we could see that they wanted revenge. The very Serbs who lived and still lived, northern Kosovo, were rightly afraid they might be victims of revenge. Alarmed about these dangers, the international community did not hide its concern. Nationalist blasts, hatred and tensions had left a lasting impression, and I was afraid that Serbs could leave Kosovo massively. That did not happen, even though there were no police or law in Kosovo in the first months after the war. Some chose to take refuge in Serbia to escape depression from their Albanian neighbours, but those exiles to Serbia were by no means an organised result or ethnic violence by the KLA. The Liberation Army was successfully demilitarized and, according to UN Resolution 1244, was U. NMIC and KFOR who took over the country's administration and security.

To my great relief, there was no ecstasy, and most Serbian families remain on the land of their ancestors. It was also Hashim Thaci's will and will that he was fully aware that his country should soon satisfy the aspirations of all citizens, including Serbs, for a multiethnic Kosovo. His task was not easy at all, he had to preserve the trust of KLA fighters in democracy and patriotic flame while working to promote a Kosovo where Serbs would feel as equal citizens. Like me, he knew that living together would be difficult, that restoring trust between the two communities, forming a multiethnic Kosovo would take time, diplomacy, good will, even a certain ability to forget on both sides. He and I worked hand in hand. And he spared no effort all the time, during my presence there to make Kosovo the homeland of all, regardless of their ethnic background.

Among the leaders of the KLA and Kosovo was Hashim Thaci, who had thought most of the future. He had forged a vision of the land that he wanted to bequeath to children. After he had gone to war, he was in the best position to make peace. He was a man of tolerance and reconciliation between communities and I believe he is today the leader of reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia. Is this the reason some want to tarnish him by making accusations against him like the ones in Marty's report? It's possible. I know, because I've been there, that those charges are so fantasy imaginations, they're absurd. I can testify to that.

Yes, Kosovo has deserved to become a sovereign state. It was one of the international community's rare successes and a major success for Europe. And it is good to return to the book the history of the events that led to this independence. They developed at the end of the last century, within a world that has little in common with today, a world that still had familiar and accepted turning points. A world capable of speaking in a voice when the basics of peace or war were in danger. That time is over. All the more reason to remember how certain determined men and women, some countries and international organizations, aware of their responsibilities, succeeded in ending terrible massacres on European soil.

This book also reminds us that the road to democracy is always long and difficult. That democracy is never achieved without sacrifice. Let it be gained every day, both the Kosovo political leaders and those of the countries that have long suffered from arbitrary and dictatorships. With Hashim Thaci, first prime minister and now president of the Republic, Kosovo is on track to further development within Europe and the Atlantic Community. Kosovo aspires, with Serbia, to membership in the European Union. A fine example of progress and understanding among peoples that nothing, I hope, will ever divide. It will not be easy: It takes time for bad spirits not to be examples to follow; it takes patience for the world to change and calm the momentum of nationalism.