Williams tells how Thaci was placed at the head of the Kosovo delegation in Rambouille: Rugova wasn't a negotiator

During his testimony at The Hague, Paul Williams has shown how Hashim Thaci was placed at the head of the Kosovo delegation during work for the Rambouillet Conference.

Witness Williams said that at the beginning of the round for the Rambouillet Conference, the Kosovo delegation held the chairmanship with three members of the composition with Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaci and Rexhepa Qruja. According to him, the informal role also took on Veton Surroi

The witness said Thaci was elected by two votes. According to him, he voted himself and even took Rexhep Qruja's vote.

Your request has two questions in a question; as far as three of them know, they were chosen by consensus, and that comes from the 7 February meeting procession that has taught me Edita Tahiri. Also, I was given the document that allowed me to enter the castle. Rugova was LDK, Qosja from LBS and Thaci from the KLA. The decision was made- two-by-one. Qosja voted for Thaci-Tec voted for herself and that was the way Thaci was elected. Two were pro Thaci and one against him”, he said.

Willimas told why Thaci was decided to be the head of the delegation.

“There was a desire for Kosovo's independence process, and this issue was very layered; Rugova was the pacifist, and Rugova was in favour of independence. He did not open his mouth unless he agreed to independence. We had Bukoshi's... who was more under-announced and worked with Americans and Europeans while we had the action of state actors and then we had another dimension of self-resolvement of the independence strategy. So in the negotiations you wanted to have a KLA that showed through its actions and words and commitments that this person has KLA be a negotiator, a diplomat who could be a person or a reliable partner”, he said.

The Witness highlighted when advising peace negotiators, he was told that the delegation must have different characters and values in such a way that the negotiator is the main figure.

He said the negotiations should have compromising nature, someone who does not give up and also an adviser.

For Rugova, he said he was referring to “Independence and the use of force”. He said Rugova has played a huge role in representing the people of Kosovo because of pacifist ideas.

His role was very important, his ideas were pacifist, but he wasn't a negotiator. He did not negotiate”, he said. /Periscopi/