Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Riots in Kosovo
- 2 Albanian Resentment Comes to a Boil
- 3 Armed Conflict Grows
- 4 Cease-Fire Breaks Down
- 5 Establishing the United Nations' First Colony
- 6 Living Under a Colonial Regime
- 7 Responding to the Wake-Up Call
- 8 The Politics of Purgatory
- 9 Enter Martti Ahtisaari
- 10 The Stage for Final Status
- 11 “Practical” Negotiations
- 12 Negotiations over Status Itself
- 13 The Ahtisaari Plan
- 14 The Plan Runs into Trouble
- 15 The Troika Takes Over
- 16 Independence Day
- 17 Kosovo's Future
- 18 Implications for the International Order
- Glossary of Acronyms
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
4 - Cease-Fire Breaks Down
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Riots in Kosovo
- 2 Albanian Resentment Comes to a Boil
- 3 Armed Conflict Grows
- 4 Cease-Fire Breaks Down
- 5 Establishing the United Nations' First Colony
- 6 Living Under a Colonial Regime
- 7 Responding to the Wake-Up Call
- 8 The Politics of Purgatory
- 9 Enter Martti Ahtisaari
- 10 The Stage for Final Status
- 11 “Practical” Negotiations
- 12 Negotiations over Status Itself
- 13 The Ahtisaari Plan
- 14 The Plan Runs into Trouble
- 15 The Troika Takes Over
- 16 Independence Day
- 17 Kosovo's Future
- 18 Implications for the International Order
- Glossary of Acronyms
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
In December 1998, still hopeful that our plan for a refugee-return database could be realized, I led a small group of Chicago-Kent staff and students to Pristina. We had to sneak in. There was no point in Americans applying at the Chicago Consulate General of Yugoslavia for visas to go to Kosovo; the applications would be denied. Therefore, our team flew to Zagreb, Croatia, and applied for visas there – to visit a friend in Belgrade, we said. Fortunately, the consular officer at the Yugoslav Embassy had spent some time in Chicago and was far more interested in talking to us about our home city than in scrutinizing our visa applications. Visas stamped in our passports, we flew into Skopje, Macedonia, and rented a car for the seventy-five-mile drive to Pristina.
“You're not going to take this car into Yugoslavia, are you?” the car rental attendant asked. “Going to Yugoslavia is not permitted.”
“Into Yugoslavia!” we responded. “No, of course not. Why would we want to go to Yugoslavia?”
We filled up the gas tank, and headed toward Kosovo, then still in Yugoslavia. We were greeted with great suspicion at the border. Fortunately, our visas said nothing about the imaginary friend in Belgrade, and our passage was eased by the presence of a white SUV with UNHCR emblazoned on the side. This truck was to be our escort.
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- Information
- The Road to Independence for KosovoA Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Plan, pp. 41 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009