Word: pristina
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...also knows the human cost of all this violence. One night two weeks ago, Holbrooke and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, arrived in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, to brief ethnic Albanian leaders on the talks. Holbrooke was exhausted, and emotion percolated into his tired brain as he considered the consequences of a failed negotiation. "We may not see you again before the bombing starts," Holbrooke soberly told Albanian dissident leader Ibrahim Rugova. A quiet settled over the group. Hill said under his breath, "We may never see you again...
...plight is familiar across the Yugoslav province. From Podujevo in the north almost to the suburbs of the capital of Pristina, Kosovo is ablaze as Serbian security forces pursue their deadly dismantling of the ethnic-Albanian rebellion. First comes artillery fire, targeting suspected Kosovo Liberation Army bases in a village. Then armored infantry rolls in to take over the town. Finally foot soldiers arrive, looting and burning, to strike terror among ethnic-Albanian villagers. Despite the first snows in the mountains, hundreds of thousands flee their homes. Some find shelter with relatives, others in neighboring Albania or Montenegro, but tens...
Wednesday, 6:15 p.m., Pristina airport. At every stop, Holbrooke holds impromptu press conferences to repeat the U.S. position to Kosovars: "We're trying to prevent this fighting from escalating into a general war," and autonomy, not independence, is the solution. His ability to work the media is legendary, but today false reports have gone back to Washington that his convoy has been shot at, and he has held an official meeting with the K.L.A., which would infuriate Milosevic. Standing on the runway, Holbrooke phones State Department spokesman James Rubin, catching him just before the daily briefing. The meeting with...
...Belgrade. Holbrooke has returned to meet with Milosevic, but yesterday's chaotic events have shaken him. At this point, Kosovo remains a low-intensity struggle, but Holbrooke fears it will explode into real conflict. Provocations are threatening at the roadblocks lining the main highway running west from Pristina, and the mission has contracted to clearing two checkpoints, one belonging to the K.L.A., the other to the Serbs. Holbrooke pleads with Milosevic to hold off from attacking the Kosovar roadblocks, but the Serb is noncommittal. "We managed to stop a war in Bosnia," Holbrooke reminds...
Friday, 2 p.m., Pristina. Bleary-eyed and discouraged, Holbrooke has stayed up all night, phoning diplomats in Kosovo and officials at the State Department, the U.N. and NATO headquarters. He is concerned that the next Balkan war could start at Kijevo, a village so tiny that it's not even on the map. A few thousand Albanians, 80 Serb families and 250 Serb military police are surrounded by K.L.A. checkpoints. But no one there is able to tear down the K.L.A. barricades. Ambassador Hill will return this week to try to get the checkpoints cleared, and U.S. Envoy...