Martti Ahtisaari's 2nd Visit

Heading to this meeting sorta feels like trying to move down to better seats in a baseball game, or a the theatre. As you see the empty seats ahead of you, you wonder “Is anyone is really going to sit there, maybe they’ll be empty, it would be a shame for them to go to waste”. I did this quite often while watching shows in London, sometimes an entire row would be held for people who never showed up, and no one benefits from them staying empty. However in those circumstances at least you have “a seat” to go back to, unlike today where I’m basically hoping for something to be available.

I head into the room early, it’s the biggest one here. The meeting includes not only NATO countries, but all the KFOR contributors, so there are a dozen extra delegations with their ambassadors and staff. My division has 2 seats assigned for it, behind the Chairman in the 2nd row, with little tags that say PASP on them. It’s a popular meeting and so its guaranteed that at least 2 of my colleagues will show up. There are dozens of other divisions at NATO, each with their own acronym name. Even “Operations” which is one word and doesn’t require an acronym, is OPS. I’m betting on some of them not being interested in attending.

The Sec-Gen and President Ahtisaari finally arrive with their entourage and people assume their seats, to my surprise every single one is full, but in the corner there is a chair at a desk with a few computers and other equipment. Its probably for a note-taker or someone who is in charge of running a power-point presentation. It doesn’t matter, its empty, so I take a seat.

Ahtisaari is the special envoy from the UN to develop a settlement agreement for Kosovo, which has been an international protectorate since 1999. As the former President of Finland he also has a distinguished diplomatic history of resolving the dispute between Indonesia and Aceh rebels, and brokering peace in the former Yugoslavia. He’s also been tipped numerous times as a potential recipient for the Nobel Peace Prize. On top of this, he’s got an odd, dry, Nordic sense of humour. Ahtisaari’s last briefing was one of the very first meetings I attended when I came to NATO, and his presence led me to think that all meetings here would be deeply engaging. Unfortunately it hasn’t always been the case.

The meeting itself isn’t very groundbreaking, all the NATO Allies are more-or-less unified in their position, with only a few stragglers talking about delays. Earlier in the week the new Serbian ambassador, whose country only recently joined the EAPC (Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council), provided a much more lively discussion on the issue. The issue is sensitive, but if handled well another war is certainly easily avoidable. I am lucky to be dealing with the Balkans at such an interesting time, but from the corner of the room I feel on the periphery of the issue, both figuratively and literally.