I prepared this map in 2006 for Martti Ahtisaari, the UNSG Special Envoy for the negotiations over Kosovo status between Belgrade and Pristina. I was serving as the UNMIK Regional Representative for Mitrovica (and northern Kosovo). I had met Ahtisaari some 20 years previously while working on Angola. We met in June in UNMIK HQ in Pristina and had other meetings during the summer. One of his staff asked me to prepare the map which I delivered to Ahtisaari's team before the year's end. It was supposed to balance the ethnic realities by giving the K-Albanian South Mitrovica a bit of the north while dividing the territory in a way acceptable to the majority K-Serbs in the north. It was predicated on an eventual agreement in the UN Security Council on the status of Kosovo, some acceptable form of autonomy or "independence." Despite Ahtisaari's best efforts, the US and Russia could not agree. Pristina declared independence unilaterally in February 2008. Ahtisaari later became President of Finland.
The light red line was the existing border of Mitrovica (which spanned the Ibar River). The darker red line would have been the new border with the Serb majority North Mitrovica to the east and a mixture of Albanian and Serb villages as part of South Mitrovica to the west. The area north of the Ibar were other Serb-majority municipalities
The light red line was the existing border of Mitrovica (which spanned the Ibar River). The darker red line would have been the new border with the Serb majority North Mitrovica to the east and a mixture of Albanian and Serb villages as part of South Mitrovica to the west. The area north of the Ibar were other Serb-majority municipalities
