www.reuters.com Open in urlscan Pro
143.204.98.70 Public Scan

Back to summary

Submitted URL:
https://link.theskimm.com/click/27131561.2038302/aHR0cHM6Ly9za2ltbXRoLmlzLzN3eGtOU2w/5f8725dae3292a0b987e1cb9B9f879728
Effective URL:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kosovo-war-anniversary/kosovo-albanians-welcome-clinton-albright-20-years-after-nato-...
Submission: On March 25 via manual (March 25th 2022, 7:44:50 pm UTC) from US — Scanned from DE

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Discover Thomson Reuters

Directory of sitesLoginContactSupport
World

Business

Markets

Breakingviews
Video

for-phone-onlyfor-tablet-portrait-upfor-tablet-landscape-upfor-desktop-upfor-wide-desktop-up

everythingNews
Invalid DateInvalid DateUpdated 3 years ago

KOSOVO ALBANIANS WELCOME CLINTON, ALBRIGHT 20 YEARS AFTER NATO INTERVENTION

By Fatos Bytyci

3 Min Read

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Thousands of Kosovo Albanians turned out on Wednesday to
welcome back former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his ex-top diplomat
Madeleine Albright 20 years after they helped engineer the NATO air war that
ousted Serbian forces.

Slideshow ( 24 images )

Clinton, 72, and Albright, 82, were greeted like rock stars in the Kosovo
capital Pristina where a statue of Albright was unveiled in the city center for
the occasion, joining one of Clinton erected earlier on a boulevard named after
him.

Majority-Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years
after NATO air strikes ended Belgrade’s repressive grip on the territory
following a brutal counter-insurgency campaign by Serbian security forces.

“I love this country and it will always be one of the greatest honors of my life
to have stood with you against ethnic cleansing (by Serbian forces) and for
freedom,” Clinton told thousands gathered in sweltering heat in downtown
Pristina.

Marking the 20th anniversary of NATO peacekeeping troops entering Kosovo after
Serbian forces left, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci awarded Clinton and Albright
medals of freedom “for the liberty he brought to us and the peace to entire
region.”

Clinton and Albright were the most outspoken proponents of NATO intervention to
halt killings of Kosovar civilians by Serbian forces as part of Belgrade’s
1998-99 crackdown on a Kosovo Albanian guerrilla uprising.

“I was watching the NATO planes from the window of my apartment in Pristina
during the war and I was praying to God and the USA; I had no other hope,” said
Gani Kelmendi, 78, as he waited in the crowd for Clinton to appear.

“I remember the moment when in my village the Serb army was getting out and
French soldiers were coming in. I could not believe my eyes,” said Fetah
Berisha, 67, who considers Clinton Kosovo’s “savior”.

But the end of fighting brought about by NATO’s intervention has not brought
true peace to the southern Balkan region.

Belgrade has still not recognized independent Kosovo more than a decade after
more than 110 other countries did and, backed by its main ally Russia, is
blocking Pristina’s bid for membership of the United Nations.

Tensions rose anew six months ago when Kosovo introduced a 100 percent tax on
goods imported from Serbia and warned it would keep them until Belgrade
recognized its independence.

The European Union has warned Kosovo and Serbia that they will not advance
toward wished-for membership unless they reach an agreement to normalize
relations.

Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

www.reuters.com Open in urlscan Pro 143.204.98.70 Public Scan

Form analysis 0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

www.reuters.com Open in urlscan Pro
143.204.98.70 Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM