Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright in Prishtina to celebrate Kosovo’s 20th anniversary of liberation

The presence of the former US President, Bill Clinton, and the former State Secretary, Madeleine Albright, made the celebrations even more unique.

President Clinton, who was leading the USA in 1999, when NATO decided to take military actions for stopping the Serbian genocide against the Albanian population of Kosovo, said that it was a great honour for him to stand by the people of Kosovo during the ethnic cleansing and during its liberation.

“There is a picture in my New York Office, which shows Prishtina after the conflict was over. It shows Secretary Albright, General Clark, Tony Blair and me. Whenever I look at that picture, I remind myself of the main reason for using force. I remember the faces of the citizens, when I met them here 20 years ago, inside a school in Ferizaj. That day I said something that I want to reiterate today: the 78 days of NATO air strikes may have won this war, but the citizens who were that day at that school, and the other citizens of Kosovo, can win the peace. 20 years later I think that you have done a wonderful job for reaching it”, said Clinton.

The former US State Secretary, Madeleine Albright, said that the war in Kosovo was a confrontation between tyranny and democracy.

“We prevailed because the Alliance is united and strong. Our cause was right. Our campaign was based on justice because we were looking at an entire community that was being abused. And our response to that was “no”. We showed to the world what happens when democracy and strength get together”, Albright said.

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