Bill Clinton honoured by grateful Kosovo

Pristina, Nov 1 : Thousands of Kosovo Albanians gathered in Pristina Sunday to welcome former US president Bill Clinton and honour his role in ending Serbian rule.

"You should be proud for what you've achieved in the past years, and you have done a better job, that your friends thought," Clinton told the Kosovo parliament, which convened for the occasion.

He arrived for the dedication of a three-metre tall statue of himself, placed on the Bill Clinton Boulevard in the Kosovo capital.

"You, President Clinton, intervened to stop ethnic cleansing. You prevented a much greater number of victims," Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said. "My country will always be grateful to you, your wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and your family."

Clinton was the US president when NATO intervened against Serbia, forcing it to withdraw its security forces from Kosovo, so ending a heavy-handed campaign of terror against rebelling Albanians.

The pullout of Serbia's security apparatus and the arrival of a UN administration paved the way to Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008.

So far 62 nations, including the US and most leading Western nations, recognised Kosovo, but Serbia's ally Russia has kept it blocked from membership in the UN. "Many other recognitions will follow in the future," Clinton said in Pristina.

Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's two million inhabitants, with Serbs making up the most of the rest.

--IANS