Kosovars say 'thank you' to Clinton with a 10-foot statue

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 21:12

KOSOVO unveiled a statue of former US president Bill Clinton yesterday as a tribute to his part in saving the nation from ethnic cleansing.

While the US president in 1999, Mr Clinton launched Nato air strikes to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbian troops in the country.

Mr Clinton's speech was interrupted several times by Kosovo Albanians cheering and waving US, Albanian and Kosovo flags.

"I am profoundly grateful that I had a chance to be a part of ending the horrible things that were happening to you ten years ago, giving you a chance to build a better future for yourself," he told the crowd.

The crowd again chanted Mr Clinton's name when he started shaking hands with people along a boulevard named after him in the capital, Pristina.

"I never expected … anywhere someone will make such a big statue of me," he said after the ten-foot high monument was unveiled.

He urged Kosovars to build a multi-ethnic country with the minority Serbs and other minorities and said that the US would always help Kosovo's people.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia last year and was recognised by the US and major European Union powers but not by its former ruler, Serbia, nor Russia or China.