Agency Report

Kosovo will officially observe a day of mourning on Friday to honour the late US secretary of state Madeleine Albright whom its people widely regard as a hero.

“She has consistently supported Kosovo to the last breath, therefore the people of Kosovo will remember her forever,” said Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani.

Tributes poured in from around the world after Albright, the first woman to become US secretary of state, died at the age of 84 on Wednesday.

Albright is held in especially high regard in Kosovo for playing an instrumental role in bringing about the 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign against Serb forces that halted Serbia’s violent crackdown on ethnic Albanians.

The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo claimed around 13,000 lives, the vast majority of whom were ethnic Albanian civilians.

The three-month, US-led NATO air campaign forced Serb forces to withdraw from Kosovo, paving the way for the territory to declare independence in 2008 — a move never officially recognised by Belgrade or their allies in Moscow.

Predominantly Muslim Kosovo continues to be one of the most pro-American places in the world.

Its capital Pristina hosts a statue of former president Bill Clinton and a bust of Albright, whose name was also bestowed on an untold number of children following the war.

Albright’s death came one day before the 23rd anniversary of the beginning of the NATO campaign.

During a solemn session in Kosovo’s legislature on Thursday, lawmakers held a minute’s silence to pay tribute to Albright.

“I want to say: Thank you Mrs secretary Madeleine Albright,” said Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Albright came to the United States as a child refugee and rose to become the most senior woman in US government at the time, shaping US foreign policy at the end of the 20th century.

Tapped by Clinton as ambassador to the United Nations then as America’s top diplomat, Albright was considered one of the most influential stateswomen of her generation.

AFP