Twenty-five years ago, NATO began a bombing campaign against Serbian forces, thus marking the beginning of the end of the nearly two-year war in Kosovo.
The campaign began days after Belgrade refused to sign the agreement negotiated at Rambouillet to end the war in Kosovo.
The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, together with ambassadors of NATO countries, paid their respects at the memorial plaque in the center of Pristina, dedicated to KFOR soldiers who lost their lives while serving in Kosovo.
“March twenty-fourth was truly a day of great hope because for the first time, the alliances of the democratic world came together to prevent the extermination of the people of Kosovo by the then genocidal regime of (Slobodan) Milosevic and together with many, many other partner states, we managed for Kosovo to finally become free”, said President Osmani.
President Osmani said that Kosovo will soon join NATO in support of friends who stood by her in the most difficult moments and “I will repay this debt by helping other countries”.
In Kosovo, March 24 is regarded as a day of decisive importance for the country's history, while officials in Belgrade consider Serbia a victim of, as they say, NATO aggression.
For the 78 days that the air campaign lasted, on the ground it was used by the Serbian forces for retaliatory attacks against the Albanians. Over 10,000 people were killed, over 800,000 were chased from Kosovo, while another 5,000 were counted as missing at the end of the war.
On June 10, 1999, NATO signed an agreement with the Yugoslav army for its complete withdrawal from Kosovo, while two days later, KFOR peacekeeping troops entered Kosovo, ending the war and the rule of Belgrade. .
Nine years after NATO's intervention, Kosovo declared its independence with Western support, but continues to be opposed by Serbia and its ally Russia.
For more than a decade, Kosovo and Serbia have been involved in a process of negotiations mediated by the European Union, in which representatives of both countries agreed last year to implement a plan supported by the West for the normalization of relations, which it is a condition for fulfilling their aspirations for membership in the European Union.