(AP-ANSA) - BELGRADE - BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Twenty years
after NATO intervened to stop Serbia's onslaught in Kosovo,
Belgrade on Sunday commemorated the victims of what it says was
an aggression while Kosovo hailed the beginning of its national
liberation.
The staunchly opposed views of the two former war foes
reflect persisting tensions over Kosovo, a former Serbian
province whose 2008 declaration of independence Serbia still
does not recognize.
Serbian far-right supporters burned NATO and European Union
flags in Belgrade, condemning the 78-day bombing that ended the
country's rule over the territory many here view as their
nation's historic heartland. Top Serbian officials are to attend
a main remembrance ceremony in a southern city later Sunday,
while other wreath-lying commemorations were being held
throughout the day.
"Serbia is not ashamed to remember those who fought for it
and we must never forget that," Interior Minister Nebojsa
Stefanovic said at a commemoration in Belgrade. Rights groups
say several hundred people died in the NATO bombing, while
Serbia says the number of victims was much higher. The bombing
also destroyed much of Serbia's infrastructure. In Kosovo,
leaders said NATO's air war brought freedom for their people as
they paid their respects to the victims of the 1998-99 war that
killed more than 10,000 people. "It is wonderful that Kosovo's
people are free and children can grow up at their home and can
go to their schools and that's only thanks to NATO air
campaign," Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj told The Associated
Press.
Serbia and Kosovo have been told they must normalize
relations in order to advance in their bids to become members of
the EU, but the EU-mediated talks have stalled amid tensions.
Several Western embassies in Belgrade on Sunday issued a joint
statement of condolence for the victims of the bombing, pledging
to "work even harder to contribute to lasting peace and
stability to the region." "We remember March 24 as the day
diplomacy failed, and we express our sincere regret for the loss
of civilian lives during the events of 1999," said the
statement. "We are saddened for all of those who lost their
loved ones during the wars of the 1990s." JOVANA GEC (AP-ANSA).
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