Bill Clinton today celebrates 77th birthday

Former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, is 77 today.

He was the 42nd president of America and was found among the people of Kosovo at a very difficult time.

Peaceful resistance to the Serbian regime had long begun with mass protests that ended bloody after many Albanian civilian citizens were beaten by Serb forces ʹ this method of intimidation to silence Kosovo Albanians.

With Serbia's notorious leader in power, Slobodan Milosevic, in 1989, Kosovo's autonomy within Yugoslavia was revoted and violence, torture, intimidation, terror killings became his method to address the Kosovo Albanian issue.

As a result of fatigue from this treatment, many young Kosovars as the only option saw Kosovo leave. But another group, instead of leaving, had chosen to stay in their country and start armed resistance, what later became known as the Kosovo Liberation Army aimed at Serb forces in 1996-97.

After many visits and meetings with foreign policymakers of then Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova [elected by the overwhelming majority of Kosovars] vote to internationalise the Kosovo issue and find a solution, the wide-scale war in Kosovo had only begun.

In early 1998, KLA attacks against Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo resulted in an increased presence of Serb paramilitary and regular forces, which later began to pursue a revenge campaign targeting KLAC supporters.

As a result, Serbian forces killed 1500 to 2000 KLA civilians and warriors, as well as forced the deportation of more than 370,000 Kosovo Albanians by March 1999.

They also committed numerous massacres against civilians, which culminated in the Recak massacre, where 45 massacred civilians were found -- events that were filmed and shocked the world. Former mission chief O The SBE in Kosovo, William Walker from the site of the event, described the massacres as a crime against humanity.

Diplomatic efforts were continuing to halt the violence of the Serbian state over the people of Kosovo. Then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had been made several proposals, but none of them proved successful.

After refusing to sign the Serbian-run Rambouillet Agreement on 24 March 1999, NATO launched an air bombing campaign against Serbian forces, which lasted 78 days.

The war ended with the Kumanovo Treaty, signed on June 9th by Yugoslav and Serbian forces that agreed to withdraw from Kosovo to pave the way for an international presence.

NATO forces entered Kosovo on June 12th.

On March 24th, on the day NATO bombings were beginning against Serbia, US President Bill Clinton through a video address to the American people, where he showed the reasons why the state he is leading is joining NATO's air campaign.

My “American contemporaries, today our armed forces joined our NATO allies in air strikes against Serbian forces responsible for brutality in Kosovo. We have acted decisively for several reasons”.

We act to protect thousands of innocent people in Kosovo from a growing military offensive. We act to prevent a broader war from spreading to the heart of Europe, which has erupted twice in this century with catastrophic results. We act to remain united with our allies for peace. Acting now, we are maintaining our values, protecting our interests and advancing the cause of peace”.

He also shows why he feels responsible for military intervention in Kosovo.

I have a responsibility as president to deal with such problems before they do permanent damage to our national interests. America has a responsibility to stay with our allies when they try to save innocent lives and preserve peace, freedom and stability in Europe. This is what we're doing in Kosovo”.

Kosovo declared its independence on February 17th 2008, and as a result of Bill Clinton's contribution to Kosovo's liberation, his September has been set up at Pristina's entrance.

The people of Kosovo will always be grateful.

Happy birthday, President.