British official on O SEU: NATO air strikes were against Serbian people, but to stop Milosevic's Kosovo crimes

UK Deputy Ambassador to O The SEU, Deedre Brown, has spoken to the 25th anniversary of the start of NATO bombing campaign. Deirdre has said that the conflicts that occurred during the 1990s that had accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia have been a dark time for Europe as well.

The British official has recalled NATO Secretary's 1999 words that the NATO-led shelling campaign has been against the Serbian people and that it has started to end widespread human rights abuses committed in Kosovo by Slobodan Milosevic's regime, which have had implications for the security of the region and Europe.

The “Fushata followed more than a year of intensive efforts by the UN and Contact Group, and was the last solution in response to mass killings and a humanitarian crisis. The OSCE's verifiator mission in Kosovo, founded by this Council in October 1998, played a key role in targeting the situation on the ground”, she said, Express.

Deirdre has added that after years of conflict and violence, NATO's intervention had put an end to hostilities, reopening prospects for communities to build a positive future together.

Citing recent events, the British official has said normalisation and reconciliation continue to remain elusive. It has called on the two states to implement commitments made under the normament process.

“Kosovo of 2024 is unaware of that of 1999 and we are proud of the role of the United Kingdom in supporting its progress. Like other NATO partners, the United Kingdom is working to build far-reaching partnerships with Serbia, Kosovo and other countries throughout the Western Balkans. We encourage all states in the region to respect their Joint Declarations of 2018 to co-operate in good neighbourly relations, missing persons and handling war crimes, made under the Berlin Process. Recent events have shown that normalisation and reconciliation remain elusive today. We call on leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to implement their commitments to normalising relations between their two countries and to offer the peaceful, stable and prosperous future that their citizens deserve” has ended.