ALBANIA: Albanians from Kosovo and Albania marks the 15th anniversary of refugee exodus at the border town of Kukes

Record ID: 274562

  • Title: ALBANIA: Albanians from Kosovo and Albania marks the 15th anniversary of refugee exodus at the border town of Kukes
  • Date: 16th April 2014
  • Summary: KUKES, ALBANIA (APRIL 16, 2014) (REUTERS) KUKES MAIN BOULEVARD/ ALBANIAN GUARD OF HONOUR PEOPLE IN STREET KOSOVO AND ALBANIAN FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Albania
  • Country: Albania
  • Topics: Conflict,History,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYB225LANTA8UXKUOUZC1QUHG
  • Story Text: Fifteen years after the refugee exodus of Kosovo Albanians into Albania, Kosovar refugees and their hosts from Albania on Wednesday marked the anniversary.
    To symbolise the refugee crisis Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci and his ministers at the once notorious Yugoslav-Albanian Morina border-crossing, now a border between Kosovo and Albania.
    The ceremonies were held at the epicenter of refugee crisis in the border town of Kukes.
    The region of Kukes is one of the poorest in Albania, but its inhabitants opened their homes for a massive wave of refugees that were pushed out of Kosovo.
    "We are here today to express deep gratitude to all residents of Kukes and Albania and Albanians wherever they live, for the exceptional hospitality and generosity offered to expelled Kosovars. On behalf of the people of Kosovo, I thank you again that you helped us like no one else in those difficult days .
    A decade and a half ago, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Kosovo who were brutally deported, found shelter and warmth from their brothers and sisters in the Republic of Albania," said Thaci.
    Serbia lost control of Kosovo province when NATO launched bombing raids to halt Serbian atrocities and "ethnic cleansing" under Slobodan Milosevic.
    The refugee crises peaked during the NATO 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, that started in March 1999.
    During the 1998-99 war more than 12,000 people were killed, most of them ethnic Albanians, 1700 are still missing. Another 800,000 Albanian refugees were driven from their homes by Serb forces.
    Most of refugees went to Albania and Macedonia, some took refuge in Montenegro.
    With the backing of the Western powers Kosovo declared independence in 2008.
    The country of 1.8 million people, 90 percent of them Albanians, since it declared independence has been recognised by more than 107 countries, including the United States and 23 of the EU's 28 member states.
    Recognised by over half of the world but not yet a member of the United Nations, Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe, its government still challenged by minority Serbs in the north who reject the secession.
    NATO still has about 5,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, and the EU operates a police and justice mission known as EULEX.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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