The US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, has urged crowds of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo to build a new society based on tolerance. Speaking in Pristina, Ms Albright said there would never again be massacres or murders in the province. British military police have said a that bodyguard accompanying the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army was responsible for firing a shot in the air near where Ms. Albright was beginning her visit. No one was injured.
Earlier, Mrs Albright urged Serbs to stay in Kosovo despite the killing of 14 Serb farmers last week. Madeleine Albright said that everyone wanted a multi-ethnic Kosovo, and NATO and the United Nations were in the province to achieve that end. Mrs. Albright was speaking after a meeting the KFOR commander Lieutenant General Michael Jackson and UN officials.
International donors have pledged over $2bn in housing and building aid for Kosovo. The pledges came during an international conference in Brussels, jointly chaired by the World Bank and the European Union. The meeting took place as world leaders prepare to attend a conference in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, tomorrow, which is aimed at boosting economic and political reforms throughout the Balkans. President Clinton, who will be attending, has said that the conference will underline the isolation of the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
In a related development, earlier today world leaders began arriving in Sarajevo for a summit which will discuss the rebuilding of the Balkans. The summit which starts on Friday will be attended by heads of government from nine Balkan states, as well as the US President and the British and Russian Prime Ministers. The Stability Pact meeting began today with the leaders of neighbouring countries setting out their priorities before tomorrow's full-scale summit. Serbia is not attending the meeting because of continuing western opposition to President Milosevic. However, the junior partner in the federation Montenegro, will be represented.
