November 3, 2012
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| Clinton was welcomed at Pristina airport on Tuesday by Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, ahead of the formal talks beginning early Wednesday. |
At the St. Nicholas Church in Kosovo’s capital, a site of anti-Serb riots eight years ago, Clinton greeted members of the Serb minority who’ve returned to Kosovo after years abroad despite continued interethnic tensions. In Pristina, she also joined the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, in seeking to advance talks between Serbia and its former province so both can one day join the 27-nation EU.
The U.S. hopes Kosovo will also become a member of NATO, and hopes stability across the region will end a process of Balkanization that began with the breakup of Yugoslavia two decades ago and which minority groups in Bosnia and Kosovo threaten to continue.
Clinton said Kosovo’s government and people needed to embrace changes if they are to move forward more than decade after NATO bombed Serbia to stop a war between Kosovo’s predominantly ethnic Albanians and Serbs who consider the area the cradle of their statehood and the Christian Orthodox religion.