(27 Apr 1999) English/Nat
At a tribute on Monday night to a Jewish community leader U-S President Bill Clinton said troops should remain in the Balkans after the conflict ends.
He said that even after Kosovo Albanian refugees have returned to the province, the Balkan people needed outside aid to stem the hatred between ethnic groups.
In his speech at a dinner held by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations President Clinton said that trouble often follows when people make too much of whatever ethnic or social category they fall into.
He spoke of the troubles in Kosovo and said that outside aid may still be needed when the conflict is over, adding his fears of further conflict when the Kosovo Albanian are finally able to return to their homes.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
" When this thing is over in Kosovo, and it will be over, and the people will go home because we will not quit. But when it's over, what's going to happen? The Kosovar Albanians who were uprooted from their homes and their schools, saw their villages burn. What should they do? Go home and see their Serbian neighbours, who turned the other way and were silent because either they were afraid maybe they were even secretly glad. Maybe they even secretly believed in the Greater Serbia, maybe they even openly believed in it. So what are they going to do, go home and get even with them? We cannot stop when the war is over and the refugees go home, we have to give the people in the Balkans a way to be proud of their ethnic heritage, acknowledge that they all have legitimate historical grievances and then recognise that nobody gets even. That is God's work, we don't do that and the more we try, and the more we try to get even, the more we remain the prisoners against whom our anger is directed.
SUPERCAPTION: U-S President, Bill Clinton
Clinton gave no specifics as to what sort of help the Balkan people might expect, but some source have suggested he means NATO troops will remain behind when the conflict has come to an end.
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