[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
[Pages 1163-1164]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Videotape Address to the People of Albania

June 21, 1999

    To the people of Albania, on behalf of all the American people, I 
want to express our gratitude for the courageous stand you have taken 
for peace, tolerance, and freedom in southeastern Europe. And I want to 
pledge my support for your own efforts to build a strong and prosperous 
democracy.
    This spring, when Mr. Milosevic launched his bloody campaign of 
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, no country bore a greater burden than 
Albania, and no country did more to help humanity prevail. You opened 
your skies to the NATO aircraft that brought this nightmare to an end. 
You opened your ports and your airfields to the troops and aid workers 
who came here to help the refugees.
    And most important, you opened your homes and your hearts to more 
than 300,000 victims of ethnic cleansing--giving them shelter and food 
and hope, even though your own country still faces enormous challenges. 
History will record that one of the greatest acts of barbarity Europe 
has seen in this century was defeated with the help of one of the 
greatest acts of compassion we have seen.
    The whole world knows what you have done in the last several months. 
And we also know that you have done it while struggling to overcome 
perhaps the most cruel legacy of isolation and repression of any of 
Europe's formerly Communist states. We still have much work to do.
    We have to work together to get the Kosovar refugees back to their 
homes safely. We'll have to keep helping those who must remain a while 
longer in Albania. We'll need to station more NATO troops in your 
country to support those keeping the peace in Kosovo. For the people of 
Albania, there will be a continuing burden, but there will also be an 
opportunity to deepen your partnership with NATO and your integration 
with Europe and the future prosperity that will bring.
    America will do all it can to help you recover from the economic and 
social upheaval caused by the war, to help you strengthen your 
democracy, to enshrine the rule of law, and to attract new investment to 
create new jobs and new opportunities. And we'll work with you to build 
a southeastern Europe that is coming together around the promise of 
freedom and prosperity, instead of being torn apart by hatred and 
bloodshed. We want you to be on the front lines of democracy and

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prosperous development in southeastern Europe, not on the front line of 
aggression and tyranny.
    You have shown in this crisis that a nation's standing in the world 
is measured not just by its wealth, its power, or its size but also by 
the principles it upholds and the responsibilities it is willing to 
assume. The world's admiration for Albania has risen immeasurably in the 
last few months. If you stay on the path you have chosen, we will stay 
by your side.
    I thank you for all you have done and for all we will do together in 
the months and years ahead.

Note: The address was videotaped at approximately 5:40 p.m. in the 
Bibliotek Room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cologne, Germany, on June 
20 for later broadcast on the U.S. Information Agency WORLDNET. The 
transcript was embargoed for release by the Office of the Press 
Secretary until 4 p.m. on June 21. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this address.