"The 78 days have been stressful, but of course, even more stressful for the people of Kosovo who were in the cellars and hiding, and had to endure the violence. So, you know, life was much easier for me in Brussels than it was for all of you in Kosovo, I appreciate that. But simply this, if you like this bonding with the people of Kosovo, it was a magical moment", says former NATO spokesman, Jamie Shea.

The voice of NATO during the war in Kosovo returns to KosovaPress 24 years later, recounting moments from that time.

He says the Alliance was determined to stop the violence and violation of human rights in Kosovo that were being done at that time by the Milosevic regime.

“It was a determination, because NATO had been trying for a year to persuade president Milosevic, to remove his special forces from Kosovo, to stop the campaign of repression of the Kosovar Albanian people, and to accept a peaceful negotiated solution, which would give Kosovo back its autonomy. Unfortunately president Milosevic was not prepared to accept the diplomatic solution, in the meantime, the violence before March 24th, increased significantly, we've had the massacre of Reçak in January and so when the NATO launched the air campaign, the mood was one of regret, that we had to use force, but at the same time determination to make certain that we stop the violence, we stop the human rights abuses, and we didn't have another terrible situation, like the genocide in Srebrenica in Bosnia, in 1995. We had to make sure that we acted with resolution and determination”, he said.

NATO's air war with Serbia had lasted a full 78 days, something that was not expected even by the Alliance itself.

Shea says they had originally hoped the air campaign would last 24 hours.

However, he emphasizes that the length of the operation was not important for NATO, but the result it was achieving, which was the end of the repression and the return of the people of Kosovo to their homes.

“No, quite frankly, no. When you launch a military operation, these things frankly are easier to start then they are to finish. You never quite know what's going to happen because once you use force, there is a different dynamic that's created. And, of course, I think in NATO, yes, we all hoped that the air campaign, initially would last 24 hours. The president Milosevic would see that NATO is united and determined, that he could not win. And his best option was to meet the conditions of the International Community, and go back to the negotiating table. But Mulosevic was a stubborn man, as you well know, a very cynical man, and he decided that he was going to fight it out. He wanted to challenge NATO, he wasn't prepared to give up, so it went on for 78 days, but for NATO, what mattered was not the length of the operation, it was the result it was achieving, the end of the repression to allow the Kosovo people to go back to their homes and to allow Kosovo to live in peace and freedom. So, I'm sure that if it had lasted a 178 days, as far as NATO was concerned, there would not have been a difference”, said Shea.

But the former spokesman of the Alliance shows what was the lesson that NATO has learned from this bombing campaign.

“Well, I think the lesson is, you know, not to make empty threats, to act united, resolute way with Europeans and Americans working together, and to have very concrete objectives, which was to have the removal of the Serb forces, and the end of the repression, end of the violence, and create the conditions for the Kosovo people to go back to their homes, and of course eventually, as they did in 2008, to determine their own future peacefully, and have an International Administration which could help Kosovo after the conflict to rebuild itself… But to believe that a humanitarian intervention, despite the risks, can be successful, and the risk of acting is always less in my view, than the risk of staying on the sidelines and doing nothing”, said Shea.

Jamie Shea was the voice of NATO throughout that important period for Kosovo.

He addressed the media from the headquarters in Brussels, but he was a face that the Kosovar people already knew quite well.

He had visited Kosovo immediately after the liberation, in June 1999.

He considers the meeting with the Kosovar people as one of the best moments of his life.

“So, for me that was a very significant moment indeed. And obviously being greeted in that way, and thinking, my God, these people really are happy with what NATO was able to do to help them. So, yeah, it was a wonderful, fantastic moment. And of course, the 78 days have been stressful, but of course, even more stressful for the people of Kosovo who were in the cellars and hiding, and had to endure the violence. So, you know, life was much easier for me in Brussels than it was for all of you in Kosovo, I appreciate that. But simply this, if you like this bonding with the people of Kosovo, it was a magical moment. I've never had a moment before it, and I will never have a moment in the rest of my life that comes anywhere close to that”, said Shea.

The former NATO spokesman says that independent Kosovo is an irreversible reality and according to him, Serbia will have to accept this.

Commenting on the March 18 agreement in Ohrid, Shea says that the normalization of relations will make it politically easier for Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

"Yes, I believe so (in the future Serbia will recognize Kosovo). I mean, it's taking a lot longer than and I hoped for. And I noticed that the president Vucic, in agreeing in North Macedonia last weekend with prime minister Kurti to the EU normalization plan is still not willing to recognize (Kosovo). It's going to take an act of political courage, of course, by the Serb leadership, but once it's done, I believe that everybody in Serbia, everybody in Kosovo, in the region, will accept that, and we'll move on… Again, it's taking longer than I would have hoped for, but this normalization agreement, in terms of recognizing Kosovo documents, recognizing Kosovo symbols, and increasing contact and so on, I think the normalization of relations is going to make it politically easier for Belgrade to recognize Kosovo, maybe not today, but certainly tomorrow", he said.

He hopes that with the normalization agreement, Belgrade will take a more cooperative stance by not encouraging any kind of violence in the north of Kosovo.

“I hope with this normalization agreement, and Belgrade adopting a more cooperative stance, certainly not encouraging, not encouraging any violence in the north, and I hope over time that everything will quiet down and people will go back to normal life. There is a future for the Serb people in Kosovo, obviously to live prosperous, happy normal lives. These minority problems have been solved in many European countries, and I see no reason why they can't be solved in Kosovo as well. So, yes, there will be some, you know, some incidents from time to time, which KFOR and the police are able to deal with very effectively thank God. But my sense is that war like it happened in 1999, no way. No way, and KFOR - NATO is there to make sure that even if that were a possibility, which I don't think it is, the international troops are there to keep the security and prevent that from happening. So, now, you know, there's only one way and that's forwards. There's no backwards, there's only forwards. The question is, how fast we can go forwards”, said Shea.

Jamie Shea says that the Serbian crimes committed in Kosovo are known, and according to him, Serbia must understand this, and bear responsibility, while emphasizing that only in this way can reconciliation be achieved.

On March 24, 1999, NATO planes dropped the first bombs against the strategic positions of the army of the former Yugoslavia. The order was given by the president of the United States of America, Bill Clinton. The airstrikes ended on June 9. /G.Kadrija/