NATO to protect all Kosovo's citizens, Scheffer says

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says NATO in Kosovo is there to protect "all the citizens that live there". After yesterday’s meeting with U.S. President George Bush in Washington, the NATO secretary-general broached the theme of Kosovo, which, he said, would be discussed at the organization’s summit in Bucharest from April 2 to 4. NATO to protect all Kosovo's citizens, Scheffer says “The second biggest NATO contingent, 60,000 troops, is there to protect all Kosovo’s citizens, the majority, the minority, Albanians and Serbs, so that Kosovo also has a future,” said Scheffer, according to the transcript of an address to a press conference published on the White House website. The meeting between Bush and Scheffer lasted 45 minutes, and the main theme was the NATO presence in Afghanistan. There was also talk of NATO expansion ahead of the Bucharest summit, as well as U.S. plans for deploying a rocket shield in Europe. NATO candidates Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hope that they will be invited to join the Alliance, while Georgia and Ukraine have also applied for membership. Moscow actively opposes the accession of the two ex-Soviet republics to NATO as well as the deployment of the missile shield in the Czech Republic or Poland. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, George Bush (FoNet, archive)

NATO to protect all Kosovo's citizens, Scheffer says

“The second biggest NATO contingent, 60,000 troops, is there to protect all Kosovo’s citizens, the majority, the minority, Albanians and Serbs, so that Kosovo also has a future,” said Scheffer, according to the transcript of an address to a press conference published on the White House website.

The meeting between Bush and Scheffer lasted 45 minutes, and the main theme was the NATO presence in Afghanistan.

There was also talk of NATO expansion ahead of the Bucharest summit, as well as U.S. plans for deploying a rocket shield in Europe.

NATO candidates Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hope that they will be invited to join the Alliance, while Georgia and Ukraine have also applied for membership.

Moscow actively opposes the accession of the two ex-Soviet republics to NATO as well as the deployment of the missile shield in the Czech Republic or Poland.