ANGELINA JOLIE
VISITS KOSOVO WITH NATO
Copyright 2002 www.gainesvillesun.com
[ December 31st 2002 ]
Angelina
Jolie visited with Kosovo's minority community,
along with NATO peacekeepers and local leaders,
during a three-day visit to the troubled region.
The Oscar-winning actress, who is a goodwill ambassador
for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said
she was troubled by the conditions of minorities
there. "People think that when a war is over,
everything goes back to normal," Jolie said Monday,
after her visit concluded. "But in Kosovo, the
security situation remains questionable for minorities."
Kosovo,
legally part of Yugoslavia, has been run by the
United Nations and NATO since 1999, when the alliance
bombed Serb troops loyal to former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic to stop their crackdown on
ethnic Albanian separatists. Some 200,000 Serbs
and other minorities have left the province, fearing
attacks avenging the crackdown, which killed thousands
of ethnic Albanians. Only a few thousand of the
displaced Serbs have returned, and those who remain
live mainly in NATO-guarded enclaves.
Jolie
visited the area of Kosovo's capital, Pristina,
and the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica,
which remains a hotbed of tension. The 27-year-old
actress, who was appointed goodwill ambassador
in 2001, has visited refugee camps in several
regions, including Sierra Leone, Tanzania and
Pakistan. She plans to return to Kosovo in the
spring.
|