(12 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pristina, Kosovo – 12 June 2024
1. Wide of British soldier memorial in Pristina
2. Pan of memorial
3. Wide of ceremony
4. Close of memorial
5. Pan from officials to the memorial
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Hargreaves, UK ambassador in Kosovo:
“We are grateful for the role played by the people of the United Kingdom as part of the NATO mission over the past 25 years. We ask you to bless and guide us as we continue to work for the good for all people of this country and in the region. We bring to you all those who continue to endure the consequences of this and other conflicts. So, God, we pray for peace in our world, both for today and for the future.”
7. Various of ceremony, UPSOUND trumpet playing Last Post
8. Close of British soldiers
9. UK ambassador in Kosovo Jonathan Hargreaves laying wreath
10. Close of wreath
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Col. Robert Tomlinson, retired royal engineer from Wiltshire:
"It’s a real honour to be back here in such a beautiful, you know, beautiful city. 25 years ago – very different: dark, horrible, tragic. We, the military, British military and the NATO forces played a small part in what was your struggle, your struggle lasted the previous two years. Your men and women died in vast numbers fighting a tyranny and we were able to come and help, just at the last minute. And thank God this time, we got here in time to help. But it was your war and your victory, which we’re honoured to have supported in our own small way."
12. NATO, UK, Kosovo flags
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Col. Robert Tomlinson, retired royal engineer from Wiltshire:
"I’ll give you a quick story before that, the first…somebody like you I met in London a few weeks ago. A 25-year-old young man. Handsome young man. He asked me what I was doing at the Kosovo embassy in London and I said I was a veteran, I was in Pristina 25 years ago and he hugged me. He grabbed me in his arms and hugged me. And he said because I’d explained to him that I, as an engineer, had helped build the refugee camps in northern Macedonia. And he said, ‘which refugee camp?’ And I told him and he said, ‘sir, I was born in that refugee camp. You saved my mother’s life.’ That was really, really powerful for us. So that’s what it really means to us. We all have our stories. You have your stories. Your parents. But for us, we were able to make a difference, to help you win your freedom, which is so valuable."
14. Various of ceremony
STORYLINE:
As Kosovo marks the 25th anniversary of independence, officials attended a memorial ceremony in Pristina on Wednesday to honour British soldiers who died in the conflict with Serbia.
NATO’s intervention in 1999 began with a 78-day air campaign against Serbia which was followed by a growing period of violence between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Serbian forces in what was then the province of Kosovo.
About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died and about 1 million were deported until the NATO bombing resulted in the Serbian withdrawal and the establishment of an international force known as Kosovo Force, on June 12, 1999. Some 1,600 people are still missing.
Retired British Army Col. Robert Tomlinson said on Wednesday he was happy to be back in Kosovo, 25 years after the end of the war.
"We, the military, British military and the NATO forces played a small part in what was your struggle, your struggle lasted the previous two years. Your men and women died in vast numbers fighting a tyranny and we were able to come and help, just at the last minute," Tomlinson said.
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