Former US president Bill Clinton will visit Pristina on Sunday for the dedication of a statue celebrating his role in the fight of the Albanian majority against Serbian rule, Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Tahci, said Thursday. The statue is to be unveiled on the Bill Clinton Boulevard, Thaci said, calling on Kosovars to turn out en masse "on the occasion of the visit by our great friend."

Clinton was president when the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, led by the US, intervened against Serbia, forcing it to withdraw its security forces from Kosovo and to end a heavy-handed campaign of terror against Albanians. The pullout of Serbia's security apparatus and the arrival of a United Nations administration paved the way to Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008. Albanians make up 90 per cent of Kosovo's 2 million inhabitants, with Serbs making up the most of the rest.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2009