A former translator for war reporters became the first minister of an independent Kosovo to visit ex-master Serbia on Friday, speaking publicly of the fear she once had of Belgrade in the latest gesture of rapprochement between the Balkan neighbours. Vlora Citaku, Kosovo's Minister for European Integration, was not received officially by the Serbian government but her speech at a forum in a Belgrade hotel would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago.
Since then the European Union has brokered a landmark accord to settle relations between Serbia and its former southern province, which could see the bloc endorse the start of membership talks with Belgrade next week. "I do hope that my generation will be the very last one that had to grow all their life in fear of Belgrade," 32-year-old Citaku said in a speech to the conference, organised by Belgrade's Forum for Ethnic Relations to discuss the accord.
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as sovereign, but Citaku's visit reflects a sea-change in official Serbian policy towards its former southern province as Belgrade seeks the economic boost of closer ties with the EU. "We were terrified of Belgrade, as the source of the military forces that came to burn our villages and cities," Citaku said of Kosovo's 1998-99 war. "Unfortunately, I've seen more massacres, more killed men and raped women than any teenager should see." Citaku worked as a translator for foreign correspondents covering the war, when forces under late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic massacred and expelled ethnic Albanian civilians during a campaign to crush a guerrilla insurgency.